ZIP 07034 vs ZIP 07045

This side-by-side compares ZIP 07034 (Lake Hiawatha, NJ) and ZIP 07045 (Montville, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 07034 has a population of 9,360 at 2,892 people per square mile, while ZIP 07045 has 10,127 at 553 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 07034 reports a median household income of $104,663 against $185,078 in ZIP 07045, with per-capita income of $54,549 vs $82,818. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 51.7% in 07034 and 70.1% in 07045. Poverty rate reads 3.3% vs 2.7%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 4.8% — 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 $428,600 in 07034 versus $669,400 in 07045, with median rent of $1,550 and $2,846 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 58.5% vs 97.7%. 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.