ZIP 50421 vs ZIP 50439

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50421 (Belmond, IA) and ZIP 50439 (Goodell, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50421 has a population of 3,032 at 13 people per square mile, while ZIP 50439 has 289 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 50421 reports a median household income of $64,438 against $94,167 in ZIP 50439, with per-capita income of $37,538 vs $28,810. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.6% in 50421 and 24.9% in 50439. Poverty rate reads 16.8% vs 5.9%, and unemployment 3.2% 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 $135,900 in 50421 versus $80,000 in 50439, with median rent of $818 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 82.8% vs 93.8%. 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.