ZIP 50436 vs ZIP 50450

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50436 (Forest City, IA) and ZIP 50450 (Lake Mills, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50436 has a population of 5,848 at 17 people per square mile, while ZIP 50450 has 2,897 at 14 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 50436 reports a median household income of $74,940 against $76,125 in ZIP 50450, with per-capita income of $41,737 vs $38,820. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.7% in 50436 and 20.0% in 50450. Poverty rate reads 11.2% vs 10.8%, and unemployment 2.0% vs 1.7% — 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 $167,900 in 50436 versus $158,000 in 50450, with median rent of $739 and $640 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.0% vs 69.8%. 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.