ZIP 50246 vs ZIP 50249

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50246 (Stanhope, IA) and ZIP 50249 (Stratford, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50246 has a population of 735 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 50249 has 1,332 at 7 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 50246 reports a median household income of $61,324 against $60,761 in ZIP 50249, with per-capita income of $41,487 vs $37,097. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.3% in 50246 and 17.4% in 50249. Poverty rate reads 9.8% vs 7.4%, and unemployment 0.3% vs 0.9% — 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 $119,300 in 50246 versus $119,000 in 50249, with median rent of $547 and $625 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.9% vs 84.9%. 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.