ZIP 01379 vs ZIP 01344

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01379 (Wendell, MA) and ZIP 01344 (Erving, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01379 has a population of 813 at 10 people per square mile, while ZIP 01344 has 1,498 at 43 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 01379 reports a median household income of $59,583 against $77,656 in ZIP 01344, with per-capita income of $39,271 vs $42,022. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 53.2% in 01379 and 24.1% in 01344. Poverty rate reads 22.1% vs 5.2%, and unemployment 8.7% vs 3.7% — 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 $297,400 in 01379 versus $271,800 in 01344, with median rent of $1,500 and $1,163 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 87.7% vs 81.5%. 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.