ZIP 01803 vs ZIP 02420

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01803 (Burlington, MA) and ZIP 02420 (Lexington, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01803 has a population of 24,487 at 807 people per square mile, while ZIP 02420 has 14,052 at 824 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 01803 reports a median household income of $146,436 against $245,031 in ZIP 02420, with per-capita income of $69,012 vs $117,095. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 58.4% in 01803 and 85.6% in 02420. Poverty rate reads 5.9% vs 2.8%, and unemployment 4.4% vs 3.5% — 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 $740,600 in 01803 versus $1,200,300 in 02420, with median rent of $2,718 and $2,801 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 74.2% vs 86.0%. 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.