ZIP 50559 vs ZIP 50539

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50559 (Lone Rock, IA) and ZIP 50539 (Fenton, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50559 has a population of 348 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 50539 has 566 at 4 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 50559 reports a median household income of $50,000 against $65,417 in ZIP 50539, with per-capita income of $38,291 vs $36,544. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 26.4% in 50559 and 22.5% in 50539. Poverty rate reads 1.4% vs 4.3%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 12.8% — 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 $128,800 in 50559 versus $70,800 in 50539, with median rent of $550 and $760 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.5% vs 93.7%. 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.