ZIP 12589 vs ZIP 12586

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12589 (Wallkill, NY) and ZIP 12586 (Walden, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12589 has a population of 17,228 at 115 people per square mile, while ZIP 12586 has 12,540 at 204 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 12589 reports a median household income of $120,815 against $87,194 in ZIP 12586, with per-capita income of $34,874 vs $36,144. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.1% in 12589 and 29.2% in 12586. Poverty rate reads 29.9% vs 13.2%, and unemployment 4.0% vs 6.5% — 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 $378,000 in 12589 versus $348,400 in 12586, with median rent of $1,246 and $1,654 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.9% vs 66.4%. 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.