ZIP 50228 vs ZIP 50054

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50228 (Prairie City, IA) and ZIP 50054 (Colfax, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50228 has a population of 2,417 at 13 people per square mile, while ZIP 50054 has 3,356 at 22 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 50228 reports a median household income of $90,833 against $89,940 in ZIP 50054, with per-capita income of $39,921 vs $38,852. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 30.9% in 50228 and 22.6% in 50054. Poverty rate reads 2.8% vs 10.6%, and unemployment 5.2% vs 4.3% — 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 $211,400 in 50228 versus $211,500 in 50054, with median rent of $800 and $833 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.6% vs 75.9%. 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.