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ZIP Code12512

Chelsea, NY

Dutchess County · New York · United States
Home to 232 people across 0.266 square miles.

EasternTop 10% degree-holdersOwner-majority39 ZIPs in county

At a glance

12512 by the numbers

Every figure below comes from the 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the Census Gazetteer, or is computed from those. Margins of error are shown where they matter.

Population
232
±126 · bottom 25% nationally
Median household income
$96,151
US median $70,109 · top 25%
Median home value
$435,300
US median $207,500 · top 25%
Median age
49.9
US median 42 years
Population density
872/mi²
top 25% most dense
Land area
0.266 mi²
negligible water area

Location

Where 12512 is

41.555184, -73.962452 · Census ZCTA internal pointOpen larger map →
Coordinates41.555184, -73.962452
Time zoneAmerica/New_York
CountyDutchess County
StateNew York (NY)
Land area0.266 mi²
Coordinate sourceCensus ZCTA internal point

Local time

America/New_York

—:—:—

Current weather

Live from the National Weather Service

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Distance to major cities

Straight-line, computed from coordinates

New York, NY58.2 mi
Philadelphia, PA127.4 mi
Boston, MA159.2 mi
Chicago, IL704.5 mi

People

Who lives in 12512

232 residents in 115 households, averaging 2.02 people per household. The largest age group is 55-64 at 45.7% of residents.

Age distribution

Share of residents by age band

Under 184.7%
18-2411.6%
25-3426.7%
35-443.9%
45-543.4%
55-6445.7%
65+3.9%

Households

Composition and size

Total households115
Average household size2.02
Family households67.0%
Living alone33.0%
Median age49.9 years
Households with internet85.2%

Race & ethnicity

Census race categories. Hispanic or Latino origin is asked separately and overlaps these groups.

White96.1%
Other3.9%
Hispanic / Latino3.4%

Income & work

What people earn in 12512

The median household here earns $96,151 a year, above the US median of $70,109, which puts 12512 ahead of 80% of American ZIP codes. 0.0% of residents live below the poverty line.

Compared to the US

This ZIP against the national median

Median household income$96,151
LowestHighest
Higher than 80% of all US ZIP codes.
Median household income$96,151 ±$17,511
Per capita income$85,040
Poverty rate0.0%
Unemployment rate0.0%
Labor force participation89.6%

Household income distribution

Share of households in each bracket

<$25k0.0%
$25-50k0.0%
$50-75k20.0%
$75-100k47.8%
$100-150k7.8%
$150-200k0.0%
$200k+24.3%

Educational attainment among residents 25 and older: 72.2% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 95.9% finished high school.

Housing

Homes and rent in 12512

A typical home is valued at $435,300. This is an owner-majority area — 85.2% of occupied homes are owned, and the typical building went up in 1938.

Costs

Typical values

Median home value$435,300
Median gross rent—/mo
Median year built1938
Housing units139
Vacancy rate17.3%

Own vs. rent

Of 115 occupied units

Owner-occupied85.2%
Renter-occupied14.8%
Owner households98
Renter households17

Building types

Units by structure size

Single family87.8%
2-4 units12.2%

Getting to work

How 12512 commutes

80.1% of workers drove alone, and the average one-way trip takes 21.1 minutes. 19.9% work from home.

Mode of transport

Workers 16 and older

Drove alone80.1%
Worked from home19.9%

Travel time

Mean commute 21.1 minutes

<10 min12.4%
10-1954.0%
20-290.0%
30-4433.6%
45-590.0%
60+0.0%

Overview

Understanding ZIP code 12512

ZIP code 12512 is assigned to Chelsea, NY, and falls within Dutchess County. Like every US postal code, it began as a mail-routing device rather than a geographic boundary — the US Postal Service groups delivery routes under a single code so carriers and sorting equipment can process mail efficiently. Today it also serves as a practical shorthand for the area itself: roughly 232 people live inside it.

At 872 residents per square mile spread over 0.266 square miles, 12512 reads as a small-town area. It is a sparsely populated postal code, and density shapes almost everything else on this page — how people get to work, whether they own or rent, and what housing costs.

Household earnings run above the national median. At $96,151, 12512 sits comfortably in the upper half, ahead of 80% of them. The US median for comparison is $70,109. Bear in mind that median income describes the midpoint household, not the average — it is not pulled upward by a handful of very high earners the way a mean would be.

Living here

What life in Chelsea looks like

Housing in 12512 costs well above the national median. A typical home is valued at $435,300 against a US median of $207,500. Ownership dominates: 85.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, which usually signals an established residential area with relatively low turnover.

The building stock is dominated by detached single-family houses, which account for 87.8% of housing units here. The median construction year is 1938, making the housing here largely pre-war.

The population skews older than the national median, with a median age of 49.9 against 42 nationally. The average household holds 2.02 people, and 67.0% are family households.

Getting to work takes 21.1 minutes on average one way. The dominant mode is drove alone at 80.1% of workers, while 19.9% work from home. Commute patterns are one of the better proxies for how a place actually functions day to day.

