ZIP 12786 vs ZIP 12778

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12786 (White Lake, NY) and ZIP 12778 (Smallwood, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12786 has a population of 665 at 17 people per square mile, while ZIP 12778 has 633 at 43 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 12786 reports a median household income of — against $50,959 in ZIP 12778, with per-capita income of $46,594 vs $29,427. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 35.5% in 12786 and 30.2% in 12778. Poverty rate reads 8.2% vs 18.7%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 11.8% — 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 $172,800 in 12786 versus $170,700 in 12778, with median rent of — and $1,371 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 66.5% vs 60.7%. 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.