ZIP 86506 vs ZIP 86508

This side-by-side compares ZIP 86506 (Houck, AZ) and ZIP 86508 (Lupton, AZ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 86506 has a population of 1,321 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 86508 has 752 at 4 per square mile. That difference in population size and density alone reshapes how every other metric should be interpreted — a higher-income ZIP with 1,200 residents behaves very differently from one with 45,000.

On income and education, ZIP 86506 reports a median household income of $31,563 against $17,054 in ZIP 86508, with per-capita income of $15,848 vs $12,452. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 6.5% in 86506 and 8.3% in 86508. Poverty rate reads 34.0% vs 50.7%, and unemployment 5.4% vs 22.1% — these four fields alone drive most of the difference in the scorecard grades you will see for each ZIP.

Housing separates these two ZIPs further: median home value sits at $48,400 in 86506 versus $35,000 in 86508, with median rent of — and $715 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.3% vs 89.0%. When reading the comparison table below, focus on paired metrics rather than single winners — a ZIP with lower home values and lower income is not strictly "worse" if rent-to-income ratios and commute times land in the same zone. Every value is pulled from the exact same ACS table so the two columns are genuinely comparable.