ZIP 50032 vs ZIP 50317

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50032 (Berwick, IA) and ZIP 50317 (Des Moines, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50032 has a population of 399 at 418 people per square mile, while ZIP 50317 has 36,207 at 627 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 50032 reports a median household income of — against $65,617 in ZIP 50317, with per-capita income of $29,764 vs $30,592. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 0.0% in 50032 and 15.6% in 50317. Poverty rate reads 54.5% vs 14.0%, and unemployment 25.4% vs 6.7% — 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 — in 50032 versus $177,600 in 50317, with median rent of — and $1,102 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.6% vs 72.5%. 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.