ZIP 01452 vs ZIP 01438

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01452 (Hubbardston, MA) and ZIP 01438 (East Templeton, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01452 has a population of 4,382 at 41 people per square mile, while ZIP 01438 has 559 at 398 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 01452 reports a median household income of $123,500 against — in ZIP 01438, with per-capita income of $50,857 vs $31,343. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 33.7% in 01452 and 15.4% in 01438. Poverty rate reads 4.3% vs 0.6%, and unemployment 2.8% vs 0.0% — 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 $371,600 in 01452 versus $261,300 in 01438, with median rent of $953 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.5% vs 51.2%. 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.