ZIP 04537 vs ZIP 04538

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04537 (Boothbay, ME) and ZIP 04538 (Boothbay Harbor, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04537 has a population of 2,073 at 48 people per square mile, while ZIP 04538 has 2,080 at 165 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 04537 reports a median household income of $76,667 against $56,500 in ZIP 04538, with per-capita income of $47,104 vs $40,517. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 37.8% in 04537 and 42.4% in 04538. Poverty rate reads 11.3% vs 18.2%, and unemployment 1.4% vs 2.0% — 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 $358,600 in 04537 versus $388,100 in 04538, with median rent of $1,048 and $1,058 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.1% vs 73.0%. 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.