ZIP 01862 vs ZIP 01852

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01862 (North Billerica, MA) and ZIP 01852 (Lowell, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01862 has a population of 10,227 at 427 people per square mile, while ZIP 01852 has 33,508 at 2,603 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 01862 reports a median household income of $138,571 against $80,906 in ZIP 01852, with per-capita income of $55,587 vs $40,981. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 38.8% in 01862 and 33.1% in 01852. Poverty rate reads 5.9% vs 15.1%, and unemployment 5.9% vs 4.7% — 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 $586,200 in 01862 versus $424,300 in 01852, with median rent of $2,142 and $1,581 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 71.6% vs 44.3%. 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.