ZIP 51301 vs ZIP 51338

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51301 (Spencer, IA) and ZIP 51338 (Everly, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51301 has a population of 12,691 at 31 people per square mile, while ZIP 51338 has 1,000 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 51301 reports a median household income of $63,402 against $57,500 in ZIP 51338, with per-capita income of $37,984 vs $35,552. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 29.0% in 51301 and 23.5% in 51338. Poverty rate reads 13.1% vs 4.9%, and unemployment 4.0% vs 0.4% — 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 $188,300 in 51301 versus $125,200 in 51338, with median rent of $807 and $713 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 70.3% 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.