Haves and have-nots alike reside in 77055
The fun thing about scouring the city ZIP code by ZIP code is seeing the ways neighborhoods differ from each other. But in some parts of town, the differences happen within the ZIP’s own boundaries.
In 77055, straddling the northwest corner of the 610 Loop, residents are incredibly different from each other in one key way: There’s more income inequality here than in any other ZIP code in the city, according to its Gini Index. I know: “Its what?” A Gini Index is a number between 0 and 1, which measures income equality. If an area has perfect equality, the index would be 1. In a place where all the wealth was held by one person, the index would be 0.
Nationally, the Gini Index comes in at 0.48, according to U.S. Census data. That’s up from .37 back in 1986, meaning things are growing more unequal nationwide. In Houston, the gaps are wider, with an index of.53. But 77055 weighs in even farther apart, with a Gini Index of .57.
Those in the middle of the pack in 77055 are doing about the same as the rest of the city. Median income for a household in
77055 was $45,332 in 2014, down slightly from the city’s overall median of $46,187.
But the thing that stands out in 77055 is the fact that the wealthy folks in this area are much wealthier than other parts
of the city: The top 5 percent of households here make so much money, their incomes surge over the Census reporting cap of $250,000, meaning it’s not quite clear just how rich the well-to-do here are. That’s compared to the $223,284 threshold it takes to make the top 5 percent citywide.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the most
equal part of Houston is in the 77085 ZIP code, just inside the southwest border of Beltway 8. While the median income here is actually higher than that of 77055, ringing in at $56,153, the spectrum is much smaller, with the top 5 percent of households earning $128,112 or more.