ZIP 07940 vs ZIP 07961

This side-by-side compares ZIP 07940 (Madison, NJ) and ZIP 07961 (Convent Station, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 07940 has a population of 17,278 at 1,435 people per square mile, while ZIP 07961 has 4 at 38 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 07940 reports a median household income of $172,708 against — in ZIP 07961, with per-capita income of $87,285 vs $7,982. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 74.2% in 07940 and 93.8% in 07961. Poverty rate reads 3.2% vs 75.0%, and unemployment 6.4% 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 $940,900 in 07940 versus — in 07961, with median rent of $2,251 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 64.0% vs —. 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.