Where to stay

Where to stay in Chelsea, NY

Chelsea is a smaller community, so options inside 12512 may be limited to a handful of independent inns, motels or bed-and-breakfast properties. Travellers often widen the search to the surrounding area, where the choice is greater and prices are usually competitive.

For reference, New York, NY is about 58.2 miles away in a straight line, which is worth factoring in if you are comparing a stay here against one closer to the city centre.

Availability and pricing change constantly, so the live search below will give you a more accurate picture than any figure we could publish here. It opens results for this area on Booking.com.

Book a Hotel →

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Practical uses

What ZIP code 12512 is used for

Beyond addressing mail, 12512 does a lot of quiet administrative work. Retailers use it to calculate shipping and sales tax at checkout. Insurers use it to set premiums, since risk profiles vary geographically. Employers and marketers use it to define service areas. Government agencies use it to route benefits and organise reporting. If you have ever been asked for a postal code by a form that clearly does not intend to send you anything, this is why.

For anyone weighing a move, 12512 offers a compact profile of Chelsea: 232 residents, a median household income of $96,151, 72.2% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and an unemployment rate of 0.0%. A handful of figures like these answer more relocation questions than most neighbourhood guides do.

One caution worth repeating: a postal code is not a neighbourhood. 12512 may cover parts of several distinct areas, and a single neighbourhood in Chelsea may be split across more than one code. Boundaries also shift as USPS adjusts delivery routes. Treat the figures here as describing a delivery area, which is what they actually measure.

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Questions

Common questions about 12512

What city is ZIP code 12512 in?
12512 serves Chelsea, New York, in Dutchess County, United States.
What is the population of 12512?
About 232 people live in ZIP code 12512, according to the US Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The margin of error on that figure is ±126. That works out to roughly 872 people per square mile.
What is the average income in 12512?
The median household income in 12512 is $96,151 per year, compared with a US median of $70,109. Per capita income is $85,040. Median income is more representative than an average because it isn't skewed by a small number of very high earners.
How expensive is housing in 12512?
The median home value is $435,300 and median gross rent is — a month. 85.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.
Is 12512 a good place to live?
That depends on what you're looking for, but here are the facts: 72.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the unemployment rate is 0.0%, and the median age is 49.9. The average commute is 21.1 minutes. We publish the numbers and let you weigh them.
What time zone is 12512 in?
12512 observes Eastern Time (America/New_York). This zone observes daylight saving time.
How big is ZIP code 12512?
ZIP code 12512 covers 0.266 square miles of land, per the US Census Bureau's 2023 Gazetteer files.
Is 12512 urban, suburban or rural?
By population density, 12512 reads as a small-town area. It holds 872 people per square mile across 0.266 square miles of land. For reference, densities above 10,000 per square mile generally indicate an urban core, 1,000–3,000 is typically suburban, and under 200 is rural. These are rules of thumb rather than official designations — the Census Bureau classifies urban and rural areas by census block, not by ZIP code.
What is the commute like from 12512?
The average one-way commute from 12512 takes about 21.1 minutes. The most common way to travel is drove alone, used by 80.1% of workers aged 16 and over. Commute figures cover people who were employed and working outside the home during the survey period.
How many people work in 12512?
About 198 residents of 12512 are employed. Labor force participation stands at 89.6% and the unemployment rate is 0.0%. Note this counts residents by where they live, not by where they work — a ZIP with many offices can have far more jobs than employed residents.
Where should I stay when visiting 12512?
Accommodation in and around Chelsea, NY ranges with the character of the area. See the 'Where to stay' section on this page for local context, and use the live search there for current availability and pricing.
Does 12512 cover more than one city or county?
This page lists Chelsea as the primary place and Dutchess County as the county. ZIP codes follow mail delivery routes rather than municipal or county lines, so a single code can straddle boundaries, and USPS also recognises alternate acceptable city names for many codes. If you need the definitive answer for a specific street address, the USPS ZIP Code Lookup is the authority.
Can ZIP code 12512 change?
Yes. USPS adjusts ZIP codes as delivery volumes shift — codes are occasionally split, merged, retired or newly created, and boundaries move more often than most people assume. The Census Bureau's ZCTA definitions, which underpin the demographic figures on this page, are redrawn only once a decade, so the two can drift apart between censuses.

Methodology

Where this data comes from

  • Postal geography — GeoNames open postal code database (CC BY 4.0), cross-checked against the US Census Gazetteer.
  • Demographics, income, housing, commute — US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-Year Estimates, ZIP Code Tabulation Area 12512. Tables B01001, B01002, B01003, B02001, B03003, B08301, B08303, B11001, B15003, B17001, B19001, B19013, B19301, B23025, B25002, B25003, B25024, B25035, B25064, B25077, B28002.
  • Land and water area — US Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer Files.
  • Weather — NOAA National Weather Service, fetched live in your browser.
  • Map — OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
On accuracy. ACS figures are survey estimates, not counts. The margin of error shown alongside the population figure means the true value has a 90% chance of falling in that range. For small ZIP codes the error can be large relative to the estimate — treat the direction as more reliable than the exact number. This page reports data for ZCTA 12512, the Census approximation of the USPS delivery area.