ZIP 50557 vs ZIP 50521

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50557 (Lehigh, IA) and ZIP 50521 (Burnside, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50557 has a population of 750 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 50521 has 104 at 33 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 50557 reports a median household income of $62,750 against — in ZIP 50521, with per-capita income of $42,825 vs $87,229. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.4% in 50557 and 93.5% in 50521. Poverty rate reads 8.7% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 2.8% 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 $160,200 in 50557 versus — in 50521, with median rent of $816 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 69.1% vs 88.9%. 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.