ZIP 04027 vs ZIP 03868

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04027 (Lebanon, ME) and ZIP 03868 (Rochester, NH) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04027 has a population of 6,031 at 42 people per square mile, while ZIP 03868 has 5,323 at 272 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 04027 reports a median household income of $97,750 against $81,530 in ZIP 03868, with per-capita income of $40,949 vs $39,695. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.1% in 04027 and 29.2% in 03868. Poverty rate reads 7.4% vs 3.0%, and unemployment 2.6% vs 2.8% — 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 $324,800 in 04027 versus $268,800 in 03868, with median rent of — and $1,203 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 96.8% vs 78.1%. 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.