ZIP 06371 vs ZIP 06426

This side-by-side compares ZIP 06371 (Old Lyme, CT) and ZIP 06426 (Essex, CT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 06371 has a population of 9,952 at 70 people per square mile, while ZIP 06426 has 3,245 at 219 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 06371 reports a median household income of $132,045 against $103,705 in ZIP 06426, with per-capita income of $85,733 vs $80,442. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 58.4% in 06371 and 63.1% in 06426. Poverty rate reads 3.0% vs 6.0%, and unemployment 2.8% vs 2.7% — 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 $499,400 in 06371 versus $729,200 in 06426, with median rent of $2,172 and $1,860 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.1% vs 82.3%. 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.