ZIP 51241 vs ZIP 51242

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51241 (Larchwood, IA) and ZIP 51242 (Lester, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51241 has a population of 1,737 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 51242 has 212 at 180 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 51241 reports a median household income of $87,446 against $95,625 in ZIP 51242, with per-capita income of $41,199 vs $39,556. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 25.1% in 51241 and 20.5% in 51242. Poverty rate reads 7.3% vs 1.3%, and unemployment 1.0% vs 0.0% — 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 $280,600 in 51241 versus $190,900 in 51242, with median rent of $864 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 78.7% vs 86.6%. 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.