ZIP 04973 vs ZIP 04952

This side-by-side compares ZIP 04973 (Searsmont, ME) and ZIP 04952 (Morrill, ME) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 04973 has a population of 1,389 at 14 people per square mile, while ZIP 04952 has 1,829 at 23 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 04973 reports a median household income of $87,000 against $67,763 in ZIP 04952, with per-capita income of $40,479 vs $35,833. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 31.6% in 04973 and 25.9% in 04952. Poverty rate reads 6.6% vs 5.3%, and unemployment 3.4% vs 5.1% — 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 $284,000 in 04973 versus $215,700 in 04952, with median rent of $940 and $1,037 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.6% vs 88.1%. 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.