ZIP 12863 vs ZIP 12850

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