ZIP 51235 vs ZIP 51239

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51235 (Doon, IA) and ZIP 51239 (Hull, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51235 has a population of 1,079 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 51239 has 3,123 at 18 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 51235 reports a median household income of $71,016 against $77,540 in ZIP 51239, with per-capita income of $40,773 vs $38,148. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 7.6% in 51235 and 20.6% in 51239. Poverty rate reads 9.8% vs 5.7%, and unemployment 9.3% vs 1.9% — 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 $240,700 in 51235 versus $236,500 in 51239, with median rent of $531 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 74.2% 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.