ZIP 02557 vs ZIP 02539

This side-by-side compares ZIP 02557 (Oak Bluffs, MA) and ZIP 02539 (Edgartown, MA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 02557 has a population of 4,491 at 241 people per square mile, while ZIP 02539 has 4,067 at 59 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 02557 reports a median household income of — against $125,236 in ZIP 02539, with per-capita income of $82,259 vs $100,312. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 41.6% in 02557 and 56.3% in 02539. Poverty rate reads 4.8% vs 4.7%, and unemployment 22.9% vs 5.4% — 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 $1,287,200 in 02557 versus $1,199,300 in 02539, with median rent of — and $1,796 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.9% vs 87.0%. 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.