ZIP 06282 vs ZIP 06242

This side-by-side compares ZIP 06282 (Woodstock Valley, CT) and ZIP 06242 (Eastford, CT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 06282 has a population of 1,096 at 74 people per square mile, while ZIP 06242 has 1,408 at 21 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 06282 reports a median household income of $91,780 against $89,250 in ZIP 06242, with per-capita income of $59,424 vs $50,268. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 39.2% in 06282 and 36.7% in 06242. Poverty rate reads 4.2% vs 8.7%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 6.1% — 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 $353,400 in 06282 versus $353,100 in 06242, with median rent of $1,871 and $1,063 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 82.4% vs 85.1%. 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.