Zipskinny: Get U.S. Census data using only your ZIP Code.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

http://zipskinny.com/

Then you can compare and contrast with surrounding towns. Pretty cool!

My area:
High school or higher:            93.4%
Married:                            64.2%
Median Household Income: $73,882

[ChadTower]

If you're in the town you used to be in there's no effin way those numbers are correct.

Why does it show a huge concentration of penis pictures about an hour northwest of me?   

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I still live in Lowell, but my new house is on the border of Chelmsford. Movin' on up!
I went from renting a 700sq ft apartment in very diverse, very populated downtown Lowell to living on a hill surrounded by Ward and June Cleavers.

I'm still bothered by how damn quite it is here.

[ChadTower]

Chelmsford would probably have decent numbers but Lowell's would be far lower, especially median salary and high school or higher (unless that doesn't mean high school diploma).  Lowell has always had huge dropout rates...

...in fact, if I plug in Lowell's zip code, I get the much lower numbers I would expect.  74.5% high school or better, median income of $40,418.  What zip did you use?

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Yes. Lowell's is definitely much lower. My zip is officially 01851. But the demographics of my location are consistent with the adjoining 01824. So those are the stats I've used. I don't really live near anything resembling 01851 stats.

I live around the circled area. I'm in the Highlands/Belvedere area. Bordering on Chelmsford.

[ChadTower]

I get that, but the census is done by town, and you can't just decide "oh, well, my particular section of town is more like the more affluent neighboring town, so I'll use those numbers instead so the numbers look nicer."     There's a reason why your home was less expensive than homes actually in that neighboring town.

[ahofle]

Great site, thanks! 

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I get that, but the census is done by town, and you can't just decide "oh, well, my particular section of town is more like the more affluent neighboring town, so I'll use those numbers instead so the numbers look nicer."     There's a reason why your home was less expensive than homes actually in that neighboring town.

Not cheaper really. A lot of factors go into determining housing prices. In fact, I'd say when they appraise a home, they look at the surrounding area in just about the same way I did. (see: housing in belvedere) We actually ended up choosing between a house in Chelmsford and a house in Lowell. Both relatively the same in price, all things considered. We chose the one we bought since we just liked it better.

Either way, I wasn't looking at the census data to find the value of my home. I was curious about the demographic of people surrounding me. Which seems to be represented fairly well in the data for the adjacent zip. My neighborhood bleeds into Chelmsford, not Lowell. 

I know you feel the need to compete, but seriously. I've already mentioned where I live, gave the official zip and everything...so feel free to pretend I live in a more ghetto area than you, and let's move on.

[JackTucky]

I know you feel the need to compete, but seriously. I've already mentioned where I live, gave the official zip and everything...so feel free to pretend I live in a more ghetto area than you, and let's move on.

haha.  Chad is poorly organized.

=J

[ChadTower]

I'll be as fair as possible here.

You posted a zip demographic tool.
You posted numbers for yourself.
The numbers are from a zip code other than your own, numbers that are substantially higher than your zip code.

Who is pretending?

Lowell has improved dramatically over the last 20 years and does have some quite affluent sections now.  Then again, it always did have some money areas, because of those mills.  For the 50 or more before that it was one of the very worst areas of MA with the some of the highest crime rates and poverty rates in the state.  That doesn't make it anything like Chelmsford yet.  You do live in a nice section... of Lowell.

Lowell's heyday was 100 or more years ago when those textile mills were making money, right?  I'm talking about the textile mills that over the last 30 or so years Lowell has tried very very hard to turn into museums, historical sites, tourist attractions.  It hasn't worked all that well.  There is a reason for that.  If you are interested in why the residents of Eastern MA still view Lowell the way they do, do some research through unofficial sources on who worked in those mills, what the conditions were, and where all the profits went.  After you do that you'll understand why Lowell has the legacy it has in this state.  You'll also understand why the tourism industry there wouldn't take off... no one wants to remember those places.