ZIP 01532 vs ZIP 01503

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01532 (Northborough, MA) and ZIP 01503 (Berlin, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01532 has a population of 14,155 at 296 people per square mile, while ZIP 01503 has 2,866 at 85 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 01532 reports a median household income of $153,199 against $121,336 in ZIP 01503, with per-capita income of $77,642 vs $62,159. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 65.5% in 01532 and 48.3% in 01503. Poverty rate reads 3.7% vs 5.0%, and unemployment 4.9% vs 4.4% — 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 $620,000 in 01532 versus $616,600 in 01503, with median rent of $1,919 and $2,420 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.1% vs 77.3%. 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.