ZIP 06778 vs ZIP 06787

This side-by-side compares ZIP 06778 (Northfield, CT) and ZIP 06787 (Thomaston, CT) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 06778 has a population of 1,378 at 75 people per square mile, while ZIP 06787 has 7,975 at 252 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 06778 reports a median household income of $81,375 against $103,102 in ZIP 06787, with per-capita income of $45,921 vs $56,519. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.5% in 06778 and 33.9% in 06787. Poverty rate reads 3.2% vs 2.3%, and unemployment 7.0% 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 $321,600 in 06778 versus $282,900 in 06787, with median rent of $1,021 and $1,037 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.8% vs 77.7%. 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.