ZIP 50501 vs ZIP 50543

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50501 (Fort Dodge, IA) and ZIP 50543 (Gowrie, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50501 has a population of 29,078 at 72 people per square mile, while ZIP 50543 has 1,492 at 7 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 50501 reports a median household income of $66,888 against $91,563 in ZIP 50543, with per-capita income of $34,794 vs $43,617. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.1% in 50501 and 31.6% in 50543. Poverty rate reads 14.0% vs 6.1%, and unemployment 5.5% vs 4.7% — 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 $153,500 in 50501 versus $155,100 in 50543, with median rent of $796 and $698 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 67.6% vs 83.5%. 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.