ZIP 51559 vs ZIP 51576

This side-by-side compares ZIP 51559 (Neola, IA) and ZIP 51576 (Underwood, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 51559 has a population of 1,788 at 8 people per square mile, while ZIP 51576 has 2,110 at 16 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 51559 reports a median household income of $74,761 against $110,476 in ZIP 51576, with per-capita income of $36,076 vs $47,631. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 22.5% in 51559 and 31.1% in 51576. Poverty rate reads 6.2% vs 1.7%, and unemployment 10.7% vs 3.5% — 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 $201,800 in 51559 versus $305,400 in 51576, with median rent of $961 and $1,172 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 74.1% vs 89.2%. 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.