ZIP 04416 vs ZIP 04474

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04416 (Bucksport, ME) and ZIP 04474 (Orrington, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04416 has a population of 5,468 at 37 people per square mile, while ZIP 04474 has 3,733 at 58 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 04416 reports a median household income of $64,587 against $94,556 in ZIP 04474, with per-capita income of $35,173 vs $55,390. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 28.0% in 04416 and 44.3% in 04474. Poverty rate reads 7.1% vs 6.6%, and unemployment 10.4% vs 1.7% — 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 $250,900 in 04416 versus $309,000 in 04474, with median rent of $881 and $1,167 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.4% vs 88.5%. 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.