ZIP 12810 vs ZIP 12878

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12810 (Athol, NY) and ZIP 12878 (Stony Creek, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12810 has a population of 627 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 12878 has 719 at 3 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 12810 reports a median household income of $56,250 against $63,657 in ZIP 12878, with per-capita income of $35,515 vs $27,345. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.6% in 12810 and 12.8% in 12878. Poverty rate reads 22.5% vs 7.6%, and unemployment 10.0% vs 1.2% — 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 $155,500 in 12810 versus $205,200 in 12878, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 87.6% vs 84.1%. 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.