ZIP 02053 vs ZIP 01746

This side-by-side compares ZIP 02053 (Medway, MA) and ZIP 01746 (Holliston, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 02053 has a population of 12,752 at 427 people per square mile, while ZIP 01746 has 13,547 at 280 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 02053 reports a median household income of $173,750 against $159,817 in ZIP 01746, with per-capita income of $78,143 vs $75,601. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 62.4% in 02053 and 65.9% in 01746. Poverty rate reads 3.3% vs 3.1%, and unemployment 3.8% vs 4.4% — 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 $617,300 in 02053 versus $650,300 in 01746, with median rent of $1,575 and $1,821 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 85.9% vs 87.4%. 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.