ZIP 50076 vs ZIP 50117

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50076 (Exira, IA) and ZIP 50117 (Hamlin, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50076 has a population of 1,502 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 50117 has 193 at 3 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 50076 reports a median household income of $55,313 against $104,167 in ZIP 50117, with per-capita income of $35,080 vs $46,841. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 16.3% in 50076 and 9.5% in 50117. Poverty rate reads 13.1% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 1.2% vs 0.0% — 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 $114,100 in 50076 versus $222,700 in 50117, with median rent of $779 and $875 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.3% vs 66.7%. 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.