The Hoosier State. A state that’s about 90% farms and one large city, with small places sprinkled between long stretches of corn and beans. A place with a rich history, great colleges, and some of the friendliest people in the midwest. There are some really nice places in Indiana.
But is it all great there? Of course not. Just like every other state, Indiana has its trouble spots. The purpose of this post is to use science and data to determine which cities in the Hoosier State have some serious issues, at least on paper.
After analyzing 116 of the state’s most populous cities, we came up with this list as the 10 worst places to live in Indiana:
The 10 Worst Places To Live In Indiana For 2023
Where are these places, you wonder? And before you get all riled up and say we’re picking on small towns in Indiana, that’s not the case.
We understand there’s a lot of good in every place. For example, the best place to live in Indiana is Winona Lake.
However, according to data (which doesn’t measure things like beauty and ‘friendly people’), the state has far better options for making a place home. And the worst place to live in Indiana? The worst place to live in Indiana is Lake Station.
Read below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your city fared in 2023.
If you’re looking for something more national, check out the worst cities in America or the worst states in America.
For more Indiana reading, check out:
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Worst Places To Live In Indiana For 2023
/10
Population: 13,292
Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)
Median Home Value: $88,700
Unemployment Rate: 17.0%
More on Lake Station: Data
The “lake” part of Lake Station comes from its position near the southern coast of Lake Michigan. “Station” is there because the town once served as the endpoint for a key railroad. These days, Lake Station still has a transportation connection, as it sits along I-90, one of the country’s main east-west arteries.
Unfortunately, while you might pass through Lake Station, you wouldn’t want to stop very long. It stands as the number 1 worst spot in Indiana.
Crime and the economy are the main problems in the area. The crime rate is 20% above normal and the poverty rate sits at 18.1%.
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There’s probably not a single person in the state that would be surprised that Gary tops this list. In fact, if Gary wasn’t atop this list, most people would start to wonder if our data was accurate.
Here are the statistics. Gary has the 8th worst crime rate in Indiana. No surprises there. How dangerous is it though? There were almost 399 violent crimes in Gary in 2023. Residents here had a 1 in 174 chance of being killed, raped or attacked. Just wow.
The home values in Gary are the 4th cheapest in the state ($70,600), the unemployment rate is the 2nd highest (12.8%), and the annual household income is 4th lowest in Indiana, at $34,085. That’s basically at the poverty level for a family of four.
If there’s one bright side to Gary, it’s that the education is ranked above average. Meaning the kids at Gary public schools are getting as much attention and support as possible. Hopefully, that has an impact on the next generation that grows up here.
It’s pretty much Gary, and then everyone else on this list.
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Population: 7,203
Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 2)
Median Home Value: $99,900
Unemployment Rate: 5.6%
More on Scottsburg: Data
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Since the southside of Chicago is one of the worst areas for crime in the nation, you can sure expect that East Chicago is going to be pretty rough. It is. In fact, East Chicago has the 16th-highest crime rate in the state. Probably no surprises there.
There were 284 violent crimes here in 2023, and residents have a 1 in 44.0 chance of being the victim of a property crime. That means, most likely, if you live in East Chicago, either you or someone on your block had their home or car broken into last year.
You can also imagine that the economy here is in the pits. It is. The only thing saving East Chicago from being higher on the list is that the public schools are well funded. They may not be safe, but at least the kids are getting as much attention as they want.
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Anderson is the first of a few cities near Indianapolis to make this list. When you’re comparing things to Gary, things look a lot better here, but they still have some issues, according to science.
Anderson is the 26th most dangerous place in Indiana, according to FBI statistics. And the residents here have a hard time keeping a job — at least in comparison to the rest of the state. The unemployment rate is 7.4% — not horrible — but worse than the state average.
Home values are really low ($84,600), and residents earn just $40,632 a year.
Plus, it’s an hour drive into downtown Indy, so your entertainment options are fairly limited.
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There’s absolutely nothing to do in Connersville. Located out in the boonies toward the Ohio state line, the residents are most likely bored, and probably wouldn’t have much disposable income to do much even if there was some form of entertainment. At least they can spend their Sundays with Andrew Luck.
The unemployment rate is the 26th highest in the state (6.2%), the income levels and home prices are both in the bottom five in Indiana as well.
However, the public kids get just about as much attention and support than in any other region.
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Terre Haute has some nice people, that’s for sure. But if you’ve ever been there, it’s a little lacking in a strong economy.
The median income is even lower than it is in Anderson, as households have a hard time making a living with a combined $32,000 a year. The crime is 9th highest in the state, and Terre Haute residents have a 1 in 20 chance of being the victim of a property crime. Meaning lots of stolen laptops, cell phones and tractor implements.
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Hammond is located in the northwest part of the state, right along the Illinois border. It’s basically a suburb of Chicago, with a 40-minute drive taking you into the Loop. Unfortunately, a prime location isn’t enough to make a town an attractive place to live.
Hammond suffers from high crime, a weak economy, and a bad educational system. The crime rate stands about 66% above the national average. The poverty rate hovers at 21.2%. Meanwhile, the best school in the area only gets a score of 5/10 from Great Schools.
The 77,491 inhabitants of Hammond have some nice things, however. With a northern border along Lake Michigan, the town boasts the Hammond Lakefront Park and Bird Sanctuary.
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Linton is located in western Indiana, in a mostly rural region about two hours southwest of Indianpolis. The town suffers from a weak economy and bad school system. These factors make it one of the worst places to live in Indiana.
It’s tough to make ends meet for the town’s 5,155 inhabitants. The median income is a skimpy $38,179, meaning that 15.8% of the residents have to scrape by below the poverty line. Without much of a tax base, the educational system in the area suffers. Linton’s schools top out at 6/10 on Great Schools.
