ZIP 50579 vs ZIP 50551

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50579 (Rockwell City, IA) and ZIP 50551 (Jolley, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50579 has a population of 2,405 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 50551 has 158 at 2 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 50579 reports a median household income of $61,108 against — in ZIP 50551, with per-capita income of $30,688 vs $12,536. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.1% in 50579 and 0.0% in 50551. Poverty rate reads 9.1% vs 19.8%, and unemployment 1.2% 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 $126,000 in 50579 versus $51,100 in 50551, with median rent of $777 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.2% vs 60.0%. 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.