ZIP 51024 vs ZIP 51038

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51024 (Hinton, IA) and ZIP 51038 (Merrill, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51024 has a population of 2,070 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 51038 has 1,535 at 7 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 51024 reports a median household income of $114,219 against $95,893 in ZIP 51038, with per-capita income of $48,658 vs $37,652. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.7% in 51024 and 17.6% in 51038. Poverty rate reads 1.4% vs 4.4%, and unemployment 1.6% vs 1.1% — 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 $347,800 in 51024 versus $183,100 in 51038, with median rent of $971 and $630 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 84.0% vs 87.9%. 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.