ZIP 01236 vs ZIP 01266

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01236 (Housatonic, MA) and ZIP 01266 (West Stockbridge, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01236 has a population of 1,509 at 121 people per square mile, while ZIP 01266 has 1,463 at 22 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 01236 reports a median household income of $111,250 against $100,417 in ZIP 01266, with per-capita income of $63,109 vs $90,095. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 59.6% in 01236 and 68.4% in 01266. Poverty rate reads 5.2% vs 9.0%, and unemployment 1.9% vs 2.0% — 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 $504,900 in 01236 versus $563,400 in 01266, with median rent of — and $1,603 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.4% vs 91.4%. 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.