ZIP 04956 vs ZIP 04938

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04956 (New Vineyard, ME) and ZIP 04938 (Farmington, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04956 has a population of 760 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 04938 has 9,869 at 31 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 04956 reports a median household income of $61,806 against $55,704 in ZIP 04938, with per-capita income of $29,666 vs $35,247. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.0% in 04956 and 35.4% in 04938. Poverty rate reads 22.6% vs 14.0%, and unemployment 6.1% vs 5.0% — 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 $190,000 in 04956 versus $172,500 in 04938, with median rent of $925 and $914 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.7% vs 61.0%. 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.