ZIP 01225 vs ZIP 01226

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01225 (Cheshire, MA) and ZIP 01226 (Dalton, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01225 has a population of 3,117 at 48 people per square mile, while ZIP 01226 has 6,945 at 102 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 01225 reports a median household income of $69,803 against $79,438 in ZIP 01226, with per-capita income of $42,961 vs $48,844. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 26.9% in 01225 and 44.3% in 01226. Poverty rate reads 8.6% vs 7.4%, and unemployment 4.6% vs 7.2% — 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 $268,200 in 01225 versus $295,700 in 01226, with median rent of — and $872 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.0% vs 70.7%. 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.