ZIP 06074 vs ZIP 06042

This side-by-side compares ZIP 06074 (South Windsor, CT) and ZIP 06042 (Manchester, CT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 06074 has a population of 25,705 at 354 people per square mile, while ZIP 06042 has 22,942 at 849 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 06074 reports a median household income of $144,961 against $91,892 in ZIP 06042, with per-capita income of $66,277 vs $48,383. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 58.9% in 06074 and 44.4% in 06042. Poverty rate reads 4.9% vs 10.5%, and unemployment 2.4% vs 5.4% — 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 $375,100 in 06074 versus $237,400 in 06042, with median rent of $1,864 and $1,736 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.9% vs 60.6%. 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.