ZIP 50590 vs ZIP 50556

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50590 (Swea City, IA) and ZIP 50556 (Ledyard, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50590 has a population of 879 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 50556 has 292 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 50590 reports a median household income of $57,639 against $36,607 in ZIP 50556, with per-capita income of $40,451 vs $42,672. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.6% in 50590 and 21.9% in 50556. Poverty rate reads 22.2% vs 7.5%, and unemployment 1.9% 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 $64,000 in 50590 versus — in 50556, with median rent of $669 and $413 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.9% vs 92.3%. 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.