ZIP 12436 vs ZIP 12463

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12436 (Haines Falls, NY) and ZIP 12463 (Palenville, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12436 has a population of 417 at 11 people per square mile, while ZIP 12463 has 1,484 at 53 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 12436 reports a median household income of $108,056 against — in ZIP 12463, with per-capita income of $45,025 vs $45,701. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 31.9% in 12436 and 25.6% in 12463. Poverty rate reads 1.6% vs 17.3%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 6.4% — 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 $249,500 in 12436 versus $259,800 in 12463, with median rent of — and $1,008 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 92.4% vs 79.0%. 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.