ZIP code 50309

ZIP 50309 is a mid-size town in Polk County, Iowa, with 9,199 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #86 of 970 ranked by population — larger than 91% of them. The median age here is 28.9 years against 39.1 nationally, a distinctly younger profile, typical of places with students, military posts or a fast-growing family population. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 50309 earn a median of $57,974 a year, 26.2% below the national figure of $78,538. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 17.1% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 50309 is valued at $286,900, 5.4% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,166 a month, 17.1% below the national figure, or roughly $13,992 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 24.1% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 4.9×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 11.7% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, a renter-majority market, so rent figures matter more here than the home-value line. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

A median age of 28.9 means a large student or early-career population; income medians in places like this understate household resources, since many residents are supported from outside the address.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. 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 50309 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 50309 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 50309 reports a median household income of $57,974, 35% below the $89,323 county median, and 19% below the $71,182 typical IA ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $286,900, 7% above the county figure and 89% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,166 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

A taxable purchase made inside 50309 carries 7% at the register, assembled from the Des Moines jurisdiction stack: the Iowa state rate plus every county, municipal and special district levy that reaches this address. Because those district boundaries were drawn for schools, transit and hospital funding rather than for mail delivery, two addresses inside 50309 can legitimately fall under different totals — the rate shown here is the one that applies to the dominant jurisdiction.

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 50309 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.