ZIP 07039 vs ZIP 07078

This side-by-side compares ZIP 07039 (Livingston, NJ) and ZIP 07078 (Short Hills, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 07039 has a population of 29,358 at 821 people per square mile, while ZIP 07078 has 13,250 at 794 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 07039 reports a median household income of $229,806 against $250,001 in ZIP 07078, with per-capita income of $100,851 vs $166,888. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 73.5% in 07039 and 92.7% in 07078. Poverty rate reads 2.3% vs 2.1%, and unemployment 4.3% vs 2.8% — 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 $821,100 in 07039 versus $1,679,200 in 07078, with median rent of $2,949 and $3,325 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.9% vs 88.5%. 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.