Like all states, Indiana has certain places that are going on hard times. These Indiana places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Indiana.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 125 cities in Indiana with more than 5,000 people.
$34,891 median income · 37.3% poverty · #1 lowest income in Indiana
Located in
Tippecanoe County, Indiana
West Lafayette, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Indiana thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 45,159 people averages the lowest median household income in Indiana and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,731 median income · 33.1% poverty · #3 lowest income in Indiana
Located in
Lake County, Indiana
The second poorest city in Indiana is Gary.
The city ranks as having the 2nd highest incidence of poverty and 3rd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 3rd highest in the Hoosier State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$43,343 median income · 29.6% poverty · #7 lowest income in Indiana
Located in
Grant County, Indiana
Placing as the third poorest city, Marion’s median income ranks as the 7th lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 29.6% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Hoosier State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$42,125 median income · 26.3% poverty · #5 lowest income in Indiana
Located in
Lake County, Indiana
East Chicago ranks as the fourth poorest place in Indiana.
The town ranks as having the 5th lowest median household income and the 6th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$44,471 median income · 29.2% poverty · #8 lowest income in Indiana
Located in
Delaware County, Indiana
The fifth poorest city in Indiana is Muncie.
The city ranks as having the 8th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 5th highest in Indiana.
Still not the best news for Muncie.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,578 median income · 23.4% poverty · #2 lowest income in Indiana
Located in
Scott County, Indiana
Scottsburg ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Hoosier State.
It ranks as having the 12th highest incidence of poverty and the 67th highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$43,126 median income · 24.7% poverty · #6 lowest income in Indiana
Located in
Vigo County, Indiana
Terre Haute places as the seventh poorest city in Indiana.
The city of over 58,427 ranks as having the 9th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$45,399 median income · 25.4% poverty · #9 lowest income in Indiana
Located in
Wayne County, Indiana
Richmond ranks as the eighth poorest city in Indiana.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$50,465 median income · 29.8% poverty · #18 lowest income in Indiana
Located in
Monroe County, Indiana
Bloomington couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Indiana; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 18th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Bloomington ranks as having the 3rd most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Indiana.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$46,159 median income · 23.6% poverty · #11 lowest income in Indiana
Located in
Miami County, Indiana
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Indiana is Peru.
The city of 10,901 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Hoosier State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
