Some of you might be asking yourself, at this very moment, is Indiana a good place?
The answer is unequivocally yes… if you know where to locate the best counties to live in Indiana.
Lucky for you, we’re here to help you identify the best counties to live in the Hoosier State based on the most recently available data from the Census. And this isn’t our first rodeo — we’ve been using Saturday Night Science to rank places for years.
The question becomes if you wanted to relocate to the best part of Indiana, where would you go? To answer that, we looked at crime, cost of living, and demographic data for all 92 counties in the state.
Hamilton County is the county to be when it comes to living the good life in Indiana. And you should avoid Wayne County if you can — at least according to the data.
$121,530 median income · 2.8% unemployment
$111,250 median income · 2.8% unemployment
$101,144 median income · 2.6% unemployment
$89,844 median income · 3.1% unemployment
$78,528 median income · 2.2% unemployment
$93,186 median income · 2.7% unemployment
$84,735 median income · 1.9% unemployment
$78,129 median income · 1.8% unemployment
$90,454 median income · 3.0% unemployment
$78,378 median income · 3.1% unemployment
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Indiana’s statewide median.
Indiana statewide median: $71,957
Indiana statewide median: $254,122
Indiana statewide median: 4.3%
On the map
Where Indiana’s best counties are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine which Indiana county is the best?
To give you the best county in Indiana, we have to look at a handful of metrics that signal the quality of a place. To do that, we made assumptions about what’s in a “best county” and what isn’t. For reference, we are trying to make the kind of argument you’d make at a bar using facts, Saturday Night Science.
With that in mind, we went to two of the best data sources on the internet. Namely, the American Community Survey data and FBI Crime data for the most recent period.
We paid particular attention to:
- Violent Crime Rates
- Property Crime Rates
- Median Home Values
- Median Income
- Unemployment Rates
- Adult Education Levels
- Health Insurance Coverage
- Poverty Rates
We then ranked each county in Indiana across each of the criteria from one to 92, with one being the best.
Taking the average rank across all criteria, we created a quality of life score with the county posting the lowest overall score being the “Best County To Live In Indiana.”
The result is some of the safest, quietest, and best counties to raise a family in the Hoosier State.
We updated this article for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the best counties to live in Indiana.
Read on to see why Hamilton County is the best county, while Wayne County is probably in contention for being the worst county in Indiana.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Best Counties In Indiana
Click any column to sort. Search by county name.
| Rank | County | Population | Median Income | Median Home Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hamilton County | 365,056 | $121,530 | $459,567 |
| 2 | Boone County | 74,718 | $111,250 | $415,267 |
| 3 | Hendricks County | 183,344 | $101,144 | $341,028 |
| 4 | Warrick County | 65,261 | $89,844 | $289,812 |
| 5 | Brown County | 15,606 | $78,528 | $361,297 |
| 6 | Hancock County | 84,037 | $93,186 | $326,184 |
| 7 | Dearborn County | 51,094 | $84,735 | $326,619 |
| 8 | Posey County | 25,116 | $78,129 | $236,929 |
| 9 | Johnson County | 166,315 | $90,454 | $312,237 |
| 10 | Putnam County | 37,280 | $78,378 | $267,414 |
| 11 | Ohio County | 5,999 | $70,392 | $281,622 |
| 12 | Porter County | 174,818 | $87,972 | $327,209 |
| 13 | Spencer County | 19,955 | $74,506 | $230,405 |
| 14 | Harrison County | 39,859 | $74,475 | $263,735 |
| 15 | Floyd County | 80,918 | $79,704 | $283,977 |
| 16 | Morgan County | 72,659 | $79,429 | $296,827 |
| 17 | Wells County | 28,420 | $71,957 | $243,341 |
| 18 | Whitley County | 34,618 | $78,083 | $277,786 |
| 19 | Decatur County | 26,422 | $69,783 | $255,695 |
| 20 | Dubois County | 43,614 | $75,979 | $258,762 |
| 21 | Jasper County | 33,234 | $77,314 | $293,763 |
| 22 | Bartholomew County | 83,536 | $79,901 | $272,334 |
| 22 | Franklin County | 23,020 | $78,074 | $295,555 |
