ZIP 14901 vs ZIP 14861

This side-by-side compares ZIP 14901 (Elmira, NY) and ZIP 14861 (Lowman, NY) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 14901 has a population of 16,736 at 173 people per square mile, while ZIP 14861 has 1,404 at 16 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 14901 reports a median household income of $40,989 against $64,904 in ZIP 14861, with per-capita income of $21,391 vs $38,899. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.3% in 14901 and 16.2% in 14861. Poverty rate reads 29.7% vs 7.1%, and unemployment 6.7% vs 4.0% — 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 $93,800 in 14901 versus $149,100 in 14861, with median rent of $873 and $1,137 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 49.8% vs 82.9%. 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.