ZIP 07480 vs ZIP 07421

This side-by-side compares ZIP 07480 (West Milford, NJ) and ZIP 07421 (Hewitt, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 07480 has a population of 16,122 at 187 people per square mile, while ZIP 07421 has 7,439 at 111 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 07480 reports a median household income of $132,676 against $129,800 in ZIP 07421, with per-capita income of $55,973 vs $70,774. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 40.1% in 07480 and 38.8% in 07421. Poverty rate reads 2.9% vs 2.7%, and unemployment 3.3% vs 12.4% — 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 $379,900 in 07480 versus $420,000 in 07421, with median rent of $1,484 and $2,166 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.6% vs 88.2%. 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.