ZIP 03823 vs ZIP 03820

This side-by-side compares ZIP 03823 (Madbury, NH) and ZIP 03820 (Dover, NH) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 03823 has a population of 1,719 at 63 people per square mile, while ZIP 03820 has 30,039 at 418 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 03823 reports a median household income of $148,365 against $94,897 in ZIP 03820, with per-capita income of $57,423 vs $52,784. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 52.6% in 03823 and 52.0% in 03820. Poverty rate reads 4.9% vs 8.3%, and unemployment 2.1% vs 4.1% — 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 $476,900 in 03823 versus $436,100 in 03820, with median rent of $1,574 and $1,607 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 82.9% vs 52.7%. 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.