ZIP 04435 vs ZIP 04488

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04435 (Exeter, ME) and ZIP 04488 (Stetson, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04435 has a population of 1,092 at 11 people per square mile, while ZIP 04488 has 1,202 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 04435 reports a median household income of $84,408 against $76,023 in ZIP 04488, with per-capita income of $37,551 vs $34,918. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.0% in 04435 and 19.8% in 04488. Poverty rate reads 8.1% vs 10.4%, and unemployment 2.4% vs 3.7% — 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 $166,700 in 04435 versus $205,700 in 04488, with median rent of $995 and $800 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.1% vs 87.9%. 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.