ZIP 02119 vs ZIP 02121

This side-by-side compares ZIP 02119 (Roxbury, MA) and ZIP 02121 (Dorchester, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 02119 has a population of 25,346 at 6,126 people per square mile, while ZIP 02121 has 25,978 at 5,747 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 02119 reports a median household income of $48,488 against $43,136 in ZIP 02121, with per-capita income of $35,103 vs $29,051. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 30.6% in 02119 and 19.9% in 02121. Poverty rate reads 25.7% vs 25.0%, and unemployment 6.8% vs 11.1% — 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 $688,600 in 02119 versus $590,200 in 02121, with median rent of $1,329 and $1,325 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 26.5% vs 23.2%. 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.