ZIP 06481 vs ZIP 06455

This side-by-side compares ZIP 06481 (Rockfall, CT) and ZIP 06455 (Middlefield, CT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 06481 has a population of 1,277 at 274 people per square mile, while ZIP 06455 has 3,148 at 112 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 06481 reports a median household income of $84,674 against $104,180 in ZIP 06455, with per-capita income of $47,840 vs $69,006. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 38.4% in 06481 and 43.3% in 06455. Poverty rate reads 14.0% vs 3.9%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 4.3% — 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 $360,400 in 06481 versus $388,700 in 06455, with median rent of $3,501 and $1,773 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 71.6% vs 95.3%. 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.