ZIP 51536 vs ZIP 51521

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51536 (Hancock, IA) and ZIP 51521 (Avoca, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51536 has a population of 448 at 4 people per square mile, while ZIP 51521 has 2,036 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 51536 reports a median household income of $101,750 against $73,769 in ZIP 51521, with per-capita income of $41,331 vs $46,316. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 17.3% in 51536 and 28.0% in 51521. Poverty rate reads 19.2% vs 8.9%, and unemployment 0.4% vs 1.0% — 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 $163,200 in 51536 versus $202,800 in 51521, with median rent of $862 and $860 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 80.9% vs 73.3%. 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.