ZIP 04642 vs ZIP 04421

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04642 (Harborside, ME) and ZIP 04421 (Castine, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04642 has a population of 123 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 04421 has 1,366 at 68 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 04642 reports a median household income of $71,563 against $113,750 in ZIP 04421, with per-capita income of $54,863 vs $39,304. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 50.3% in 04642 and 74.5% in 04421. Poverty rate reads 10.9% vs 14.1%, and unemployment 3.2% vs 2.7% — 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 $384,600 in 04642 versus $603,500 in 04421, with median rent of $1,320 and $1,105 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.4% vs 80.4%. 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.