ZIP 50616 vs ZIP 50620

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50616 (Charles City, IA) and ZIP 50620 (Colwell, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50616 has a population of 10,344 at 23 people per square mile, while ZIP 50620 has 54 at 166 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 50616 reports a median household income of $64,830 against — in ZIP 50620, with per-capita income of $34,284 vs $90,694. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.5% in 50616 and 6.7% in 50620. Poverty rate reads 13.4% vs 0.0%, and unemployment 3.6% 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 $140,600 in 50616 versus $102,800 in 50620, with median rent of $734 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 72.7% vs 90.0%. 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.