ZIP 08901 vs ZIP 08904

This side-by-side compares ZIP 08901 (New Brunswick, NJ) and ZIP 08904 (Highland Park, NJ) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 08901 has a population of 55,223 at 3,343 people per square mile, while ZIP 08904 has 13,982 at 2,964 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 08901 reports a median household income of $65,810 against $104,694 in ZIP 08904, with per-capita income of $25,133 vs $58,731. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.5% in 08901 and 69.8% in 08904. Poverty rate reads 32.0% vs 7.5%, and unemployment 8.0% vs 4.8% — 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 $353,800 in 08901 versus $471,700 in 08904, with median rent of $1,814 and $1,873 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 21.4% vs 40.3%. 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.