ZIP 52255 vs ZIP 52216

This side-by-side compares ZIP 52255 (Lowden, IA) and ZIP 52216 (Clarence, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 52255 has a population of 1,208 at 11 people per square mile, while ZIP 52216 has 1,428 at 10 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 52255 reports a median household income of $71,250 against $67,857 in ZIP 52216, with per-capita income of $42,486 vs $33,226. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 21.0% in 52255 and 14.4% in 52216. Poverty rate reads 9.6% vs 9.0%, and unemployment 4.0% 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 $156,400 in 52255 versus $191,900 in 52216, with median rent of $864 and $870 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 81.3% vs 69.6%. 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.