ZIP 04292 vs ZIP 04290

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