50036Boone, Iowa

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 50036.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 44% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 29% of 6,210 published ZIP areas65
SchoolsTop 34% of 4,422 published ZIP areas64
Growth4847th of 5,428 published ZIP areas24
Housing affordabilityTop 9% of 6,685 published ZIP areas100
Climate6274th of 6,789 published ZIP areas57
Physical resilience3694th of 6,709 published ZIP areas52
Access5642nd of 6,791 published ZIP areas76
Economic stabilityTop 36% of 6,742 published ZIP areas67
The quick read

Unemployment is 2.9% and median household income $79,255, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published ZIP profiles.

Residential permitting has slowed: 13 units authorized over the past twelve months, 93% below the prior year.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 13% of median household income and the median home is 2.5 times it.

At a glance

Population
16,154
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$79,255
Top 39% nationally
Density
84/sq mi
191.7 sq mi of land
Median age
41.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Boone
Iowa
Metro area
Ames, IA
Nearest major airport
DSM
39 mi · Des Moines Intl
Median home value
$194,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 2.9% is lower than 97% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 1.5% over the past year, to 13,524 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$7,336$79,255Top 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,394$41,184Top 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate6.9%Bottom 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute22.9 minBottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher28.0%Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment13,524Bottom 7%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.2%Top 47%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.5%Bottom 34%June 2026
Labor force13,931Bottom 7%June 2026
Labor force participation66.3%Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$61,910Bottom 27%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$50,220Bottom 49%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 18%June 2026
Unemployment rate2.9%Bottom 3%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202479k67k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $79,255 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Ames, IA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,620$29,220
Cashiers1,470$29,230
Retail Salespersons1,460$32,460
Stockers and Order Fillers1,110$36,240
Registered Nurses1,070$77,160
General and Operations Managers1,040$97,700

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Boone, IA, the city containing this ZIP code.

64% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 70% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.4 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
63.9%
Top 48% in Iowa
Reading proficiency
70.1%
Top 29% in Iowa
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Boone High SchoolBoone Comm School District70414.1
Boone Middle SchoolBoone Comm School District58614.347%65%
Ledges Elementary SchoolBoone Comm School District33612.9
Franklin Elementary SchoolBoone Comm School District32912.275%70%
United Community SchoolUnited Comm School District32912.784%80%

33.1% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Iowa’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $847 takes 13% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.5 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
12.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$847
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$194,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.45Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate76.8%Bottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2307,491Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$98$847Bottom 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,142$194,400Bottom 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income12.8%Bottom 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate10.1%Bottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
24/ 100
Ranks 4847 of 5,428 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
13
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.0
Bottom 27% nationally
Year over year
−93%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Boone, IA, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 11°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 35.9 inches.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station AMES MUNI AP, 13.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation35.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low11°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing54°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

52 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, drought and tornado.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 88% of measured US ZIP areas.

DroughtElevated
TornadoHigh
Cold waveHigh
Strong windElevated
Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: hail, winter weather, landslide, ice storm, earthquake, wildfire, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Boone County records 2.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 10.3 per 100,000 residents in Boone County.

Homicide
2.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
10.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Boone County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 50036 rather than 50036 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 39 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Des Moines IntlDSM39 mi9,004 ft
Waterloo RgnlALO81 mi8,399 ft
The Eastern IowaCID111 mi8,600 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
62
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

50036 vs Boone

How this ZIP area compares with Boone as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

50036
Boone
Median household income
$79,255
vs
$69,222
Per capita income
$41,184
vs
$36,117
Population density
84/sq mi
vs
1,359/sq mi
Median home value
$194,400
vs
$173,000
Median gross rent
$847
vs
$831
Homeownership rate
76.8%
vs
71.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher
28.0%
vs
24.0%
Poverty rate
6.9%
vs
8.3%
Median age
41.8
vs
41.3

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.