ZIP 03854 vs ZIP 03905

This side-by-side compares ZIP 03854 (New Castle, NH) and ZIP 03905 (Kittery Point, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 03854 has a population of 968 at 462 people per square mile, while ZIP 03905 has 1,780 at 105 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 03854 reports a median household income of $176,953 against $140,730 in ZIP 03905, with per-capita income of $125,291 vs $71,590. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 68.8% in 03854 and 64.2% in 03905. Poverty rate reads 4.6% vs 3.5%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 6.6% — 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 $1,701,300 in 03854 versus $541,100 in 03905, with median rent of $3,501 and $2,533 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.0% vs 82.1%. 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.