ZIP 12856 vs ZIP 12811

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12856 (North River, NY) and ZIP 12811 (Bakers Mills, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12856 has a population of 187 at 1 people per square mile, while ZIP 12811 has 127 at 29 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 12856 reports a median household income of $59,200 against $65,865 in ZIP 12811, with per-capita income of $45,282 vs $29,099. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 69.9% in 12856 and 18.3% in 12811. Poverty rate reads 0.0% vs 14.9%, and unemployment 0.0% 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 $243,400 in 12856 versus $311,100 in 12811, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 58.9% vs 83.1%. 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.