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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-ELKHART-IN · Elkhart, IN 53,726 pop · income 16th pct · 45 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 Elkhart
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Elkhart on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Anderson · lowest
47,221
Anderson · lowest
47,221 median HH income
39.5% of the leader · rank #1
Butler · near
47,880
Butler · near
47,880 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #2
Elkhart · this city
47,885
Elkhart · this city
47,885 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #3
Chanute · near
47,885
Chanute · near
47,885 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #4
Newberry · near
47,885
Newberry · near
47,885 median HH income
40.0% of the leader · rank #5
Oak Grove · near
47,886
Oak Grove · near
47,886 median HH income
40.0% 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 Elkhart 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: 53,726.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Elkhart - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Elkhart lands in the 16th percentile for household income and the 10th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
16th
percentile, household income
20th
percentile, home value
27th
percentile, median rent
10th
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: Elkhart, IN
Indiana's Elkhart is a small city, with 53,726 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $47,885 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.2%. Typical homes in Elkhart are valued around $126,900, and the median resident age is 35.2 years. About 17.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 60.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 182 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 304% from five years earlier. Elkhart's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3594.7 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Indiana run below the national norm: the state registers 93.3 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,096 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $235 across Indiana, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. The average commute for Elkhart workers runs 17.6 minutes, with 75.9% driving alone and 2.6% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 45.5 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Elkhart'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 within-city variation to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to reported crime to schools and households to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Elkhart, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 45 Census tracts reveal inside Elkhart?
PlainCities matches 45 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Elkhart?
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.
Within Indiana, the closest population matches are Anderson (54,930 residents, $47,221 income); Westfield (51,109 residents, $119,598 income); Columbus (51,104 residents, $76,856 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Diamond Bar, CA (53,750 residents); Aspen Hill, MD (53,752 residents); Huntington Park, CA (53,658 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Elkhart?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.6 minutes.
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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Elkhart?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3594.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 58% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Elkhart?
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.
The NCES join finds 30 public schools within the city match. 17.5% 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.
Poverty estimate
16.2%
Bachelor's degree+
17.5%
Matched public schools
30
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Elkhart?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.7×
Home value
$126,900
Household income
$47,885
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +238 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 182 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
2020 estimate
53,854
2025 estimate
54,092
Period change
+0.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
F
City profile score · Elkhart, IN
27/100
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
17.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$47,885
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
995 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Elkhart profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 27/100 (F) · 17.5%
Poverty rate: 20/100 (F) · 16.2%
Household income: 17/100 (F) · $47,885
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 995 /100k
Where Elkhart sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Elkhart'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 - Elkhart highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Elkhart, IN (this city): home $126,900, crime 3,595/100k
Diamond Bar, CA : home $867,000, crime 1,940/100k
Huntington Park, CA : home $557,600, crime 3,812/100k
Colton, CA : home $411,100, crime 2,498/100k
Spring Hill, TN : home $452,400, crime 663/100k
Logan, UT : home $341,000, crime 1,268/100k
Anderson, IN : home $104,300, crime 2,676/100k
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
Jeffersonville, IN : home $208,500, crime 1,988/100k
Lawrence, IN : home $220,400, crime 2,020/100k
How does Elkhart compare to other US cities?
Here's how Elkhart stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income16% higher than other cities
Home value20% pricier than other cities
Median rent27% pricier than other cities
Safety10% 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, Elkhart ranks #106 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 Elkhart 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 Elkhart near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Elkhart ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Elkhart only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#634 of 766
17th percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#416 of 771
46th percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#131 of 849
84th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#346 of 850
59th 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
16th percentile nationally for median household income · 10th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Elkhart's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Elkhart'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 Elkhart's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$126,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 80% 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
Elkhart's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,764 of 15,516
More affordable than 69% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#59 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.7×, Elkhart sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,764 of 15,516 and #59 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
$47,885Elkhart, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Elkhart, 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 Elkhart, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
53,726
Median Income
$47,885
Median Home Value
$126,900
Median Age
35.2
Poverty Rate
16.2%
Labor force participation
60.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3594.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
995.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2599.5
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
30
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Elkhart's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
53,854 residents
2021
53,813 residents
2022
53,849 residents
2023
53,634 residents
2024
53,814 residents
2025
54,092 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
182
housing units authorized
Single-Family
42
detached homes
Multifamily
140
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
45
34
11
$7.4M
2020
138
23
115
$22.6M
2021
123
54
69
$13.9M
2022
27
27
0
$7.9M
2023
39
39
0
$11.0M
2024
182
42
140
$46.7M
Permit volume increased 304% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.6 minutes
Drive Alone
75.9%
Carpool
16.8%
Public Transit
0.8%
Walk
2.8%
Work from Home
2.6%
Other
1.1%
Based on 24,272 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 Elkhart. 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 Elkhart 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 Elkhart sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Elkhart 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.