ZIP 07849 vs ZIP 07885

This side-by-side compares ZIP 07849 (Lake Hopatcong, NJ) and ZIP 07885 (Wharton, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 07849 has a population of 9,054 at 475 people per square mile, while ZIP 07885 has 10,078 at 258 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 07849 reports a median household income of $117,298 against $100,716 in ZIP 07885, with per-capita income of $58,771 vs $50,109. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 48.0% in 07849 and 37.7% in 07885. Poverty rate reads 3.0% vs 11.8%, and unemployment 1.1% vs 6.6% — 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 $438,600 in 07849 versus $380,900 in 07885, with median rent of $1,734 and $1,798 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 91.2% vs 64.4%. 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.