ZIP 50574 vs ZIP 50554

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50574 (Pocahontas, IA) and ZIP 50554 (Laurens, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50574 has a population of 2,181 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 50554 has 1,625 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 50574 reports a median household income of $60,469 against $63,802 in ZIP 50554, with per-capita income of $37,025 vs $34,284. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.0% in 50574 and 18.6% in 50554. Poverty rate reads 11.3% vs 11.7%, and unemployment 4.8% vs 5.2% — 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 $110,300 in 50574 versus $82,800 in 50554, with median rent of $873 and $777 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 75.5% vs 73.1%. 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.