ZIP 14812 vs ZIP 14891

This side-by-side compares ZIP 14812 (Beaver Dams, NY) and ZIP 14891 (Watkins Glen, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 14812 has a population of 3,478 at 17 people per square mile, while ZIP 14891 has 4,149 at 31 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 14812 reports a median household income of $62,073 against $61,875 in ZIP 14891, with per-capita income of $37,251 vs $38,420. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.9% in 14812 and 25.5% in 14891. Poverty rate reads 8.9% vs 8.1%, and unemployment 6.3% vs 8.1% — 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 $126,100 in 14812 versus $164,700 in 14891, with median rent of $947 and $825 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 89.8% vs 67.7%. 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.