Still, the people of Linton have plenty of ways to find their joy. One attraction: the Greene Sullivan State Forest is just a 10-minute drive outside of town.
Methodology: How we determined the worst places to live in Indiana for 2023
To figure out the worst places to live in Indiana, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.
We don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that people like the following things:
- Good education
- Lots of jobs
- Low crime
- Low poverty
- Nice homes
- High incomes
- High population density (Lots of things to do)
- Short work commutes
- Health insurance
The data comes from the Census’s most recent American Community Survey and the FBI Uniform Crime Report.
We broke crime down into violent crime and property crime to give violent crime a more significant weight. If you did a simple calculation of all crimes per capita, property crimes are typically 7x more common and bias that ranking.
Furthermore, only cities with at least 5,000 people were considered — leaving 116 cities.
We then ranked each city from 1 to 116 for all the criteria, with a #1 ranking being the worst for the particular criteria.
Next, we averaged the rankings into one “Worst Place To Live Score.”
Finally, we ranked every city on the “Worst Place To Live Score,” with the lowest score being the worst city in Indiana — Lake Station. Read on for a detailed look at the ten worst cities in Indiana.
Summary: Wrapping Up The Worst In Indiana
If you’re looking at areas in Indiana with the worst economic situations, where there’s higher than average crime and little to do, this is an accurate list.
And in the end, Lake Station ranks as the worst city to live in Indiana for 2023.
If you’re curious enough, here are the best cities to live in Indiana:
- Carmel (Pop. 98,137)
- New Whiteland (Pop. 5,565)
- Winona Lake (Pop. 5,059)
For more Indiana reading, check out:
Worst Places To Live In Indiana?
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Lake Station | 13,292 |
2 | Gary | 69,739 |
3 | Scottsburg | 7,203 |
4 | East Chicago | 26,502 |
5 | Anderson | 54,459 |
6 | Connersville | 13,556 |
7 | Elkhart | 53,838 |
8 | Terre Haute | 58,450 |
9 | Hammond | 77,491 |
10 | Linton | 5,155 |
11 | Salem | 6,276 |
12 | Richmond | 35,854 |
13 | Indianapolis | 880,104 |
14 | Marion | 27,757 |
15 | Peru | 11,123 |
16 | South Bend | 102,786 |
17 | Plymouth | 10,209 |
18 | North Vernon | 6,836 |
19 | Beech Grove | 15,202 |
20 | Muncie | 65,571 |
21 | Evansville | 117,184 |
22 | Monticello | 5,508 |
23 | Crawfordsville | 16,279 |
24 | La Porte | 21,993 |
25 | Warsaw | 15,905 |
26 | Hobart | 29,516 |
27 | Clarksville | 22,169 |
28 | Huntingburg | 6,534 |
29 | Mishawaka | 50,823 |
30 | Madison | 12,227 |
31 | Martinsville | 11,848 |
32 | Rochester | 6,248 |
33 | Wabash | 10,420 |
34 | Goshen | 34,792 |
35 | Merrillville | 36,196 |
36 | Elwood | 8,295 |
37 | Nappanee | 7,132 |
38 | New Castle | 17,465 |
39 | New Albany | 37,350 |
40 | Kendallville | 9,926 |
41 | Winchester | 5,016 |
42 | Speedway | 13,613 |
43 | Schererville | 29,381 |
44 | Mooresville | 9,429 |
45 | Lawrence | 49,048 |
46 | Lawrenceburg | 5,083 |
47 | Bedford | 13,726 |
48 | Portland | 6,334 |
49 | Washington | 12,015 |
50 | Portage | 37,540 |
51 | Fort Wayne | 262,676 |
52 | Seymour | 21,192 |
53 | Lafayette | 70,928 |
54 | Vincennes | 16,892 |
55 | Angola | 8,916 |
56 | Alexandria | 5,120 |
57 | Logansport | 18,471 |
58 | Winfield | 6,924 |
59 | Rushville | 6,289 |
60 | Bloomington | 80,064 |
61 | Shelbyville | 19,710 |
62 | Lebanon | 17,196 |
63 | North Manchester | 5,269 |
64 | Westville | 6,062 |
65 | Kokomo | 59,263 |
66 | Greensburg | 11,573 |
67 | Charlestown | 7,859 |
68 | Rensselaer | 5,963 |
69 | Cedar Lake | 13,725 |
70 | Frankfort | 16,134 |
71 | New Haven | 15,922 |
72 | Tipton | 5,211 |
73 | Jeffersonville | 49,178 |
74 | Decatur | 9,630 |
75 | Greencastle | 9,980 |
76 | Princeton | 8,337 |
77 | Batesville | 7,204 |
78 | Plainfield | 34,311 |
79 | Brazil | 8,320 |
80 | Boonville | 6,662 |
81 | Bargersville | 9,024 |
82 | Garrett | 6,592 |
83 | Avon | 20,848 |
84 | McCordsville | 8,629 |
85 | Columbus | 50,718 |
86 | Chesterton | 14,045 |
87 | Bluffton | 10,548 |
88 | Franklin | 25,112 |
89 | Griffith | 16,213 |
90 | Mount Vernon | 6,861 |
91 | Sellersburg | 9,686 |
92 | Huntington | 17,018 |
93 | Valparaiso | 33,820 |
94 | Lowell | 10,569 |
95 | Greenfield | 23,024 |
96 | Porter | 5,175 |
97 | Greenwood | 62,914 |
98 | Cumberland | 5,860 |
99 | Whitestown | 9,529 |
100 | Noblesville | 68,885 |