ZIP 01876 vs ZIP 01821

This side-by-side compares ZIP 01876 (Tewksbury, MA) and ZIP 01821 (Billerica, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 01876 has a population of 28,667 at 541 people per square mile, while ZIP 01821 has 30,310 at 706 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 01876 reports a median household income of $130,204 against $149,042 in ZIP 01821, with per-capita income of $59,536 vs $61,572. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 40.6% in 01876 and 40.2% in 01821. Poverty rate reads 3.3% vs 5.3%, and unemployment 3.8% vs 3.0% — 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 $577,000 in 01876 versus $615,100 in 01821, with median rent of $2,340 and $2,346 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.7% vs 82.2%. 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.