ZIP 12150 vs ZIP 12302

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12150 (Rotterdam Junction, NY) and ZIP 12302 (Schenectady, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12150 has a population of 914 at 324 people per square mile, while ZIP 12302 has 27,582 at 252 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 12150 reports a median household income of $79,776 against $98,163 in ZIP 12302, with per-capita income of $41,463 vs $49,164. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 9.9% in 12150 and 42.0% in 12302. Poverty rate reads 0.0% vs 4.7%, and unemployment 8.4% vs 4.7% — 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 $231,600 in 12150 versus $255,700 in 12302, with median rent of — and $1,247 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 98.4% vs 75.8%. 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.