Do you live in one of the most miserable places in Indiana?
According to a Harris Poll taken in October of 2015, only a third of Americans say they are truly happy. That’s too bad, considering that Americans – especially folks in Indiana – don’t really have it too bad, in the grand scheme of things.
But, we were curious – which Indiana cities might be the most miserable? We’re about to find out, using science and data.
After analyzing the largest cities, we sadly present the most miserable cities in the Hoosier State:
- Gary (Photos)
- East Chicago (Photos)
- Anderson (Photos)
- Connersville (Photos)
- Hammond (Photos)
- Dunkirk
- Union City (Photos)
- North Vernon
- Elkhart (Photos)
- New Castle (Photos)
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked. If you have a smile on your face, you probably don’t live in one of these cities.
Oh, and by the way, Highland is the happiest place in Indiana.
Or check out the Most Miserable Cities In America.
If you’re looking for something more positive, check out the best states in America or the best places to live in America.
How We Measured The Most Miserable Cities In Indiana
In order to rank the unhappiest places in Indiana, we had to determine what criteria makes people happy. It isn’t a stretch to assume that happy people earn great salaries, are relatively stress free, and have a stable home life.
So we went to the Census’s American Community Survey 2010-2014 report for the criteria, flipped the list, and it spit out the answer. Like magic.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible:
- Percentage of residents with a college degree
- Average commute times
- Unemployment rates
- Cost of living
- % of married couples
- % of home owners
- Poverty rate
After we decided on the criteria, we gathered the data for the 108 places in Indiana with over 2,000 people.
We then ranked each place from one to 161 for each of the seven criteria with a score of one being the most miserable (Any ties were given to the larger place).
Next, we averaged the seven rankings into a Miserable Index for each place with the lowest overall Miserable Index ‘earning’ the title ‘Most Miserable City In Indiana’.
If you’d like to see the complete list of states, most miserable to happiest, scroll to the bottom of this post to see the unabridged chart.
1. Gary
Population: 79,165People Who Own Their Home: 37.94%
Married Adults: 28.41%
2. East Chicago
Population: 29,387People Who Own Their Home: 32.4%
Married Adults: 29.7%
3. Anderson
Population: 55,789People Who Own Their Home: 47.43%
Married Adults: 39.23%
4. Connersville
Population: 13,267People Who Own Their Home: 48.78%
Married Adults: 40.69%
5. Hammond
Population: 79,585People Who Own Their Home: 53.77%
Married Adults: 39.97%
6. Dunkirk
Population: 2,365 People Who Own Their Home: 51.99%
Married Adults: 41.01%
7. Union City
Population: 3,606People Who Own Their Home: 51.16%
Married Adults: 41.2%
8. North Vernon
Population: 6,736 People Who Own Their Home: 48.62%
Married Adults: 40.18%
9. Elkhart
Population: 51,539People Who Own Their Home: 42.54%
Married Adults: 40.22%
10. New Castle
Population: 17,859People Who Own Their Home: 47.69%
Married Adults: 41.48%
There You Have It
Like we said earlier, trying to determine the most miserable cities in {state} is usually a subjective matter. But if you’re analyzing cities where people are not stable, where you’re stuck in traffic, and no one spent the time to go to college, then this is an accurate list.
If you’re curious enough, here are the happiest cities in {state}, according to science:
For more Indiana reading , check out:
- These Are The 10 Worst Places To Live In Indiana
- These Are The 10 Most Ghetto Cities In Indiana
- These Are The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Indiana
Detailed List Of Miserable Places In Indiana
| City | Rank |
|---|---|
| Gary | 1 |
| East Chicago | 2 |
| Anderson | 3 |
| Connersville | 4 |
| Hammond | 5 |
| Dunkirk | 6 |
| Union City | 7 |
| North Vernon | 8 |
| Elkhart | 9 |
| New Castle | 10 |
| Michigan City | 11 |
| Brazil | 12 |
| Indianapolis | 13 |
| Muncie | 14 |
| Lake Station | 15 |
| Terre Haute | 16 |
| Spencer | 17 |
| Lagrange | 18 |
| Richmond | 19 |
| Elwood | 20 |
| Mishawaka | 21 |
| Logansport | 22 |
| Salem | 23 |
| Martinsville | 24 |
| Westville | 25 |
| Mitchell | 26 |
| Butler | 27 |
| Lawrenceburg | 28 |
| Hanover | 29 |
| New Albany | 30 |
| Plymouth | 31 |
| Marion | 32 |
| Crawfordsville | 33 |
| Peru | 34 |
| Bloomfield | 35 |
| Shelbyville | 36 |
| Austin | 37 |
| Kendallville | 38 |
| Cloverdale | 39 |
| Hebron | 40 |
| Frankfort | 41 |
| Sullivan | 42 |
| Vincennes | 43 |
| Syracuse | 44 |
| Lafayette | 45 |
| Sheridan | 46 |
| Merrillville | 47 |
| Evansville | 48 |
| Kokomo | 49 |
| Bloomington | 50 |
| Charlestown | 51 |
| Hartford City | 52 |
| Petersburg | 53 |
| Paoli | 54 |
| Bedford | 55 |
| Winchester | 56 |
| La Porte | 57 |
| Lawrence | 58 |
| Aurora | 59 |
| Gas City | 60 |
| Goshen | 61 |
| Angola | 62 |
| Beech Grove | 63 |
| Clinton | 64 |
| Brookville | 65 |
| Fort Wayne | 66 |
| Rockport | 67 |
| Rockville | 68 |
| Rochester | 69 |
| Alexandria | 70 |
| West Lafayette | 71 |
| Clarksville | 72 |
| Valparaiso | 73 |
| Centerville | 74 |
| Madison | 75 |
| Versailles | 76 |
| Waterloo | 77 |
| Greensburg | 78 |
| Portage | 79 |
| Huntington | 80 |
| Flora | 81 |
| Linton | 82 |
| Seymour | 83 |
