ZIP 01420 vs ZIP 01431

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01420 (Fitchburg, MA) and ZIP 01431 (Ashby, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01420 has a population of 40,337 at 514 people per square mile, while ZIP 01431 has 3,074 at 50 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 01420 reports a median household income of $72,780 against $115,598 in ZIP 01431, with per-capita income of $37,232 vs $57,840. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 25.0% in 01420 and 43.7% in 01431. Poverty rate reads 15.7% vs 2.6%, and unemployment 7.0% vs 4.5% — 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 $335,300 in 01420 versus $390,500 in 01431, with median rent of $1,222 and $1,200 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 54.2% vs 95.5%. 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.