ZIP 04612 vs ZIP 04679

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04612 (Bernard, ME) and ZIP 04679 (Southwest Harbor, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04612 has a population of 589 at 41 people per square mile, while ZIP 04679 has 1,767 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 04612 reports a median household income of $89,839 against $59,205 in ZIP 04679, with per-capita income of $60,679 vs $45,995. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 60.2% in 04612 and 35.3% in 04679. Poverty rate reads 7.6% vs 9.3%, and unemployment 5.3% vs 3.9% — 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 $407,300 in 04612 versus $428,500 in 04679, with median rent of $1,105 and $959 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.0% vs 55.7%. 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.