| Greencastle | 84 |
| Albion | 85 |
| Cedar Lake | 86 |
| Portland | 87 |
| Chandler | 88 |
| Griffith | 89 |
| Bremen | 90 |
| Columbia City | 91 |
| Jeffersonville | 92 |
| Greenwood | 93 |
| Franklin | 94 |
| Cicero | 95 |
| Garrett | 96 |
| Lowell | 97 |
| Fowler | 98 |
| Cumberland | 99 |
| Fremont | 100 |
| Hobart | 101 |
| Warsaw | 102 |
| Chesterfield | 103 |
| Lebanon | 104 |
| Pendleton | 105 |
| Wabash | 106 |
| Monticello | 107 |
| Greenfield | 108 |
| New Whiteland | 109 |
| Washington | 110 |
| Princeton | 111 |
| Upland | 112 |
| Liberty | 113 |
| Huntingburg | 114 |
| Williamsport | 115 |
| Fairmount | 116 |
| North Manchester | 117 |
| Bluffton | 118 |
| Hope | 119 |
| Greendale | 120 |
| Plainfield | 121 |
| Crown Point | 122 |
| Mooresville | 123 |
| Chesterton | 124 |
| Decatur | 125 |
| Nappanee | 126 |
| Mount Vernon | 127 |
| Tipton | 128 |
| Auburn | 129 |
| Rensselaer | 130 |
| Covington | 131 |
| Danville | 132 |
| New Haven | 133 |
| Lakes Of The Four Seasons | 134 |
| Ellettsville | 135 |
| Highland | 136 |
| Boonville | 137 |
| Munster | 138 |
| Bargersville | 139 |
| Columbus | 140 |
| New Carlisle | 141 |
| Dyer | 142 |
| Noblesville | 143 |
| Bright | 144 |
| Dunlap | 145 |
| Winfield | 146 |
| Newburgh | 147 |
| Tell City | 148 |
| Brownsburg | 149 |
| Middlebury | 150 |
| Osceola | 151 |
| Avon | 152 |
| Fishers | 153 |
| Hidden Valley | 154 |
| Carmel | 155 |
| Westfield | 156 |
| Batesville | 157 |
| Zionsville | 158 |
| Jasper | 159 |
| Granger | 160 |
| Highland | 161 |
I think your full of crap!!!! Union City maybe small town and not a lot of jobs but the residents love this town. If you never lived there you have no clue!! I’m sure you never lived in any off the towns you listed. Small towns have pride and they love the community of a small town.
Wow, the Sarge is all jacked up. I live in one of the “top” 3 and have spent enough time in most of the others to know this list to be fairly accurate. Look, as a commuter life sucks for an extra 10hours a week. This is a purely stats based article, don’t get so worked up.
Gotta say, this is pretty crappy “science”. You chose to look at happiness based on unemployment and college graduate status in an area of the country that relies heavily on manufacturing (especially of luxury goods like RVs) with a dataset that comes right after the hardest part of the recession. Elkhart, Indiana had the highest unemployment rate in the country during the recession. Sure, that made people sad, but with your pictures you make these towns look desolate. Have you ever been to Elkhart or Goshen or Nappanee or Brookville or Greencastle? These are great little towns with lots of character. And seriously?… West Lafayette is home to Purdue.
Do you stupid idiots in North Carolina have a clue as to the true location of the image shown in #6 of the first slideshow? Get an education before you go posting garbage about places you know NOTHING about.
How did Bloomington escape your list with percentages of 23 and 31 percent? Don’t blame it on IU either.
At lease you was right about Gary being number 1
So whete does our little towns like crothersville indiana or deputy indiana fit in
A different evaluation named North Vernon as one of the first two Stellar cities in Indiana, an honor where many communities applied, but only two were selected. How can two evaluations be so far apart – unless the systems are flawed. Also, if you want a level playing field, put up a picture of our downtown, rather than one house in town. We have the largest collection of Mesker storefronts in Indiana. I just came from a community production at our restored Park Theatre Civic Center. The criteria for determining this ranking is very flawed – starting with the assumption that married people are happier than single people. Whoever designed the research methodology would get a failing grade in any research class.
Are married people really happier?
I live in north Vernon and it’s a nice place to live. The house you shown is an older couple whom can’t afford to have their home upkeep. So please take pictures across the street and the surrounding neighborhood! We have good schools good neighborhoods as well as rough neighborhoods like other cities. Check into the surrounding cities, like Austin, Scottsburg, then rate North Vernon!
Did you interview or survey the residents of these communities to ask if their views and experiences were remotely supportive of your conclusions? Sounds more like an evaluation of how close a community is to the nearest SMSA.
The comment was made about science and data being used. Was the research model one that would be recognized as valid for a middle school science fair? Seriously, I live in North Vernon and am familiar with the house pictured. It is a real house, but looks nothing like the house next to it, or across the street.Go to Google Earth, get on North Vernon, go to Jennings Street and you will find it. Then look at others on the same street. Look across the street (Jennings). Then go to the next street over and look at the houses on South State. The pictures are factual and neutral and each person can draw their own conclusions via the broader data. Selective data can prove anything. As for me…I’m happy in North Vernon…Tom Taylor
I’d drive to Dunkirk, Indiana just to ride that double-decker bus!
I’ve been there, and I missed the bus!! I kinda think the writer (s) did too!