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: 12.3%
Indiana statewide median: 4.3%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Indiana
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Indiana for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 125 places with more than 5,000 people in Indiana, we ranked each place from 1 to 125 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, West Lafayette, crowned the “Poorest Place In Indiana For 2026”. The median Indiana home is 49 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Indiana
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Lafayette | 1.00 | 45,159 | $34,891 | 37.3% | 4.5% |
| 2 | Gary | 2.50 | 68,113 | $38,731 | 33.1% | 11.0% |
| 3 | Marion | 5.50 | 27,531 | $43,343 | 29.6% | 7.7% |
| 4 | East Chicago | 5.50 | 26,022 | $42,125 | 26.3% | 7.7% |
| 5 | Muncie | 6.50 | 64,751 | $44,471 | 29.2% | 7.8% |
| 6 | Scottsburg | 7.00 | 7,362 | $38,578 | 23.4% | 4.2% |
| 7 | Terre Haute | 7.50 | 58,427 | $43,126 | 24.7% | 6.9% |
| 8 | Richmond | 8.50 | 35,581 | $45,399 | 25.4% | 6.9% |
| 9 | Bloomington | 10.50 | 80,049 | $50,465 | 29.8% | 6.6% |
| 10 | Peru | 10.50 | 10,901 | $46,159 | 23.6% | 9.1% |
| 11 | Hartford City | 12.00 | 5,794 | $41,752 | 19.5% | 5.2% |
| 12 | Connersville | 12.50 | 13,109 | $48,854 | 23.4% | 3.9% |
| 13 | Anderson | 13.50 | 55,367 | $46,909 | 21.0% | 7.3% |
| 14 | Tell City | 20.00 | 7,505 | $52,949 | 22.4% | 5.3% |
| 15 | New Castle | 20.00 | 17,367 | $51,606 | 20.1% | 4.9% |
| 16 | Washington | 22.50 | 12,367 | $50,331 | 18.2% | 2.8% |
| 17 | Elkhart | 23.00 | 53,733 | $51,028 | 18.2% | 3.9% |
| 18 | Michigan City | 23.00 | 31,814 | $53,089 | 19.7% | 9.1% |
| 19 | Linton | 23.50 | 5,260 | $45,440 | 17.3% | 13.3% |
| 20 | Brazil | 24.00 | 7,831 | $52,055 | 18.6% | 5.9% |
| 21 | Elwood | 25.00 | 8,356 | $53,280 | 19.5% | 6.2% |
| 22 | Winchester | 25.50 | 5,284 | $52,439 | 18.3% | 5.0% |
| 23 | Vincennes | 26.00 | 16,586 | $53,637 | 19.6% | 5.2% |
| 24 | Salem | 26.50 | 6,489 | $56,538 | 25.7% | 4.8% |
| 25 | Evansville | 27.50 | 116,116 | $53,387 | 18.4% | 5.1% |
| 26 | Shelbyville | 28.00 | 20,296 | $55,602 | 21.5% | 2.0% |
| 27 | Portland | 29.00 | 6,416 | $51,513 | 17.3% | 5.0% |
| 28 | South Bend | 29.50 | 103,085 | $55,786 | 20.8% | 6.5% |
| 29 | Logansport | 30.00 | 17,790 | $47,291 | 16.1% | 4.3% |
| 30 | New Albany | 30.00 | 37,581 | $54,710 | 18.9% | 6.0% |
| 31 | Bedford | 30.50 | 13,837 | $49,553 | 16.2% | 2.3% |
| 32 | Hammond | 31.00 | 76,768 | $55,504 | 19.1% | 6.5% |
| 33 | North Vernon | 31.50 | 7,078 | $51,429 | 16.7% | 7.1% |
| 34 | Lafayette | 32.50 | 71,159 | $53,716 | 17.8% | 3.6% |
| 35 | Rushville | 33.50 | 6,036 | $53,434 | 17.3% | 5.6% |
| 36 | Rochester | 38.00 | 6,215 | $57,008 | 18.1% | 7.7% |
| 37 | Kokomo | 39.00 | 59,122 | $55,360 | 17.1% | 6.2% |
| 38 | Mishawaka | 40.00 | 51,021 | $54,291 | 16.4% | 6.8% |
| 39 | Huntingburg | 42.50 | 6,396 | $54,421 | 16.0% | 5.4% |
| 40 | Gas City | 42.50 | 6,076 | $55,982 | 16.8% | 2.0% |
| 41 | Lawrenceburg | 43.00 | 5,179 | $51,250 | 13.5% | 1.6% |
| 42 | Tipton | 44.50 | 5,280 | $59,828 | 17.7% | 1.7% |
| 43 | Princeton | 45.00 | 8,372 | $57,618 | 16.9% | 2.8% |
| 44 | Goshen | 46.00 | 34,420 | $59,184 | 17.1% | 4.0% |
| 45 | Speedway | 46.00 | 13,968 | $60,147 | 17.5% | 5.8% |
| 46 | Crawfordsville | 46.50 | 16,491 | $55,033 | 15.2% | 4.4% |
| 47 | Wabash | 46.50 | 10,358 | $53,410 | 14.0% | 4.4% |
| 48 | Warsaw | 48.00 | 16,768 | $61,035 | 17.6% | 2.3% |
