ZIP 06279 vs ZIP 06278

This side-by-side compares ZIP 06279 (Willington, CT) and ZIP 06278 (Ashford, CT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 06279 has a population of 6,041 at 70 people per square mile, while ZIP 06278 has 4,454 at 43 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 06279 reports a median household income of $91,114 against $121,875 in ZIP 06278, with per-capita income of $51,029 vs $60,157. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 33.2% in 06279 and 35.6% in 06278. Poverty rate reads 13.0% vs 5.2%, and unemployment 1.8% vs 7.2% — 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 $305,800 in 06279 versus $335,500 in 06278, with median rent of $1,357 and $1,246 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 64.0% 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.