ZIP 50014 vs ZIP 50012

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50014 (Ames, IA) and ZIP 50012 (Ames, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50014 has a population of 28,094 at 194 people per square mile, while ZIP 50012 has 4,062 at 2,061 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 50014 reports a median household income of $60,731 against — in ZIP 50012, with per-capita income of $38,198 vs $6,380. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 68.1% in 50014 and 100.0% in 50012. Poverty rate reads 29.2% vs 100.0%, and unemployment 7.0% vs 8.4% — 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 $336,800 in 50014 versus — in 50012, with median rent of $1,065 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 36.6% vs 0.0%. 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.