ZIP 13502 vs ZIP 13304

This side-by-side compares ZIP 13502 (Utica, NY) and ZIP 13304 (Barneveld, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 13502 has a population of 33,257 at 239 people per square mile, while ZIP 13304 has 1,684 at 37 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 13502 reports a median household income of $57,835 against $108,587 in ZIP 13304, with per-capita income of $31,012 vs $60,040. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 25.9% in 13502 and 51.4% in 13304. Poverty rate reads 22.9% vs 9.4%, and unemployment 7.2% vs 2.7% — 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 $158,000 in 13502 versus $300,000 in 13304, with median rent of $1,042 and $1,297 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 59.2% vs 76.8%. 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.