ZIP 01844 vs ZIP 01841

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01844 (Methuen, MA) and ZIP 01841 (Lawrence, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01844 has a population of 47,249 at 821 people per square mile, while ZIP 01841 has 47,225 at 5,904 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 01844 reports a median household income of $113,212 against $56,971 in ZIP 01841, with per-capita income of $46,029 vs $25,792. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 31.0% in 01844 and 14.7% in 01841. Poverty rate reads 7.9% vs 17.9%, and unemployment 5.9% vs 9.6% — 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 $499,800 in 01844 versus $403,400 in 01841, with median rent of $1,749 and $1,672 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 72.3% vs 31.1%. 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.