ZIP 07506 vs ZIP 07524

This side-by-side compares ZIP 07506 (Hawthorne, NJ) and ZIP 07524 (Paterson, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 07506 has a population of 18,791 at 2,187 people per square mile, while ZIP 07524 has 12,709 at 6,506 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 07506 reports a median household income of $110,237 against $49,103 in ZIP 07524, with per-capita income of $52,062 vs $21,708. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 47.0% in 07506 and 8.9% in 07524. Poverty rate reads 4.0% vs 22.5%, and unemployment 5.1% vs 13.0% — 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 $533,700 in 07506 versus $377,500 in 07524, with median rent of $1,830 and $1,412 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 69.1% vs 19.4%. 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.