ZIP 52054 vs ZIP 52079

This side-by-side compares ZIP 52054 (La Motte, IA) and ZIP 52079 (Zwingle, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 52054 has a population of 940 at 7 people per square mile, while ZIP 52079 has 782 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 52054 reports a median household income of $103,819 against $101,120 in ZIP 52079, with per-capita income of $44,486 vs $75,837. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 20.1% in 52054 and 18.3% in 52079. Poverty rate reads 5.3% vs 9.7%, and unemployment 1.0% 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 $225,000 in 52054 versus $237,800 in 52079, with median rent of — and $950 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 94.0% vs 97.2%. 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.