ZIP 05068 vs ZIP 05065

This side-by-side compares ZIP 05068 (South Royalton, VT) and ZIP 05065 (Sharon, VT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 05068 has a population of 3,125 at 23 people per square mile, while ZIP 05065 has 1,064 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 05068 reports a median household income of $80,911 against $86,042 in ZIP 05065, with per-capita income of $49,503 vs $43,064. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 46.9% in 05068 and 33.7% in 05065. Poverty rate reads 13.9% vs 3.3%, and unemployment 0.9% vs 3.8% — 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 $298,600 in 05068 versus $341,200 in 05065, with median rent of $1,097 and $1,425 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.0% vs 77.9%. 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.