ZIP code 50109

ZIP 50109 is a small town in Polk County, Iowa, with 3,371 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #184 of 970 ranked by population — larger than 81% of them. The median age here is 37.5 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in ZIP 50109 earn a median of $130,263 a year, 65.9% above the national figure of $78,538. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 3.5% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 50109 is valued at $337,400, 11.2% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $923 a month, 34.4% below the national figure, or roughly $11,076 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 8.5% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 2.6×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 87.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.

ZIP 50109 is tabulated inside Polk County, Iowa, one of 33 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 970 across Iowa. Population sits in the small-town band, typically one main street plus the addresses that feed into it. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 50109 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 50109 reports a median household income of $130,263, 46% above the $89,323 county median, and 83% above the $71,182 typical IA ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $337,400, 26% above the county figure and 123% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $923 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Iowa charges 6% statewide, and local governments overlapping 50109 may add county, city or special-district levies on top. We publish the state floor for this ZIP rather than guessing a combined figure, because ZIP boundaries and taxing-district boundaries were drawn for different purposes and do not line up.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 50109 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.