ZIP 50436 vs ZIP 50453

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50436 (Forest City, IA) and ZIP 50453 (Leland, 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 50453 has 588 at 5 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 $77,868 in ZIP 50453, with per-capita income of $41,737 vs $34,743. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 27.7% in 50436 and 13.3% in 50453. Poverty rate reads 11.2% vs 10.6%, and unemployment 2.0% vs 5.6% — 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 $153,600 in 50453, with median rent of $739 and $789 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.0% vs 76.3%. 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.