ZIP 01242 vs ZIP 01238

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01242 (Lenox Dale, MA) and ZIP 01238 (Lee, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01242 has a population of 476 at 369 people per square mile, while ZIP 01238 has 6,047 at 67 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 01242 reports a median household income of — against $84,591 in ZIP 01238, with per-capita income of $7,034 vs $54,072. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 0.0% in 01242 and 45.1% in 01238. Poverty rate reads 100.0% vs 7.0%, and unemployment — vs 3.8% — 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 01242 versus $355,700 in 01238, with median rent of — and $1,374 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is — vs 71.7%. 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.