ZIP 50833 vs ZIP 50851

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50833 (Bedford, IA) and ZIP 50851 (Lenox, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50833 has a population of 2,305 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 50851 has 2,087 at 6 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 50833 reports a median household income of $61,042 against $70,926 in ZIP 50851, with per-capita income of $32,248 vs $33,567. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.3% in 50833 and 18.4% in 50851. Poverty rate reads 8.6% vs 11.3%, and unemployment 5.0% vs 0.9% - 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 $112,900 in 50833 versus $121,000 in 50851, with median rent of $681 and $1,054 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 73.0% vs 78.5%. 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.