ZIP 01462 vs ZIP 01464

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01462 (Lunenburg, MA) and ZIP 01464 (Shirley, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01462 has a population of 10,086 at 147 people per square mile, while ZIP 01464 has 7,211 at 186 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 01462 reports a median household income of $112,992 against $122,365 in ZIP 01464, with per-capita income of $53,479 vs $49,118. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 43.9% in 01462 and 36.7% in 01464. Poverty rate reads 4.2% vs 9.9%, and unemployment 5.0% vs 5.3% — 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 $463,800 in 01462 versus $427,600 in 01464, with median rent of $1,974 and $1,481 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.7% vs 77.4%. 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.