ZIP 10516 vs ZIP 12524

This side-by-side compares ZIP 10516 (Cold Spring, NY) and ZIP 12524 (Fishkill, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 10516 has a population of 5,289 at 65 people per square mile, while ZIP 12524 has 15,598 at 371 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 10516 reports a median household income of $140,225 against $99,034 in ZIP 12524, with per-capita income of $77,638 vs $55,299. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 63.0% in 10516 and 40.0% in 12524. Poverty rate reads 5.6% vs 3.7%, and unemployment 3.9% vs 6.0% — 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 $639,200 in 10516 versus $398,300 in 12524, with median rent of $1,824 and $1,911 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 74.3% vs 68.9%. 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.