ZIP 01550 vs ZIP 01566

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01550 (Southbridge, MA) and ZIP 01566 (Sturbridge, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01550 has a population of 16,719 at 319 people per square mile, while ZIP 01566 has 6,294 at 86 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 01550 reports a median household income of $66,287 against $137,730 in ZIP 01566, with per-capita income of $35,249 vs $59,068. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.4% in 01550 and 47.6% in 01566. Poverty rate reads 15.3% vs 2.6%, and unemployment 7.1% vs 2.2% — 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 $294,800 in 01550 versus $415,900 in 01566, with median rent of $1,256 and $1,914 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 42.7% vs 92.3%. 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.