ZIP 14883 vs ZIP 14889

This side-by-side compares ZIP 14883 (Spencer, NY) and ZIP 14889 (Van Etten, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 14883 has a population of 4,136 at 22 people per square mile, while ZIP 14889 has 1,590 at 14 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 14883 reports a median household income of $68,750 against $61,944 in ZIP 14889, with per-capita income of $38,998 vs $32,156. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 31.9% in 14883 and 24.6% in 14889. Poverty rate reads 11.2% vs 11.6%, and unemployment 5.7% vs 3.5% — 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 $207,700 in 14883 versus $147,800 in 14889, with median rent of $997 and $1,085 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.6% vs 79.6%. 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.