ZIP 50266 vs ZIP 50325

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50266 (West Des Moines, IA) and ZIP 50325 (Clive, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50266 has a population of 23,625 at 551 people per square mile, while ZIP 50325 has 15,448 at 775 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 50266 reports a median household income of $87,025 against $132,121 in ZIP 50325, with per-capita income of $58,079 vs $59,890. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 58.2% in 50266 and 61.0% in 50325. Poverty rate reads 8.9% vs 7.3%, and unemployment 2.4% vs 3.9% — 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 $345,600 in 50266 versus $401,100 in 50325, with median rent of $1,331 and $1,073 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 49.8% vs 75.4%. 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.