ZIP 08816 vs ZIP 08850

This side-by-side compares ZIP 08816 (East Brunswick, NJ) and ZIP 08850 (Milltown, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 08816 has a population of 46,298 at 868 people per square mile, while ZIP 08850 has 8,281 at 1,302 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 08816 reports a median household income of $143,586 against $141,601 in ZIP 08850, with per-capita income of $61,061 vs $63,105. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 58.4% in 08816 and 45.0% in 08850. Poverty rate reads 5.8% vs 1.5%, and unemployment 4.6% vs 3.6% — 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 $522,700 in 08816 versus $470,700 in 08850, with median rent of $2,044 and $1,218 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.7% vs 84.7%. 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.