ZIP 51249 vs ZIP 51354

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51249 (Sibley, IA) and ZIP 51354 (Ocheyedan, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51249 has a population of 3,593 at 11 people per square mile, while ZIP 51354 has 1,096 at 5 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 51249 reports a median household income of $61,500 against $72,639 in ZIP 51354, with per-capita income of $35,382 vs $45,676. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.2% in 51249 and 5.6% in 51354. Poverty rate reads 22.5% vs 9.2%, and unemployment 5.2% vs 2.4% — 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 $160,700 in 51249 versus $115,400 in 51354, with median rent of $774 and $923 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 77.9% vs 81.2%. 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.