ZIP 06376 vs ZIP 06357

This side-by-side compares ZIP 06376 (South Lyme, CT) and ZIP 06357 (Niantic, CT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 06376 has a population of 57 at 220 people per square mile, while ZIP 06357 has 12,552 at 460 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 06376 reports a median household income of $156,000 against $93,026 in ZIP 06357, with per-capita income of $153,121 vs $57,039. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.0% in 06376 and 46.2% in 06357. Poverty rate reads 0.0% vs 5.5%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 2.4% — 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 $444,400 in 06376 versus $397,300 in 06357, with median rent of — and $1,429 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 100.0% vs 76.1%. 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.