ZIP 01570 vs ZIP 01540

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