ZIP 05478 vs ZIP 05488

This side-by-side compares ZIP 05478 (Saint Albans, VT) and ZIP 05488 (Swanton, VT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 05478 has a population of 14,449 at 92 people per square mile, while ZIP 05488 has 7,690 at 46 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 05478 reports a median household income of $71,203 against $77,154 in ZIP 05488, with per-capita income of $41,852 vs $37,927. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 31.0% in 05478 and 24.0% in 05488. Poverty rate reads 12.2% vs 11.8%, and unemployment 1.6% vs 4.7% — 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 $316,400 in 05478 versus $288,700 in 05488, with median rent of $1,227 and $1,286 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 68.1% vs 77.3%. 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.