ZIP 01516 vs ZIP 01590

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01516 (Douglas, MA) and ZIP 01590 (Sutton, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01516 has a population of 8,500 at 89 people per square mile, while ZIP 01590 has 8,875 at 107 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 01516 reports a median household income of $153,172 against $147,015 in ZIP 01590, with per-capita income of $59,010 vs $65,436. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 41.7% in 01516 and 52.8% in 01590. Poverty rate reads 4.7% vs 5.8%, and unemployment 4.3% vs 2.3% — 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 $467,000 in 01516 versus $523,100 in 01590, with median rent of $1,503 and $1,211 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.5% vs 90.0%. 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.