These Are The 10 Most Boring Places In Indiana


We used data and science to identify which places in Indiana are total snoozefests.

Nick James, RoadSnacks
January 20, 2016 - 113,515 views
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This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

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There’s no denying it: there are plenty of places in Indiana that are downright beautiful and full of excitement.

Unfortunately, not all towns and cities in IN are so lucky. In fact, we used to live there, and outside of maybe five places, it’s really quite a boring place.

Just like in all U.S. States, there are definitely some boring places within Indiana’s borders. You know the places: the ones where everyone has an AARP card and the most exciting thing they do all day is post a picture of their grandchild on Facebook.

Like Yorktown, for instance. In our latest analysis, we found that this city was the most boring city in all of Indiana. But don’t feel bad if you’re a resident of Yorktown. There are plenty of other boring, lackluster places in Indiana as well.

Here they are. Try not to jump out of your seat with excitement:

  1. Yorktown
  2. St. John
  3. Hartford City
  4. Monticello
  5. Wabash
  6. Sellersburg
  7. Batesville
  8. Bargersville
  9. Rochester
  10. Munster

Before you get all upset if your city’s name is on the list, rest assured that we didn’t use personal opinion when it comes to what classifies a city or town as “boring” or “exciting”. We crunched actual numbers to figure out which towns are statistically more boring.

By the way, where are the most exciting places in Indiana? They are West Lafayette, Bloomington, Lafayette, Mishawaka (believe it or not) and Indianapolis. That makes sense.

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How we determined the boring cities in the Hoosier State

To figure out how boring a place is, we rely on a complex algorithm that factors in things we generally think make people exciting, and then we figure out which cities have the least number of those exciting people. We used the U.S. Census data to gather the information. Here are some of the things people tend to think of as making a city’s population boring:

  • % of Population Over 35 (higher is more boring)
  • % of Married Household (higher is more boring)
  • Average Age (higher is more boring)
  • % of Households With Kids (higher is more boring)
  • % of Households with People Over 65 (higher is more boring)
  • Population density (lower is more boring)

Then, our algorithm generates several lists of the cities that have plenty of residents with high rankings in all of these categories. After a crunching of the numbers, a list of all of the cities magically appears listing them from most boring to most exciting.

For this list, we used every Indiana city that qualified for our rankings based on having a population of at least 5,000 residents. This keeps us from prejudicing our rankings by including very small pockets of retired people.

Grab your rocker and hold on.

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1. Yorktown

Boring Indiana

Source: Public Domain

Population: 11,298
Average Age: 41.5
Married Households: 63.9%
Households With Kids: 40.7%

2. St. John

Boring Indiana

Source: wikipedia

Population: 15,160
Average Age: 40.9
Married Households: 66.7%
Households With Kids: 38.6%

3. Hartford City

Boring Indiana

Source: wikipedia

Population: 6,216
Average Age: 40.0
Married Households: 51.7%
Households With Kids: 36.5%

4. Monticello

Boring Indiana

Source: wikipedia

Population: 5,367
Average Age: 42.8
Married Households: 52.6%
Households With Kids: 28.2%

Yeah, this place has a theme park nearby, so at least there’s that. We just got word that Indiana Beach has been sold to another out-of-state owner – Apex Parks Group from California, which has ‘many years of amusement park experience,’ and that additionally, millions of capital dollars are currently being spent to upgrade and renovate Indiana Beach.

We sure hope so. That place was really going downhill.

5. Wabash

Boring Indiana

Source: wikipedia

Population: 10,598
Average Age: 41.2
Married Households: 49.9%
Households With Kids: 32.2%

6. Sellersburg

Boring Indiana

Source: Public Domain

Population: 6,147
Average Age: 38.6
Married Households: 54.5%
Households With Kids: 34.6%

7. Batesville

Boring Indiana

Source: wikipedia

Population: 6,753
Average Age: 39.0
Married Households: 59.4%
Households With Kids: 35.1%

8. Bargersville

Boring Indiana

Source: wikipedia

Population: 5,841
Average Age: 36.7
Married Households: 66.8%
Households With Kids: 42.1%

9. Rochester

Boring Indiana

Source: wikipedia

Population: 6,181
Average Age: 44.3
Married Households: 50.1%
Households With Kids: 22.7%

10. Munster

Boring Indiana

Source: wikipedia

Population: 23,445
Average Age: 44.5
Married Households: 54.7%
Households With Kids: 31.8%

Now That You’re Asleep

On a list like this, there are usually no winners, but since Indiana isn’t necessarily the most boring state in the United States (barely), the cities on this list can at least take solace that there are, in fact, more boring cities in the country.

