ZIP 05846 vs ZIP 05906

This side-by-side compares ZIP 05846 (Island Pond, VT) and ZIP 05906 (Lunenburg, VT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 05846 has a population of 1,252 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 05906 has 1,178 at 9 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 05846 reports a median household income of $46,278 against $51,106 in ZIP 05906, with per-capita income of $34,490 vs $33,199. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.2% in 05846 and 13.7% in 05906. Poverty rate reads 27.9% vs 13.8%, and unemployment 3.5% vs 9.9% — 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 $159,600 in 05846 versus $168,800 in 05906, with median rent of $777 and $973 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 54.7% vs 87.1%. 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.