ZIP 04864 vs ZIP 04861

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04864 (Warren, ME) and ZIP 04861 (Thomaston, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04864 has a population of 4,751 at 40 people per square mile, while ZIP 04861 has 2,781 at 98 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 04864 reports a median household income of $74,616 against $56,435 in ZIP 04861, with per-capita income of $37,647 vs $33,828. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.4% in 04864 and 30.9% in 04861. Poverty rate reads 6.0% vs 6.6%, and unemployment 0.6% vs 3.2% — 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 $232,700 in 04864 versus $271,700 in 04861, with median rent of $1,125 and $1,262 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.3% vs 73.9%. 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.