Just not these places.

We also wrote about the 10 worst Indianapolis suburbs you could possibly live in. You might be surprised by what the data had to say.

Detailed List Of Boring to Exciting Cities In Indiana

City Rank Population Average Age Married Households Households With Kids
Yorktown 1 11,298 41.5 63.9% 40.7%
St. John 2 15,160 40.9 66.7% 38.6%
Hartford City 3 6,216 40.0 51.7% 36.5%
Monticello 4 5,367 42.8 52.6% 28.2%
Wabash 5 10,598 41.2 49.9% 32.2%
Sellersburg 6 6,147 38.6 54.5% 34.6%
Batesville 7 6,753 39.0 59.4% 35.1%
Bargersville 8 5,841 36.7 66.8% 42.1%
Rochester 9 6,181 44.3 50.1% 22.7%
Munster 10 23,445 44.5 54.7% 31.8%
Gas City 11 6,073 40.3 48.5% 29.0%
Linton 12 5,381 42.4 51.2% 30.2%
Mooresville 13 9,432 40.6 52.8% 31.6%
Dyer 14 16,336 43.3 58.8% 32.1%
Jasper 15 15,088 40.6 53.5% 30.2%
Alexandria 16 5,130 44.5 48.2% 31.3%
Rensselaer 17 5,812 44.3 50.1% 25.7%
Hobart 18 28,894 38.7 52.0% 30.9%
Carmel 19 81,756 38.7 66.8% 42.0%
Madison 20 12,032 44.0 46.0% 29.1%
Crown Point 21 27,904 40.1 52.8% 28.3%
Tell City 22 7,278 41.7 52.0% 25.5%
Boonville 23 6,238 38.6 62.8% 28.4%
Bedford 24 13,407 39.3 47.8% 28.7%
Huntingburg 25 6,022 33.6 55.1% 40.4%
Decatur 26 9,821 38.3 53.5% 34.8%
Chesterton 27 13,514 36.1 55.8% 37.6%
Schererville 28 29,096 41.2 55.5% 27.9%
Tipton 29 5,060 36.9 56.6% 33.0%
Danville 30 9,133 35.5 56.0% 40.3%
Plainfield 31 28,653 37.2 49.4% 37.1%
Scottsburg 32 6,720 36.0 43.7% 37.4%
Zionsville 33 23,794 38.5 67.5% 43.6%
Rushville 34 6,351 39.5 50.1% 30.9%
Bluffton 35 9,616 39.3 50.2% 27.1%
Avon 36 12,944 32.3 57.1% 51.6%
Lebanon 37 15,654 37.6 48.9% 34.4%
Connersville 38 13,305 39.8 44.5% 30.4%
Westfield 39 31,185 32.4 65.0% 49.0%
Mount Vernon 40 6,658 39.2 51.5% 36.2%
Portage 41 36,752 37.8 46.8% 34.2%
Plymouth 42 10,040 32.3 46.9% 41.3%
Greensburg 43 11,823 36.0 47.2% 32.9%
Highland 44 23,544 41.9 51.2% 27.6%
Auburn 45 12,973 37.9 50.8% 32.7%
Lawrenceburg 46 5,039 39.1 41.6% 34.7%
Cedar Lake 47 11,574 35.7 50.5% 37.5%
Nappanee 48 6,502 33.1 62.5% 41.6%
North Vernon 49 6,582 32.5 44.6% 37.9%
Columbus 50 44,978 36.8 51.1% 33.9%
Hunte 51 5,110 32.0 61.7% 48.1%
Princeton 52 8,620 37.5 48.8% 33.2%
Charlestown 53 7,710 36.7 43.0% 33.1%
Elwood 54 8,624 35.9 50.9% 37.5%
Lake Station 55 12,474 37.3 45.3% 33.8%
Warsaw 56 13,907 37.6 49.0% 29.0%
Garrett 57 5,925 33.9 53.7% 40.4%
