ZIP 50268 vs ZIP 50255

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50268 (What Cheer, IA) and ZIP 50255 (Thornburg, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50268 has a population of 993 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 50255 has 65 at 142 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 50268 reports a median household income of $59,118 against $39,722 in ZIP 50255, with per-capita income of $27,945 vs $28,943. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.8% in 50268 and 34.8% in 50255. Poverty rate reads 16.3% vs 7.8%, and unemployment 6.0% vs 15.4% — 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 $77,100 in 50268 versus — in 50255, with median rent of $740 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.2% vs 100.0%. 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.