ZIP 12032 vs ZIP 13470

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12032 (Caroga Lake, NY) and ZIP 13470 (Stratford, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12032 has a population of 836 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 13470 has 725 at 4 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 12032 reports a median household income of $65,789 against $75,313 in ZIP 13470, with per-capita income of $43,961 vs $31,019. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.7% in 12032 and 14.4% in 13470. Poverty rate reads 6.1% vs 26.7%, and unemployment 2.1% vs 2.4% — 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 $182,300 in 12032 versus $159,900 in 13470, with median rent of — and $844 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.5% vs 85.0%. 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.