ZIP 01074 vs ZIP 01005

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01074 (South Barre, MA) and ZIP 01005 (Barre, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01074 has a population of 319 at 1,448 people per square mile, while ZIP 01005 has 5,079 at 44 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 01074 reports a median household income of $79,583 against $111,148 in ZIP 01005, with per-capita income of $52,613 vs $42,899. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 5.0% in 01074 and 33.7% in 01005. Poverty rate reads 0.0% vs 8.8%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 2.3% — 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 — in 01074 versus $392,600 in 01005, with median rent of $962 and $1,591 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 24.8% vs 80.2%. 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.