ZIP 52581 vs ZIP 52583

This side-by-side compares ZIP 52581 (Plano, IA) and ZIP 52583 (Promise City, IA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 52581 has a population of 305 at 3 people per square mile, while ZIP 52583 has 342 at 3 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 52581 reports a median household income of $55,000 against $52,083 in ZIP 52583, with per-capita income of $33,107 vs $25,540. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 10.9% in 52581 and 7.5% in 52583. Poverty rate reads 4.8% vs 31.4%, and unemployment 15.5% 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 $154,900 in 52581 versus $82,500 in 52583, with median rent of — and $1,104 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 88.5% vs 78.7%. 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.