ZIP 12946 vs ZIP 12977

This side-by-side compares ZIP 12946 (Lake Placid, NY) and ZIP 12977 (Ray Brook, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 12946 has a population of 5,492 at 16 people per square mile, while ZIP 12977 has 1,753 at 76 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 12946 reports a median household income of $77,548 against — in ZIP 12977, with per-capita income of $57,268 vs $2,459. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 47.6% in 12946 and 1.7% in 12977. Poverty rate reads 9.6% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 1.1% 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 $467,000 in 12946 versus — in 12977, with median rent of $1,131 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 64.4% 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.