ZIP 14884 vs ZIP 14836

This side-by-side compares ZIP 14884 (Swain, NY) and ZIP 14836 (Dalton, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 14884 has a population of 273 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 14836 has 1,009 at 13 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 14884 reports a median household income of $48,750 against $74,130 in ZIP 14836, with per-capita income of $34,359 vs $42,210. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.6% in 14884 and 15.2% in 14836. Poverty rate reads 10.8% vs 8.6%, and unemployment 3.5% vs 7.6% — 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 $118,900 in 14884 versus $114,500 in 14836, with median rent of $920 and $1,108 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 90.5% vs 92.2%. 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.