ZIP code profile · 2024 county data

ZIP Code 50588

Buena Vista County, Iowa: Census demographics for this ZIP plus the containing county's FBI UCR crime rate.

Data updated 2026-08-24

125
Property rate /100K (county)
13,263
Population (ZIP)
43
Violent rate /100K (county)

Is ZIP code 50588 safe? Honest data snapshot

ZIP code 50588 sits within Buena Vista County, IA. The figures below are the county's own FBI UCR numbers for 2024, the most accurate available statistic for this location, not a ZIP-specific calculation.

Buena Vista County reported a violent-crime rate of 43 per 100,000 residents and a property-crime rate of 125 per 100,000 in 2024, drawing on county-level agency submissions.

Based on just 9 reported violent incidents across a county population of 20,823, this count is too low to support a reliable per-100K rate comparison. It may reflect a genuinely low-crime county, or it may reflect incomplete agency-level reporting to the FBI UCR Program for this county and year, small county-level counts are common in FBI Table 10 and should be treated as a data point, not a precise safety ranking.

ZIP 50588 is the largest ZIP in Buena Vista County by population, 13,263 residents (#1 of 8 county ZIPs), across 138.81 square miles (96/sq mi). For a full breakdown of Buena Vista County's crime categories and year-over-year trend, see the Buena Vista County crime page linked below.

ZIP 50588 has no FBI-native crime rate (postal codes are not police jurisdictions). The property-led county proxy above is from Buena Vista County agency submissions; see methodology for the ZCTA plurality map. Methodology.

ZIP 50588 Census context

These are ZIP/ZCTA demographic estimates, separate from the county-level FBI proxy above. They describe the local settlement, not a crime rate.

Median household income
$56,608
Median age
32.0 years
Owner-occupied homes
63%
Occupied homes
4,714

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 5-year ZCTA estimates (income, age, and occupied housing tenure).

Buena Vista County UCR book ZIP 50588 inherits

ZIP 50588 itself is about 96 people per Census sq mi across 138.8 sq mi (13,263 residents), a postal settlement fact independent of the county UCR proxy.

ZIP 50588's 13,263 residents are about 63.7% of the 2024 county reporting population (20,823), a large postal share of a county-wide rate.

Buena Vista County leans on larceny-theft at 34% of reported offenses (mix index 2,571). ZIP 50588 has no separate FBI offense book.

Buena Vista County 2024 vs 2023: property counts -4% vs 2023. Year-over-year moves are county agency submissions, still not ZIP-native.

Buena Vista County offense mix (2024)

Mix index is HHI × 10,000 on county offense-type shares. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero; still county-agency data, not a ZIP-native FBI table.

Nationwide peers for ZIP 50588

Similar county violent rate (~43/100K)

Similar Census population (~13,263)

County detail: Buena Vista County · State atlas: Iowa

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ZIP population, land area, 2020 ZCTA-to-county relationship file, ACS 5-year estimates) and FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States (CIUS) Table 10 (county-level crime, attributed via ZIP-to-county crosswalk).

Verify with Census.gov Geography and FBI.gov UCR.

Read our methodology , how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page combines Census ZIP-level figures with a ZIP-to-county crosswalk to attribute FBI UCR crime data honestly, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.