ZIP 04547 vs ZIP 04563

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04547 (Friendship, ME) and ZIP 04563 (Cushing, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04547 has a population of 1,152 at 32 people per square mile, while ZIP 04563 has 1,534 at 31 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 04547 reports a median household income of $75,625 against $83,500 in ZIP 04563, with per-capita income of $53,097 vs $59,310. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 39.6% in 04547 and 38.4% in 04563. Poverty rate reads 10.0% vs 7.7%, and unemployment 0.8% vs 3.4% — 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 $275,000 in 04547 versus $409,800 in 04563, with median rent of $1,370 and $1,553 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 91.1% vs 84.7%. 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.