ZIP 50254 vs ZIP 50074

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50254 (Thayer, IA) and ZIP 50074 (Ellston, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50254 has a population of 282 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 50074 has 334 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 50254 reports a median household income of $64,211 against $121,094 in ZIP 50074, with per-capita income of $33,071 vs $76,852. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.6% in 50254 and 55.1% in 50074. Poverty rate reads 4.4% vs 0.5%, and unemployment 2.6% 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 $175,000 in 50254 versus $605,800 in 50074, with median rent of — and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 100.0% vs 97.5%. 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.