ZIP 06076 vs ZIP 06279

This side-by-side compares ZIP 06076 (Stafford Springs, CT) and ZIP 06279 (Willington, CT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 06076 has a population of 12,659 at 57 people per square mile, while ZIP 06279 has 6,041 at 70 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 06076 reports a median household income of $92,016 against $91,114 in ZIP 06279, with per-capita income of $45,228 vs $51,029. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.7% in 06076 and 33.2% in 06279. Poverty rate reads 7.4% vs 13.0%, and unemployment 5.9% vs 1.8% — 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 $267,300 in 06076 versus $305,800 in 06279, with median rent of $1,100 and $1,357 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.2% vs 64.0%. 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.