ZIP 07078 vs ZIP 07039

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