ZIP 12846 vs ZIP 12804

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12846 (Lake Luzerne, NY) and ZIP 12804 (Queensbury, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12846 has a population of 3,298 at 22 people per square mile, while ZIP 12804 has 26,540 at 193 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 12846 reports a median household income of $46,344 against $89,127 in ZIP 12804, with per-capita income of $32,985 vs $54,076. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 24.6% in 12846 and 42.2% in 12804. Poverty rate reads 34.1% vs 8.2%, and unemployment 1.4% vs 5.0% — 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 $221,100 in 12846 versus $311,400 in 12804, with median rent of $951 and $1,246 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.8% vs 75.3%. 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.