ZIP code 50044 in Iowa had 250 Social Security beneficiaries in December 2024

ZIP code 50044 in Iowa had a reported 250 Social Security beneficiaries in December 2024. That total was down by 5 from December 2023; the change is approximate because ZIP-level counts are controlled-rounded by SSA, generally to the nearest multiple of five, and reflect only published rows above the threshold.

The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program, commonly called Social Security, pays monthly benefits to eligible retired and disabled workers, their dependents and survivors of insured workers. Eligibility and benefit amounts are based on a worker’s Social Security-covered earnings and contributions rather than financial need. OASDI is separate from Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, which provides benefits based largely on limited income and resources and is funded through general federal tax revenues rather than employment taxes.

In December 2024 the beneficiary mix included 190 retired workers, about 76% of the total, and 35 disabled workers, about 14%. Other reported groups were widow(er)s and parents with 10 beneficiaries (4%), spouses with 5 (2%), and children with 10 (4%). Retired workers were the largest group, followed by disabled workers. Approximately 200 beneficiaries, or about 80% of the reported total, were age 65 or older—a cross-cutting measure that spans all five categories and is not a separate category.

Compared with December 2023, there was a reported increase of 5 retired workers, no change among disabled workers or widow(er)s and parents, a reported decrease of 5 spouses (a 50% decline), and 5 fewer children (a reported decline of 33.3%). The spouse and children categories were lower than the prior December. All category values are independently rounded; in this instance the category numbers sum to the reported total, though rounded data do not always add exactly.

The total reported Social Security benefits disbursed in December 2024 for ZIP code 50044 stood at $441,000. The approximate average monthly benefit per beneficiary was about $1,764 for that month. Both figures are based on controlled-rounded underlying counts and should be interpreted as approximate.

Seven published December readings are available for ZIP code 50044, covering 2018 through 2024. Over that period the count fluctuated, with reported readings ranging between 245 and 255 before settling at 250 in the latest observation. This published sequence does not represent every year the ZIP existed, since only rows above the SSA publication threshold are included.

Iowa’s statewide December 2024 total was 701,239 Social Security beneficiaries, a reported increase of 13,609 from the prior year. The reported share for ZIP code 50044 was approximately 0% of the statewide total due to rounding. ZIP code 50044 tied for 458th among the 969 published ZIP rows in Iowa; the tie involved nine ZIP codes in the published universe. Iowa’s statewide rate was 218.4 Social Security beneficiaries per 1,000 residents, above the pooled comparison rate of 200.2 beneficiaries per 1,000 residents across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, based on 2024 Census data. State-level figures come from the published state-total record rather than from summing published ZIP rows. ZIP code assignment is based on SSA address records and may reflect a representative payee’s address rather than the beneficiary’s physical residence.

Beneficiary and benefit figures are drawn from OASDI Beneficiaries by State and ZIP Code, 2024, and state population data are from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey. Counts are for beneficiaries in current-payment status in December and assign ZIP code using SSA address records, which may reflect a representative payee’s address. ZIP-level counts are controlled-rounded, generally to the nearest five; categories are rounded independently and may not sum exactly to the published total. ZIP rows below the SSA publication threshold are omitted, so a missing row means unavailable rather than zero, and trends include only published years. National, state-total and field-office rows are excluded as ZIP story subjects; statewide context uses the published state-total record rather than summed ZIP rows. The 51-jurisdiction comparison is a pooled beneficiary-to-population ratio, not a national rate or an unweighted mean of jurisdiction rates.