ZIP 12850 vs ZIP 12863

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12850 (Middle Grove, NY) and ZIP 12863 (Rock City Falls, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12850 has a population of 2,835 at 23 people per square mile, while ZIP 12863 has 533 at 57 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 12850 reports a median household income of $92,083 against $96,679 in ZIP 12863, with per-capita income of $42,485 vs $37,659. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 36.7% in 12850 and 22.7% in 12863. Poverty rate reads 11.6% vs 7.6%, and unemployment 3.1% vs 0.0% — 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 $317,300 in 12850 versus $342,100 in 12863, with median rent of $946 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.6% vs 84.8%. 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.