ZIP 01366 vs ZIP 01331

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01366 (Petersham, MA) and ZIP 01331 (Athol, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01366 has a population of 1,277 at 12 people per square mile, while ZIP 01331 has 13,263 at 96 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 01366 reports a median household income of $110,750 against $72,181 in ZIP 01331, with per-capita income of $49,382 vs $34,573. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 42.6% in 01366 and 21.1% in 01331. Poverty rate reads 8.8% vs 14.8%, and unemployment 4.3% vs 7.4% — 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 $392,400 in 01366 versus $281,400 in 01331, with median rent of $1,679 and $1,160 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 94.2% vs 74.9%. 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.