ZIP 02120 vs ZIP 02115

This side-by-side compares ZIP 02120 (Roxbury Crossing, MA) and ZIP 02115 (Boston, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 02120 has a population of 15,181 at 9,444 people per square mile, while ZIP 02115 has 28,441 at 15,513 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 02120 reports a median household income of $64,289 against $54,991 in ZIP 02115, with per-capita income of $28,535 vs $38,695. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 45.7% in 02120 and 66.8% in 02115. Poverty rate reads 33.0% vs 36.6%, and unemployment 9.5% vs 7.6% — 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 $885,900 in 02120 versus $945,100 in 02115, with median rent of $1,649 and $2,039 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 9.2% vs 14.6%. 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.