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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-PLAINFIELD-IN · Plainfield, IN 35,783 pop · income 67th pct · 31 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 Plainfield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Plainfield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Marion · lowest
45,829
Marion · lowest
45,829 median HH income
22.9% of the leader · rank #1
Aaronsburg CD… · near
85,063
Aaronsburg CD… · near
85,063 median HH income
42.5% of the leader · rank #2
Oley · near
85,068
Oley · near
85,068 median HH income
42.5% of the leader · rank #3
Plainfield · this city
85,074
Plainfield · this city
85,074 median HH income
42.5% of the leader · rank #4
Tipp City · near
85,081
Tipp City · near
85,081 median HH income
42.5% of the leader · rank #5
Vamo · near
85,094
Vamo · near
85,094 median HH income
42.5% of the leader · rank #6
Parkland · highest
200,156
Parkland · highest
200,156 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 Plainfield 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: 35,783.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Plainfield - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Plainfield places in the 67th percentile for household income and the 40th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
67th
percentile, household income
58th
percentile, home value
27th
percentile, median rent
40th
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: Plainfield, IN
Indiana's Plainfield is a small city, with 35,783 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Plainfield households earn a median of $85,074 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.8%. Typical homes in Plainfield are valued around $263,900, and the median resident age is 38.0 years. 33.7% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 59.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 182 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 51% from five years earlier. Plainfield reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1693.6 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects 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. 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 Plainfield'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 population change to comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Plainfield, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 31 Census tracts reveal inside Plainfield?
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 31 Census tracts to this city.
Is Plainfield 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 +3,671 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +10.5% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Plainfield?
Within Indiana, the closest population matches are Richmond (35,551 residents, $46,395 income); Merrillville (36,343 residents, $64,791 income); Valparaiso (34,377 residents, $67,664 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Norristown, PA (35,782 residents); Inver Grove Heights, MN (35,772 residents); Marion, OH (35,771 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Plainfield?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.8%, 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. 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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Plainfield?
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 1693.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 26% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1447.5
Violent rate
246.1
Total reported rate
1693.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Plainfield?
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 75.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.4%
Work from home
12.9%
Drive alone
75.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 17,101 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Plainfield?
The NCES join finds 9 public schools within the city match. 33.7% 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.
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
9
Bachelor's degree+
33.7%
Poverty estimate
3.8%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 3.8% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.3 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
C+
City profile score · Plainfield, IN
63/100
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.
Poverty rate B
3.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Household income C+
$85,074
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share C+
33.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime D
246 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Plainfield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 73/100 (B) · 3.8%
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Household income: 64/100 (C+) · $85,074
Bachelor's+ share: 64/100 (C+) · 33.7%
Violent crime: 41/100 (D) · 246 /100k
Where Plainfield sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Plainfield'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 - Plainfield highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Plainfield, IN (this city): home $263,900, crime 1,694/100k
Norristown, PA : home $205,100, crime 2,410/100k
Inver Grove Heights, MN : home $352,300, crime 1,560/100k
Marion, OH : home $105,900, crime 1,767/100k
Franklin, WI : home $343,400, crime 1,258/100k
Valparaiso, IN : home $250,500, crime 874/100k
Goshen, IN : home $175,200, crime 2,696/100k
Crown Point, IN : home $272,800, crime 608/100k
New Albany, IN : home $169,600, crime 2,687/100k
How does Plainfield compare to other US cities?
Where Plainfield sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income67% higher than other cities
Home value58% pricier than other cities
Median rent27% pricier than other cities
Safety40% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Indiana and the picture shifts: Plainfield ranks #75 of 110 Indiana cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Plainfield 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 Plainfield near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Plainfield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Plainfield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#144 of 766
81st percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#75 of 771
90th percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#536 of 849
36th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#112 of 850
87th 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
67th percentile nationally for median household income · 40th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Plainfield's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Plainfield'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 Plainfield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$263,90042nd percentilemore affordable than 42% 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
Plainfield's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,195 of 15,516
More affordable than 54% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,047 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.1×, Plainfield sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,195 of 15,516 and #1,047 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$85,074Plainfield, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Plainfield, 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 Plainfield, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)33.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
35,783
Median Income
$85,074
Median Home Value
$263,900
Median Age
38.0
Poverty Rate
3.8%
Labor force participation
59.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
33.7%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1693.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
246.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1447.5
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
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Plainfield's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
34,903 residents
2021
35,638 residents
2022
36,535 residents
2023
37,357 residents
2024
38,330 residents
2025
38,574 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
182
housing units authorized
Single-Family
140
detached homes
Multifamily
42
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
375
244
131
$79.7M
2020
217
213
4
$58.3M
2021
276
276
0
$88.6M
2022
355
102
253
$65.2M
2023
258
61
197
$51.7M
2024
182
140
42
$57.7M
Permit volume decreased 51% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.6%
Carpool
7.2%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
12.9%
Other
2.5%
Based on 17,101 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 Plainfield. 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 Plainfield 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 Plainfield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Plainfield 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.