ZIP 05851 vs ZIP 05850

This side-by-side compares ZIP 05851 (Lyndonville, VT) and ZIP 05850 (Lyndon Center, VT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 05851 has a population of 6,528 at 32 people per square mile, while ZIP 05850 has 231 at 220 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 05851 reports a median household income of $68,488 against — in ZIP 05850, with per-capita income of $37,113 vs $26,212. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 31.3% in 05851 and 50.8% in 05850. Poverty rate reads 12.4% vs 1.6%, and unemployment 1.2% vs 0.0% — 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 $227,200 in 05851 versus $294,700 in 05850, with median rent of $1,097 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.8% vs 100.0%. 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.