ZIP 04103 vs ZIP 04102

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04103 (Portland, ME) and ZIP 04102 (Portland, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04103 has a population of 30,606 at 1,150 people per square mile, while ZIP 04102 has 17,335 at 1,115 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 04103 reports a median household income of $89,796 against $82,751 in ZIP 04102, with per-capita income of $52,395 vs $52,241. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 59.0% in 04103 and 61.8% in 04102. Poverty rate reads 9.2% vs 8.3%, and unemployment 5.4% vs 3.7% — 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 $459,500 in 04103 versus $503,500 in 04102, with median rent of $1,620 and $1,543 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 61.5% vs 50.7%. 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.