ZIP 50847 vs ZIP 51532

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50847 (Grant, IA) and ZIP 51532 (Elliott, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50847 has a population of 87 at 104 people per square mile, while ZIP 51532 has 622 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 50847 reports a median household income of $68,125 against $65,375 in ZIP 51532, with per-capita income of $42,883 vs $32,661. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 10.0% in 50847 and 15.8% in 51532. Poverty rate reads 14.3% vs 19.0%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 4.2% — 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 $40,000 in 50847 versus $99,400 in 51532, with median rent of — and $817 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 95.2% vs 76.9%. 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.