ZIP 02138

What ZIP 02138 actually tells you, and what it doesn't

The 02138 ZIP Code Tabulation Area has a population of 38,006 and a median household income of $118,320. Against the other tabulation areas in this dataset, it places as follows.

The median home costs around 8.9 times what a median household here earns in a year, placing 02138 in the most expensive quarter of reporting areas. Wherever the multiple runs this far ahead of local pay, ownership is largely closed to people earning the local median, and the rental figures below matter more than the sale price.

Rent absorbs roughly 27% of median household income, among the highest quarter of reporting areas. Because renter households usually earn below the area-wide median, the burden on actual renters runs higher than this ratio shows.

Half the residents are under 29.2, young enough to place 02138 in the youngest quarter of the 32,853 areas reporting an age. Campuses, barracks, and dense rental districts dominate this end of the range, and where that is the cause the income and poverty figures describe students rather than settled households.

ZCTAs approximate USPS ZIP codes rather than matching them, and these are 5-year ACS estimates, so they trail current conditions.