ZIP 51040 vs ZIP 51523

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51040 (Onawa, IA) and ZIP 51523 (Blencoe, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51040 has a population of 3,712 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 51523 has 357 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 51040 reports a median household income of $71,179 against $82,625 in ZIP 51523, with per-capita income of $33,598 vs $40,604. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.9% in 51040 and 18.9% in 51523. Poverty rate reads 14.2% vs 8.2%, and unemployment 1.2% vs 3.9% — 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 $151,600 in 51040 versus $136,800 in 51523, with median rent of $947 and $857 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 75.3% vs 79.3%. 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.