ZIP 04742 vs ZIP 04740

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04742 (Fort Fairfield, ME) and ZIP 04740 (Easton, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04742 has a population of 3,496 at 18 people per square mile, while ZIP 04740 has 1,287 at 13 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 04742 reports a median household income of $70,852 against $53,309 in ZIP 04740, with per-capita income of $45,492 vs $31,010. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 35.0% in 04742 and 18.9% in 04740. Poverty rate reads 10.3% vs 15.1%, and unemployment 9.1% vs 5.7% - 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 $161,000 in 04742 versus $163,800 in 04740, with median rent of $945 and $510 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.2% vs 85.8%. 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.