ZIP 04538 vs ZIP 04575

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04538 (Boothbay Harbor, ME) and ZIP 04575 (West Boothbay Harbor, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04538 has a population of 2,080 at 165 people per square mile, while ZIP 04575 has 85 at 50 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 04538 reports a median household income of $56,500 against $116,250 in ZIP 04575, with per-capita income of $40,517 vs $56,527. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 42.4% in 04538 and 42.2% in 04575. Poverty rate reads 18.2% vs 2.7%, and unemployment 2.0% vs 0.0% — 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 $388,100 in 04538 versus $641,300 in 04575, with median rent of $1,058 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.0% vs 100.0%. 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.