ZIP 50061 vs ZIP 50266

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50061 (Cumming, IA) and ZIP 50266 (West Des Moines, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50061 has a population of 1,701 at 21 people per square mile, while ZIP 50266 has 23,625 at 551 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 50061 reports a median household income of $130,714 against $87,025 in ZIP 50266, with per-capita income of $64,331 vs $58,079. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 42.9% in 50061 and 58.2% in 50266. Poverty rate reads 4.5% vs 8.9%, and unemployment 4.1% vs 2.4% — 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 $533,800 in 50061 versus $345,600 in 50266, with median rent of $1,163 and $1,331 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 96.7% vs 49.8%. 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.