ZIP 14086 vs ZIP 14043

This side-by-side compares ZIP 14086 (Lancaster, NY) and ZIP 14043 (Depew, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 14086 has a population of 31,847 at 363 people per square mile, while ZIP 14043 has 24,742 at 1,099 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 14086 reports a median household income of $99,499 against $74,112 in ZIP 14043, with per-capita income of $51,257 vs $41,878. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 41.3% in 14086 and 29.8% in 14043. Poverty rate reads 4.2% vs 7.9%, and unemployment 2.1% 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 $294,300 in 14086 versus $212,100 in 14043, with median rent of $1,125 and $1,084 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.5% vs 72.1%. 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.