ZIP 50593 vs ZIP 50540

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50593 (Varina, IA) and ZIP 50540 (Fonda, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50593 has a population of 64 at 133 people per square mile, while ZIP 50540 has 1,022 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 50593 reports a median household income of $50,625 against $73,438 in ZIP 50540, with per-capita income of $38,831 vs $31,845. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 4.0% in 50593 and 22.1% in 50540. Poverty rate reads 3.4% vs 6.3%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 3.5% — 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 $55,000 in 50593 versus $109,800 in 50540, with median rent of — and $547 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 100.0% vs 72.9%. 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.