Greenfield 58 20,841 36.3 46.9% 36.5%
New Haven 59 15,131 36.5 53.8% 32.2%
Seymour 60 18,400 36.2 50.5% 34.5%
Brownsburg 61 22,276 35.2 59.1% 37.7%
Merrillville 62 35,404 35.9 41.9% 33.4%
Noblesville 63 54,686 34.1 59.9% 39.5%
Gary 64 79,922 37.9 27.0% 31.5%
La Porte 65 21,937 36.8 47.8% 32.7%
Goshen 66 31,722 33.2 50.4% 36.7%
Jeffersonville 67 45,206 37.6 45.6% 30.1%
Richmond 68 36,727 38.1 41.3% 31.8%
Anderson 69 56,200 37.5 39.1% 29.3%
Martinsville 70 11,856 38.5 45.6% 34.6%
Lowell 71 9,296 32.1 53.3% 43.3%
Washington 72 11,659 37.8 46.6% 35.0%
Franklin 73 24,021 34.5 49.5% 37.4%
Peru 74 11,274 37.8 41.4% 33.1%
Crawfordsville 75 15,979 36.5 46.6% 29.9%
Kendallville 76 10,027 36.5 39.5% 35.1%
New Castle 77 17,948 40.0 41.8% 29.3%
Fishers 78 78,927 33.8 62.9% 47.4%
Shelbyville 79 18,989 36.7 42.0% 35.5%
Salem 80 6,278 35.5 41.2% 31.5%
Kokomo 81 55,589 39.2 47.8% 29.7%
Columbia City 82 8,896 37.2 45.5% 27.5%
Portland 83 6,537 34.9 45.8% 27.0%
Michigan City 84 31,369 38.1 36.2% 28.1%
Logansport 85 18,040 35.2 42.8% 35.6%
Brazil 86 8,055 35.7 45.1% 37.3%
Griffith 87 16,821 35.8 47.6% 32.7%
New Whiteland 88 5,561 31.4 60.7% 45.7%
Ellettsville 89 6,312 33.3 49.7% 30.9%
Greenwood 90 51,600 35.2 53.1% 32.7%
North Manchester 91 6,075 34.4 44.2% 27.6%
Marion 92 29,822 36.9 35.6% 27.1%
Clarksville 93 21,734 35.3 44.3% 30.4%
Speedway 94 11,886 40.3 41.0% 22.1%
Lawrence 95 46,304 33.8 47.5% 37.1%
Beech Grove 96 14,204 34.1 46.4% 35.1%
Westville 97 5,919 32.0 18.5% 42.0%
Frankfort 98 16,504 32.9 45.7% 33.2%
Angola 99 8,600 29.9 41.7% 30.6%
New Albany 100 36,513 37.8 40.0% 30.1%
Huntington 101 17,330 34.9 44.5% 31.4%
Cumberland 102 5,349 35.0 49.8% 31.5%
Fort Wayne 103 254,435 34.7 45.7% 32.5%
East Chicago 104 29,584 29.8 30.3% 42.6%
Elkhart 105 51,273 32.9 40.7% 37.5%
Valparaiso 106 31,491 33.4 43.1% 31.1%
Hammond 107 80,122 33.2 40.3% 37.4%
Evansville 108 119,677 36.3 40.6% 28.0%
South Bend 109 100,863 33.9 38.1% 33.0%
Greencastle 110 10,309 25.4 35.1% 33.8%
Terre Haute 111 61,002 32.7 34.0% 28.4%
Vincennes 112 18,287 31.7 40.1% 28.2%
Indianapolis 113 828,841 33.8 39.9% 31.5%
Mishawaka 114 48,079 34.8 39.5% 27.1%
Lafayette 115 69,181 31.3 44.1% 29.1%
Muncie 116 69,989 27.7 31.3% 22.6%
Bloomington 117 81,115 23.3 23.7% 18.1%
West Lafayette 118 30,137 22.7 26.1% 16.6%
 Boring, Rankings