ZIP 50426 vs ZIP 50472

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50426 (Carpenter, IA) and ZIP 50472 (Saint Ansgar, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50426 has a population of 56 at 932 people per square mile, while ZIP 50472 has 2,394 at 8 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 50426 reports a median household income of $74,107 against $93,482 in ZIP 50472, with per-capita income of $51,567 vs $45,940. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.1% in 50426 and 25.8% in 50472. Poverty rate reads 8.6% vs 7.9%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 1.2% — 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 $63,900 in 50426 versus $204,100 in 50472, with median rent of $767 and $841 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.9% vs 83.9%. 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.