ZIP 50554 vs ZIP 50546

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50554 (Laurens, IA) and ZIP 50546 (Havelock, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50554 has a population of 1,625 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 50546 has 346 at 3 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 50554 reports a median household income of $63,802 against $64,583 in ZIP 50546, with per-capita income of $34,284 vs $37,781. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 18.6% in 50554 and 16.3% in 50546. Poverty rate reads 11.7% vs 15.4%, and unemployment 5.2% vs 2.2% — 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 $82,800 in 50554 versus — in 50546, with median rent of $777 and $625 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.1% vs 81.7%. 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.