ZIP 52246 vs ZIP 52242

This side-by-side compares ZIP 52246 (Iowa City, IA) and ZIP 52242 (Iowa City, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 52246 has a population of 21,114 at 898 people per square mile, while ZIP 52242 has 1,592 at 855 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 52246 reports a median household income of $62,521 against — in ZIP 52242, with per-capita income of $46,110 vs $4,779. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 67.3% in 52246 and 0.0% in 52242. Poverty rate reads 24.1% vs 62.5%, and unemployment 3.9% vs 11.6% — 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 $348,900 in 52246 versus — in 52242, with median rent of $1,057 and — per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 45.2% vs 0.0%. 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.