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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-GARY-IN · Gary, IN 68,604 pop · income 6th pct
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 Gary
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Gary on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Norwood · lowest
37,375
Norwood · lowest
37,375 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #1
Elmore City · near
37,375
Elmore City · near
37,375 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #2
Gary · this city
37,380
Gary · this city
37,380 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #3
Richlands · near
37,382
Richlands · near
37,382 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #4
Brunson · near
37,391
Brunson · near
37,391 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #5
South Hill · highest
109,235
South Hill · highest
109,235 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Gary on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 68,604.
Gary ranks in the 6th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
6th
percentile, household income
5th
percentile, home value
27th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Gary, IN
Gary is a small city in Indiana, home to 68,604 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Gary report a median income of $37,380 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 29.0%. Typical homes in Gary are valued around $85,300, and the median resident age is 36.4 years. 14.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 44.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 8 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,096 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $235 across Indiana, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Workers in Gary report an average commute of 24.9 minutes, with 76.2% driving alone and 5.4% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 45.5 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Gary'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Gary, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Gary?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.9 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Gary?
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.
Within Indiana, the closest population matches are Lafayette (70,650 residents, $52,946 income); Noblesville (71,940 residents, $102,319 income); Muncie (64,739 residents, $43,395 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Schenectady, NY (68,521 residents); Portland, ME (68,505 residents); San Marcos, TX (68,920 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1,687 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 8 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
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 21 public schools within the city match. 14.3% 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Gary?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 29.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.3×
Home value
$85,300
Household income
$37,380
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 29.0% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
F
City profile score · Gary, IN
23/100
4 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
14.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$37,380
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
29.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Gary profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 18/100 (F) · 14.3%
Household income: 3/100 (F) · $37,380
Poverty rate: 1/100 (F) · 29.0%
How does Gary compare to other US cities?
Here's how Gary stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income6% higher than other cities
Home value5% pricier than other cities
Median rent27% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Gary 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 Gary near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Gary ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Gary only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#734 of 766
4th percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#681 of 771
12th percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#44 of 849
95th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#447 of 850
47th 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
6th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Gary's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$85,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 95% 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
Gary's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,857 of 15,516
More affordable than 82% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#14 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.3×, Gary sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,857 of 15,516 and #14 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
$37,380Gary, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Gary, 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 Gary, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)29.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)44.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
68,604
Median Income
$37,380
Median Home Value
$85,300
Median Age
36.4
Poverty Rate
29.0%
Labor force participation
44.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.3%
Schools
Total Schools
21
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Gary's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
68,976 residents
2021
68,493 residents
2022
68,006 residents
2023
67,665 residents
2024
67,559 residents
2025
67,289 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
8
housing units authorized
Single-Family
8
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
8
8
0
$1.5M
2020
8
8
0
$1.5M
2021
10
10
0
$1.9M
2022
6
6
0
$1.1M
2023
7
7
0
$1.3M
2024
8
8
0
$1.5M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.9 minutes
Drive Alone
76.2%
Carpool
12.2%
Public Transit
2.6%
Walk
0.5%
Work from Home
5.4%
Other
3.1%
Based on 21,696 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 Gary. 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 Gary 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 Gary sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Gary 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, 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.