ZIP 04353 vs ZIP 04348

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04353 (Whitefield, ME) and ZIP 04348 (Jefferson, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04353 has a population of 2,300 at 19 people per square mile, while ZIP 04348 has 2,976 at 15 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 04353 reports a median household income of $73,875 against $78,929 in ZIP 04348, with per-capita income of $36,602 vs $33,020. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 33.0% in 04353 and 27.2% in 04348. Poverty rate reads 7.1% vs 6.7%, and unemployment 1.3% vs 5.9% — 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 $242,300 in 04353 versus $286,300 in 04348, with median rent of $895 and $1,193 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 91.5% vs 84.3%. 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.