ZIP 12153 vs ZIP 12018

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12153 (Sand Lake, NY) and ZIP 12018 (Averill Park, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12153 has a population of 814 at 17 people per square mile, while ZIP 12018 has 7,930 at 69 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 12153 reports a median household income of $89,861 against $126,620 in ZIP 12018, with per-capita income of $57,296 vs $61,324. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 23.7% in 12153 and 46.6% in 12018. Poverty rate reads 22.1% vs 2.3%, and unemployment 5.0% vs 1.7% — 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 $291,700 in 12153 versus $345,200 in 12018, with median rent of — and $1,485 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 98.1% vs 83.7%. 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.