ZIP 04342 vs ZIP 04535

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04342 (Dresden, ME) and ZIP 04535 (Alna, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04342 has a population of 1,672 at 21 people per square mile, while ZIP 04535 has 709 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 04342 reports a median household income of $74,844 against $93,125 in ZIP 04535, with per-capita income of $39,719 vs $39,879. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 30.5% in 04342 and 41.3% in 04535. Poverty rate reads 9.3% vs 2.1%, and unemployment 1.2% vs 0.3% — 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 $240,100 in 04342 versus $367,400 in 04535, with median rent of $1,194 and $1,088 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.2% vs 89.7%. 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.