ZIP 50164 vs ZIP 50250

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50164 (Menlo, IA) and ZIP 50250 (Stuart, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50164 has a population of 652 at 5 people per square mile, while ZIP 50250 has 2,330 at 9 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 50164 reports a median household income of $80,188 against $71,083 in ZIP 50250, with per-capita income of $34,666 vs $36,512. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.3% in 50164 and 18.1% in 50250. Poverty rate reads 3.1% vs 9.8%, and unemployment 12.0% vs 2.8% — 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 $151,000 in 50164 versus $210,400 in 50250, with median rent of — and $678 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 93.5% vs 79.6%. 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.