ZIP 50472 vs ZIP 50426

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