ZIP 01346 vs ZIP 05342

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01346 (Heath, MA) and ZIP 05342 (Jacksonville, VT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01346 has a population of 533 at 10 people per square mile, while ZIP 05342 has 581 at 15 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 01346 reports a median household income of $113,650 against $64,018 in ZIP 05342, with per-capita income of $66,050 vs $30,347. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 49.9% in 01346 and 42.0% in 05342. Poverty rate reads 6.0% vs 3.7%, and unemployment 1.7% vs 1.4% — 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 $292,100 in 01346 versus $300,000 in 05342, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.0% vs 96.2%. 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.