ZIP 07079 vs ZIP 07040

This side-by-side compares ZIP 07079 (South Orange, NJ) and ZIP 07040 (Maplewood, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 07079 has a population of 16,316 at 2,211 people per square mile, while ZIP 07040 has 23,876 at 2,646 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 07079 reports a median household income of $195,417 against $173,500 in ZIP 07040, with per-capita income of $84,795 vs $76,292. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 77.1% in 07079 and 72.7% in 07040. Poverty rate reads 6.0% vs 3.3%, and unemployment 5.3% vs 6.7% — 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 $866,600 in 07079 versus $720,700 in 07040, with median rent of $2,294 and $2,269 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 65.2% vs 74.9%. 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.