| 49 | La Porte | 49.50 | 22,449 | $59,307 | 16.4% | 3.5% |
| 50 | Beech Grove | 49.50 | 14,913 | $49,973 | 11.1% | 4.4% |
| 51 | Huntington | 50.50 | 17,030 | $56,520 | 15.0% | 4.6% |
| 52 | Angola | 51.50 | 9,408 | $64,540 | 17.9% | 6.3% |
| 53 | Clarksville | 52.00 | 22,016 | $60,467 | 16.5% | 5.2% |
| 54 | Lake Station | 54.00 | 13,185 | $59,591 | 15.4% | 16.3% |
| 55 | Monticello | 55.00 | 5,496 | $52,798 | 11.1% | 5.9% |
| 56 | Fort Wayne | 56.50 | 268,589 | $61,422 | 16.0% | 5.6% |
| 57 | Rensselaer | 56.50 | 5,573 | $60,331 | 15.3% | 5.8% |
| 58 | Greencastle | 57.50 | 9,864 | $55,565 | 12.2% | 3.0% |
| 59 | Plymouth | 58.00 | 10,664 | $58,623 | 13.5% | 3.4% |
| 60 | Frankfort | 59.00 | 15,917 | $57,412 | 12.9% | 3.0% |
| 61 | Madison | 61.50 | 12,223 | $61,183 | 14.9% | 5.2% |
| 62 | Mount Vernon | 61.50 | 6,400 | $62,263 | 14.9% | 3.9% |
| 63 | Seymour | 61.50 | 22,371 | $64,426 | 15.5% | 2.3% |
| 64 | Garrett | 62.00 | 6,642 | $64,179 | 15.3% | 4.6% |
| 65 | Indianapolis | 62.50 | 885,860 | $66,219 | 15.8% | 5.1% |
| 66 | Kendallville | 63.00 | 10,556 | $58,939 | 12.4% | 3.3% |
| 67 | Batesville | 64.00 | 7,282 | $62,292 | 14.2% | 2.5% |
| 68 | Martinsville | 64.00 | 11,933 | $60,177 | 12.9% | 4.4% |
| 69 | Greensburg | 65.50 | 12,229 | $62,655 | 13.8% | 2.3% |
| 70 | Decatur | 66.50 | 9,811 | $58,646 | 11.3% | 2.7% |
| 71 | Boonville | 68.00 | 6,702 | $63,580 | 13.4% | 2.6% |
| 72 | Bluffton | 69.50 | 10,529 | $57,539 | 9.5% | 2.8% |
| 73 | Jasper | 70.00 | 15,991 | $68,817 | 14.4% | 1.4% |
| 74 | Valparaiso | 70.50 | 34,733 | $69,872 | 14.9% | 3.6% |
| 75 | Westville | 70.50 | 5,279 | $60,794 | 11.4% | 3.7% |
| 76 | Columbia City | 71.00 | 9,897 | $68,089 | 13.6% | 3.7% |
| 77 | Merrillville | 74.00 | 36,476 | $67,587 | 12.6% | 7.5% |
| 78 | Mooresville | 75.00 | 9,751 | $68,983 | 13.0% | 3.4% |
| 79 | Cicero | 77.00 | 5,509 | $66,934 | 11.5% | 0.8% |
| 80 | Charlestown | 82.50 | 8,294 | $77,288 | 12.5% | 4.0% |
| 81 | Jeffersonville | 83.00 | 51,043 | $70,930 | 11.2% | 4.0% |
| 82 | Auburn | 83.50 | 13,565 | $68,750 | 9.8% | 5.9% |
| 83 | Portage | 83.50 | 38,082 | $76,276 | 11.6% | 7.4% |
| 84 | Alexandria | 85.00 | 5,155 | $64,317 | 7.8% | 7.2% |
| 85 | Highland | 86.00 | 23,680 | $78,062 | 11.6% | 4.7% |
| 86 | Lebanon | 86.00 | 17,812 | $65,154 | 7.9% | 3.7% |
| 87 | Porter | 87.00 | 5,217 | $74,542 | 10.5% | 6.5% |
| 88 | Columbus | 87.00 | 51,824 | $77,456 | 11.3% | 4.7% |
| 89 | New Haven | 87.00 | 15,698 | $70,970 | 9.7% | 4.8% |
| 90 | Nappanee | 87.50 | 6,815 | $68,892 | 9.1% | 6.0% |
| 91 | Hobart | 88.00 | 29,558 | $75,160 | 10.0% | 4.3% |
| 92 | Lawrence | 91.00 | 49,517 | $74,022 | 8.7% | 4.5% |
| 93 | Franklin | 91.50 | 26,168 | $82,380 | 11.0% | 3.9% |
| 94 | Sellersburg | 95.00 | 10,137 | $72,179 | 6.9% | 5.5% |
| 95 | Winona Lake | 97.00 | 5,080 | $82,188 | 8.0% | 1.4% |
| 96 | Bargersville | 97.00 | 10,752 | $114,231 | 11.9% | 6.7% |
| 97 | Griffith | 97.50 | 16,273 | $76,636 | 7.1% | 3.8% |
| 98 | Pendleton | 97.50 | 5,321 | $86,806 | 9.1% | 5.2% |
| 99 | Plainfield | 99.50 | 36,369 | $87,272 | 8.1% | 3.6% |
| 100 | Chesterton | 100.00 | 14,446 | $91,060 | 9.3% | 6.7% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 125 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Indiana for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Indiana, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Indiana.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on Indiana? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
