ZIP 02379 vs ZIP 02301

This side-by-side compares ZIP 02379 (West Bridgewater, MA) and ZIP 02301 (Brockton, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 02379 has a population of 6,916 at 174 people per square mile, while ZIP 02301 has 61,025 at 1,894 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 02379 reports a median household income of $123,406 against $74,214 in ZIP 02301, with per-capita income of $52,862 vs $34,952. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 43.6% in 02379 and 22.7% in 02301. Poverty rate reads 5.0% vs 15.6%, and unemployment 4.7% vs 10.0% — 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 $503,800 in 02379 versus $449,400 in 02301, with median rent of $1,921 and $1,659 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 82.1% vs 50.2%. 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.