ZIP 04921 vs ZIP 04986

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04921 (Brooks, ME) and ZIP 04986 (Thorndike, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04921 has a population of 1,593 at 13 people per square mile, while ZIP 04986 has 1,721 at 12 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 04921 reports a median household income of $63,646 against $71,833 in ZIP 04986, with per-capita income of $36,710 vs $26,113. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 31.8% in 04921 and 25.6% in 04986. Poverty rate reads 17.4% vs 7.2%, and unemployment 3.4% vs 2.4% — 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 $210,300 in 04921 versus $184,500 in 04986, with median rent of $1,039 and $1,288 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 75.9% vs 83.6%. 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.