ZIP 51038 vs ZIP 51024

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