ZIP 51248 vs ZIP 51350

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51248 (Sanborn, IA) and ZIP 51350 (Melvin, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51248 has a population of 1,857 at 9 people per square mile, while ZIP 51350 has 411 at 4 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 51248 reports a median household income of $64,375 against $77,250 in ZIP 51350, with per-capita income of $36,815 vs $39,222. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.8% in 51248 and 9.2% in 51350. Poverty rate reads 11.6% vs 8.6%, and unemployment 1.7% vs 1.2% — 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 $172,800 in 51248 versus $79,300 in 51350, with median rent of $954 and $390 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 76.2% vs 84.7%. 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.