ZIP 04290 vs ZIP 04292

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04290 (Peru, ME) and ZIP 04292 (Sumner, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04290 has a population of 1,541 at 13 people per square mile, while ZIP 04292 has 948 at 8 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 04290 reports a median household income of $66,827 against $57,750 in ZIP 04292, with per-capita income of $32,503 vs $31,408. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.7% in 04290 and 15.4% in 04292. Poverty rate reads 9.2% vs 5.8%, and unemployment 1.1% vs 2.4% — 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 $141,300 in 04290 versus $150,000 in 04292, with median rent of $723 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.2% vs 91.1%. 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.