ZIP 51342 vs ZIP 51365

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51342 (Graettinger, IA) and ZIP 51365 (Wallingford, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51342 has a population of 1,249 at 6 people per square mile, while ZIP 51365 has 453 at 9 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 51342 reports a median household income of $84,866 against $71,667 in ZIP 51365, with per-capita income of $32,810 vs $35,164. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 14.2% in 51342 and 25.2% in 51365. Poverty rate reads 5.8% vs 5.4%, and unemployment 0.5% 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 $108,900 in 51342 versus $129,300 in 51365, with median rent of $518 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 83.2% vs 93.7%. 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.