ZIP 04221 vs ZIP 04227

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04221 (Canton, ME) and ZIP 04227 (East Dixfield, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04221 has a population of 1,098 at 13 people per square mile, while ZIP 04227 has 79 at 53 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 04221 reports a median household income of $52,458 against — in ZIP 04227, with per-capita income of $27,336 vs $35,889. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.7% in 04221 and 50.0% in 04227. Poverty rate reads 8.4% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 5.7% vs 0.0% — 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 $165,000 in 04221 versus — in 04227, with median rent of $485 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.4% vs 100.0%. 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.