ZIP 01863 vs ZIP 01854

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01863 (North Chelmsford, MA) and ZIP 01854 (Lowell, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01863 has a population of 8,891 at 743 people per square mile, while ZIP 01854 has 27,606 at 2,709 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 01863 reports a median household income of $144,875 against $72,709 in ZIP 01854, with per-capita income of $54,220 vs $34,471. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 45.1% in 01863 and 31.2% in 01854. Poverty rate reads 3.0% vs 17.7%, and unemployment 2.3% vs 5.5% — 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 $491,600 in 01863 versus $412,000 in 01854, with median rent of $1,875 and $1,487 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.8% vs 37.8%. 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.