ZIP 50848 vs ZIP 50862

This side-by-side compares ZIP 50848 (Gravity, IA) and ZIP 50862 (Sharpsburg, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 50848 has a population of 378 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 50862 has 148 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 50848 reports a median household income of $68,250 against $61,953 in ZIP 50862, with per-capita income of $38,018 vs $39,180. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 15.2% in 50848 and 7.1% in 50862. Poverty rate reads 15.2% vs 3.3%, and unemployment 0.0% vs 4.9% — 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 $158,800 in 50848 versus $108,800 in 50862, with median rent of $775 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 79.0% vs 96.5%. 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.