ZIP 01860 vs ZIP 03858

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01860 (Merrimac, MA) and ZIP 03858 (Newton, NH) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01860 has a population of 6,338 at 288 people per square mile, while ZIP 03858 has 4,603 at 181 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 01860 reports a median household income of $123,054 against $138,487 in ZIP 03858, with per-capita income of $57,070 vs $64,294. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 41.0% in 01860 and 37.9% in 03858. Poverty rate reads 9.4% vs 7.5%, and unemployment 1.5% vs 2.9% — 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 $553,400 in 01860 versus $459,500 in 03858, with median rent of $1,352 and $1,683 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.3% vs 90.1%. 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.