ZIP 51333 vs ZIP 51358

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51333 (Dickens, IA) and ZIP 51358 (Ruthven, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51333 has a population of 522 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 51358 has 1,310 at 7 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 51333 reports a median household income of $110,833 against $64,583 in ZIP 51358, with per-capita income of $55,984 vs $33,049. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.4% in 51333 and 29.0% in 51358. Poverty rate reads 3.8% vs 12.9%, and unemployment 0.9% vs 0.9% — 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 $195,600 in 51333 versus $150,500 in 51358, with median rent of $1,097 and $638 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 92.1% vs 82.1%. 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.