ZIP 06514 vs ZIP 06518

This side-by-side compares ZIP 06514 (Hamden, CT) and ZIP 06518 (Hamden, CT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 06514 has a population of 26,265 at 905 people per square mile, while ZIP 06518 has 19,848 at 469 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 06514 reports a median household income of $88,900 against $106,692 in ZIP 06518, with per-capita income of $46,091 vs $44,771. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 43.5% in 06514 and 48.7% in 06518. Poverty rate reads 10.6% vs 9.8%, and unemployment 6.6% vs 5.6% — 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 $270,800 in 06514 versus $325,300 in 06518, with median rent of $1,672 and $2,154 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 61.3% vs 60.7%. 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.