ZIP 04474 vs ZIP 04412

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04474 (Orrington, ME) and ZIP 04412 (Brewer, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04474 has a population of 3,733 at 58 people per square mile, while ZIP 04412 has 9,482 at 240 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 04474 reports a median household income of $94,556 against $66,613 in ZIP 04412, with per-capita income of $55,390 vs $40,180. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 44.3% in 04474 and 35.0% in 04412. Poverty rate reads 6.6% vs 12.5%, and unemployment 1.7% vs 1.4% — 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 $309,000 in 04474 versus $245,300 in 04412, with median rent of $1,167 and $1,086 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.5% vs 59.7%. 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.