ZIP 12862 vs ZIP 12886

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12862 (Riparius, NY) and ZIP 12886 (Wevertown, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12862 has a population of 17 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 12886 has 269 at 7 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 12862 reports a median household income of — against $127,649 in ZIP 12886, with per-capita income of $78,892 vs $48,545. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 68.5% in 12862 and 53.8% in 12886. Poverty rate reads 0.0% vs 7.0%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 13.7% — 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 $204,800 in 12862 versus $342,700 in 12886, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 71.3% vs 100.0%. 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.