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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-MUNCIE-IN · Muncie, IN 64,739 pop · income 11th pct · 34 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 Muncie
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Muncie on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Gary · lowest
37,380
Gary · lowest
37,380 median HH income
26.8% of the leader · rank #1
Napier Field · near
43,393
Napier Field · near
43,393 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #2
Sun River Ter… · near
43,393
Sun River Ter… · near
43,393 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #3
Muncie · this city
43,395
Muncie · this city
43,395 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #4
Erie · near
43,397
Erie · near
43,397 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #5
Wenden · near
43,400
Wenden · near
43,400 median HH income
31.1% of the leader · rank #6
Brentwood · highest
139,567
Brentwood · highest
139,567 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 Muncie 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: 64,739.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Muncie - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Muncie places in the 11th percentile for household income and the 17th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
11th
percentile, household income
7th
percentile, home value
27th
percentile, median rent
17th
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: Muncie, IN
Muncie is a small city in Indiana, home to 64,739 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Muncie brings in $43,395 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.5%. Muncie's housing stock carries a median value of $92,000, and the median resident age is 29.5 years. 25.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 53.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 103 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 348% from five years earlier. Muncie's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2859.9 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Indiana run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Indiana scores 93.3 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,096 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Indiana run around $235, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Muncie report an average commute of 17.9 minutes, with 72.4% driving alone and 5.8% 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 Muncie'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 population change to schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Muncie, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Muncie?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 72.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.9 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +361 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 103 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Muncie?
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 Greenwood (64,237 residents, $78,765 income); Gary (68,604 residents, $37,380 income); Kokomo (59,375 residents, $54,195 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Waltham, MA (64,723 residents); Commerce City, CO (64,640 residents); Brentwood, CA (64,609 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.
PlainCities matches 34 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.
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 Muncie?
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 20 public schools within the city match. 25.7% 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
17.5%
Bachelor's degree+
25.7%
Matched public schools
20
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Muncie?
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 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.1×
Home value
$92,000
Household income
$43,395
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Muncie?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2859.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 25% 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.
Total reported rate
2859.9
Violent rate
602.4
Property rate
2257.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
F
City profile score · Muncie, 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 C-
25.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$43,395
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
602 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Muncie profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 25.7%
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.5%
Household income: 11/100 (F) · $43,395
Violent crime: 10/100 (F) · 602 /100k
Where Muncie sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Muncie'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 - Muncie highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Muncie, IN (this city): home $92,000, crime 2,860/100k
Waltham, MA : home $705,700, crime 951/100k
Commerce City, CO : home $463,200, crime 3,663/100k
Brentwood, CA : home $791,600, crime 2,632/100k
Ocala, FL : home $219,900, crime 3,549/100k
North Little Rock, AR : home $169,500, crime 5,493/100k
Greenwood, IN : home $248,700, crime 1,638/100k
Kokomo, IN : home $126,500, crime 1,902/100k
Lafayette, IN : home $157,600, crime 2,642/100k
Terre Haute, IN : home $109,500, crime 3,977/100k
Noblesville, IN : home $321,800, crime 622/100k
How does Muncie compare to other US cities?
Where Muncie sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income11% higher than other cities
Home value7% pricier than other cities
Median rent27% pricier than other cities
Safety17% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Indiana, Muncie ranks #102 of 110 Indiana cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Muncie 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 Muncie near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Muncie ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Muncie only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#699 of 766
9th percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#638 of 771
17th percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#110 of 849
87th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#189 of 850
78th 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
11th percentile nationally for median household income · 17th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Muncie's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Muncie'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 Muncie's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$92,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 93% 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
Muncie's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,085 of 15,516
More affordable than 87% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.1×, Muncie sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,085 of 15,516 and #6 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
$43,395Muncie, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Muncie, 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 Muncie, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
64,739
Median Income
$43,395
Median Home Value
$92,000
Median Age
29.5
Poverty Rate
17.5%
Labor force participation
53.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2859.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
602.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2257.5
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
20
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Muncie's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
65,105 residents
2021
65,191 residents
2022
65,133 residents
2023
65,136 residents
2024
65,275 residents
2025
65,466 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
103
housing units authorized
Single-Family
39
detached homes
Multifamily
64
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
23
23
0
$2.3M
2020
87
32
55
$12.5M
2021
18
18
0
$4.1M
2022
53
53
0
$11.0M
2023
14
14
0
$1.9M
2024
103
39
64
$17.3M
Permit volume increased 348% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.9 minutes
Drive Alone
72.4%
Carpool
12.4%
Public Transit
1.9%
Walk
6.1%
Work from Home
5.8%
Other
1.4%
Based on 28,954 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 Muncie. 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 Muncie 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 Muncie sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Muncie 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.