ZIP 04444 vs ZIP 04496

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04444 (Hampden, ME) and ZIP 04496 (Winterport, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04444 has a population of 8,824 at 49 people per square mile, while ZIP 04496 has 3,757 at 41 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 04444 reports a median household income of $106,554 against $98,333 in ZIP 04496, with per-capita income of $49,966 vs $54,011. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 43.2% in 04444 and 39.5% in 04496. Poverty rate reads 8.1% vs 5.7%, and unemployment 2.8% 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 $293,000 in 04444 versus $283,000 in 04496, with median rent of $1,238 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.9% vs 91.0%. 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.