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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-ANDERSON-IN · Anderson, IN 54,930 pop · income 15th pct · 39 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Anderson
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Anderson on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Terre Haute · lowest
41,960
Terre Haute · lowest
41,960 median HH income
35.1% of the leader · rank #1
Anderson · this city
47,221
Anderson · this city
47,221 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #2
Hugo · near
47,222
Hugo · near
47,222 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #3
Buckner · near
47,222
Buckner · near
47,222 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #4
Hardtner · near
47,222
Hardtner · near
47,222 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #5
Johnson · near
47,223
Johnson · near
47,223 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #6
Westfield · highest
119,598
Westfield · highest
119,598 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Anderson on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 54,930.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Anderson - the verdict
Anderson ranks in the 15th percentile for household income and the 20th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
15th
percentile, household income
11th
percentile, home value
27th
percentile, median rent
20th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Anderson, IN
Anderson is a small city in Indiana, home to 54,930 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Anderson households earn a median of $47,221 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.1%. Anderson's housing stock carries a median value of $104,300, and the median resident age is 38.2 years. About 16.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 52.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 56 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Stable), down 3% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2675.5 incidents per 100,000 residents, near the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Indiana run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Indiana at 93.3 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,096 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Indiana's average monthly utility costs around $235 (state average). Workers in Anderson report an average commute of 23.3 minutes, with 74.1% driving alone and 8.4% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 45.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Anderson's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to reported crime to schools and households to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Anderson, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Anderson?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Is Anderson growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,358 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 56 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Anderson?
Within Indiana, the closest population matches are Elkhart (53,726 residents, $47,885 income); Terre Haute (58,491 residents, $41,960 income); Westfield (51,109 residents, $119,598 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hacienda Heights, CA (54,956 residents); Tinley Park, IL (55,007 residents); Bonita Springs, FL (54,830 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 39 Census tracts to this city.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Anderson?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 23.3 minutes.
Public transit
0.7%
Work from home
8.4%
Drive alone
74.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 22,944 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Anderson?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2675.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 17% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2256.3
Violent rate
419.1
Total reported rate
2675.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
The NCES join finds 13 public schools within the city match. 16.1% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
13
Bachelor's degree+
16.1%
Poverty estimate
16.1%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
F
City profile score · Anderson, IN
30/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living B
93.3 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
419 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$47,221
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Anderson profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 23/100 (F) · 16.1%
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 16.1%
Violent crime: 21/100 (F) · 419 /100k
Household income: 17/100 (F) · $47,221
Where Anderson sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Anderson's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Anderson highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Anderson, IN (this city): home $104,300, crime 2,676/100k
Tinley Park, IL : home $289,000, crime 1,354/100k
Bozeman, MT : home $614,900, crime 2,189/100k
Beaumont, CA : home $464,000, crime 1,222/100k
Smyrna, TN : home $326,700, crime 2,665/100k
Elkhart, IN : home $126,900, crime 3,595/100k
Terre Haute, IN : home $109,500, crime 3,977/100k
Westfield, IN : home $391,900, crime 686/100k
Columbus, IN : home $231,000, crime 96/100k
Mishawaka, IN : home $140,600, crime 2,806/100k
Kokomo, IN : home $126,500, crime 1,902/100k
How does Anderson compare to other US cities?
Where Anderson sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income15% higher than other cities
Home value11% pricier than other cities
Median rent27% pricier than other cities
Safety20% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Indiana alone, Anderson ranks #96 of 110 Indiana cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Anderson against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Indiana only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Indiana-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Anderson near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Anderson ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Anderson only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#641 of 766
16th percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#553 of 771
28th percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#134 of 849
84th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#392 of 850
54th percentile in Indiana
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Indiana only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
15th percentile nationally for median household income · 20th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Anderson's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Anderson's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Anderson's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$104,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 89% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Anderson's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,503 of 15,516
More affordable than 84% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.2×, Anderson sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,503 of 15,516 and #9 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$47,221Anderson, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Anderson, IN median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Anderson, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
54,930
Median Income
$47,221
Median Home Value
$104,300
Median Age
38.2
Poverty Rate
16.1%
Labor force participation
52.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2675.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
419.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2256.3
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
13
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Anderson's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
54,795 residents
2021
54,926 residents
2022
55,036 residents
2023
55,360 residents
2024
55,801 residents
2025
56,153 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
56
housing units authorized
Single-Family
56
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
58
56
2
$7.4M
2020
62
60
2
$7.9M
2021
67
67
0
$8.5M
2022
54
54
0
$6.9M
2023
50
50
0
$6.4M
2024
56
56
0
$7.1M
Permit volume decreased 3% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
23.3 minutes
Drive Alone
74.1%
Carpool
12.2%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
2.3%
Work from Home
8.4%
Other
2.3%
Based on 22,944 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Indiana statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $235
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Indiana at $235 (electricity about $110 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Indiana statewide averages, not a meter reading for Anderson. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Indiana's BEA cost-of-living index is 93.3 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Anderson is $1,096/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Indiana statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 45.5 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Indiana statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Anderson sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Anderson compares to similar-size Indiana cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.