ZIP 01540 vs ZIP 01570

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01540 (Oxford, MA) and ZIP 01570 (Webster, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01540 has a population of 11,291 at 225 people per square mile, while ZIP 01570 has 16,767 at 524 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 01540 reports a median household income of $110,579 against $72,895 in ZIP 01570, with per-capita income of $45,501 vs $42,499. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.8% in 01540 and 25.3% in 01570. Poverty rate reads 7.7% vs 12.7%, and unemployment 5.4% vs 7.6% — 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 $376,100 in 01540 versus $361,500 in 01570, with median rent of $1,173 and $1,228 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.9% vs 59.8%. 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.