| 24 | Ripley County | 29,095 | $70,573 | $277,415 |
| 25 | Warren County | 8,464 | $82,425 | $225,783 |
| 26 | Gibson County | 33,000 | $67,573 | $206,608 |
| 27 | Steuben County | 34,726 | $74,911 | $313,148 |
| 28 | Tipton County | 15,346 | $76,156 | $244,202 |
| 29 | Clark County | 124,354 | $74,214 | $264,158 |
| 30 | DeKalb County | 43,807 | $74,331 | $226,054 |
| 31 | Kosciusko County | 80,442 | $75,317 | $280,135 |
| 31 | Huntington County | 36,798 | $66,301 | $204,641 |
| 33 | Shelby County | 45,265 | $72,190 | $240,678 |
| 34 | Pike County | 12,154 | $71,334 | $179,154 |
| 35 | Wabash County | 30,844 | $66,806 | $187,693 |
| 36 | Monroe County | 140,965 | $65,868 | $311,492 |
| 36 | LaGrange County | 40,805 | $84,487 | $298,028 |
| 38 | Tippecanoe County | 189,071 | $60,636 | $294,950 |
| 39 | Clay County | 26,409 | $70,010 | $180,106 |
| 40 | Noble County | 47,495 | $71,723 | $246,704 |
| 41 | Marshall County | 46,284 | $71,808 | $253,794 |
| 42 | LaPorte County | 111,917 | $71,055 | $227,685 |
| 43 | Carroll County | 20,535 | $65,645 | $231,128 |
| 44 | Union County | 6,985 | $76,424 | $189,921 |
| 45 | White County | 24,717 | $67,303 | $224,717 |
| 46 | Montgomery County | 38,312 | $71,479 | $217,143 |
| 47 | Jackson County | 46,660 | $70,262 | $227,842 |
| 48 | Lawrence County | 45,102 | $66,468 | $209,585 |
| 49 | Clinton County | 32,944 | $65,019 | $221,073 |
| 50 | Owen County | 21,604 | $62,464 | $233,984 |
| 51 | Adams County | 36,227 | $65,289 | $245,205 |
| 52 | Newton County | 13,922 | $75,481 | $223,815 |
| 53 | Daviess County | 33,658 | $68,503 | $232,493 |
| 54 | Allen County | 392,378 | $70,737 | $251,391 |
| 55 | Jefferson County | 32,998 | $64,577 | $235,967 |
| 56 | Rush County | 16,739 | $66,473 | $213,989 |
| 56 | Howard County | 83,752 | $64,027 | $189,568 |
| 58 | Lake County | 500,379 | $71,493 | $246,598 |
| 59 | Pulaski County | 12,441 | $62,792 | $180,853 |
| 60 | Martin County | 9,830 | $68,594 | $198,731 |
| 61 | Henry County | 48,970 | $63,150 | $186,353 |
| 62 | Perry County | 19,270 | $61,151 | $185,083 |
| 63 | Knox County | 36,007 | $61,237 | $153,861 |
| 63 | Vermillion County | 15,421 | $60,200 | $133,306 |
| 65 | Elkhart County | 207,132 | $68,561 | $259,372 |
| 66 | Fountain County | 16,617 | $62,542 | $191,647 |
| 67 | Scott County | 24,526 | $56,352 | $201,467 |
| 67 | St. Joseph County | 273,040 | $66,868 | $224,540 |
| 69 | Vanderburgh County | 180,117 | $61,648 | $197,580 |
| 70 | Jennings County | 27,562 | $69,322 | $223,959 |
| 71 | Starke County | 23,365 | $63,960 | $218,802 |
| 72 | Orange County | 19,767 | $65,873 | $182,646 |
| 73 | Washington County | 28,212 | $64,641 | $216,903 |
| 74 | Benton County | 8,735 | $65,875 | $200,725 |
| 75 | Switzerland County | 9,909 | $65,343 | $251,639 |
| 76 | Madison County | 131,900 | $63,037 | $187,050 |
| 77 | Randolph County | 24,387 | $60,791 | $155,839 |
| 78 | Marion County | 975,809 | $66,346 | $229,560 |
| 79 | Greene County | 31,021 | $62,094 | $195,561 |
| 80 | Fayette County | 23,334 | $59,321 | $159,848 |
| 81 | Blackford County | 11,950 | $51,326 | $138,590 |
| 82 | Cass County | 37,680 | $56,403 | $166,719 |
| 83 | Parke County | 16,406 | $68,485 | $213,247 |
| 84 | Sullivan County | 20,780 | $56,204 | $155,897 |
| 85 | Delaware County | 112,280 | $58,127 | $165,536 |
| 86 | Miami County | 35,712 | $61,139 | $157,475 |
| 87 | Crawford County | 10,499 | $49,640 | $170,859 |
| 88 | Fulton County | 20,312 | $61,360 | $200,652 |
| 89 | Vigo County | 106,109 | $52,976 | $156,954 |
| 90 | Jay County | 20,229 | $54,969 | $155,260 |
| 91 | Grant County | 66,295 | $53,522 | $150,334 |
| 92 | Wayne County | 66,397 | $55,692 | $170,216 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS + FBI crime data via Saturday Night Science. All 92 Indiana counties.
Summary
Summary: The Best Counties In Indiana To Call Home For 2026
Living in Indiana can vary from one part of the state to the next — who woulda thought?
The best counties in Indiana are Hamilton County, Boone County, Hendricks County, Warrick County, Brown County, Hancock County, Dearborn County, Posey County, Johnson County, and Putnam County.
But now you know the outstanding parts and the parts to avoid, and that’s why you came here to learn at the end of the day.
You are welcome.
