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Place dossier plate
SheetIN-WINONA-LAKE-IN · Winona Lake, IN 5,073 pop · income 76th 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 Winona Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Winona Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Linton · lowest
41,968
Linton · lowest
41,968 median HH income
35.2% of the leader · rank #1
Wrenshall · near
97,798
Wrenshall · near
97,798 median HH income
82.1% of the leader · rank #2
Winona Lake · this city
97,813
Winona Lake · this city
97,813 median HH income
82.2% of the leader · rank #3
Lake Chaffee · near
97,813
Lake Chaffee · near
97,813 median HH income
82.2% of the leader · rank #4
Folly Beach · near
97,813
Folly Beach · near
97,813 median HH income
82.2% of the leader · rank #5
Troy · near
97,825
Troy · near
97,825 median HH income
82.2% of the leader · rank #6
Beckett · highest
119,063
Beckett · highest
119,063 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 Winona Lake 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: 5,073.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Winona Lake - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Winona Lake places in the 76th percentile for household income and the 90th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
76th
percentile, household income
54th
percentile, home value
27th
percentile, median rent
90th
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: Winona Lake, IN
Winona Lake is a small town in Indiana, home to 5,073 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $97,813 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.3%. Typical homes in Winona Lake are valued around $242,400, and the median resident age is 28.0 years. About 50.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 69.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 23 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Slowing), down 12% from five years earlier. Winona Lake reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 371.7 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Indiana's average monthly utility costs around $235 (state average). Workers in Winona Lake report an average commute of 13.2 minutes, with 80.7% driving alone and 6.9% 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 Winona Lake'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 comparison shortlist to reported crime to schools and households to population change to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Winona Lake, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Winona Lake?
Within Indiana, the closest population matches are Fortville (5,092 residents, $82,763 income); Pendleton (5,115 residents, $87,971 income); Alexandria (5,145 residents, $60,616 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hiram, GA (5,073 residents); Beckett, NJ (5,072 residents); Redwood Falls, MN (5,075 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Winona Lake?
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 371.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 84% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the education layer cover for Winona Lake?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 50.8% 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 matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
Is Winona Lake 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 +68 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 23 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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 Winona Lake?
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 80.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 13.2 minutes.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
6.9%
Drive alone
80.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 3,029 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Winona Lake?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.3%, 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.
Household income
$97,813
Home value
$242,400
Value / income
2.5×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Indiana average
B+
City profile score · Winona Lake, IN
78/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A
50.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate A-
2.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income B+
$97,813
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime B+
78 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger 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.
Winona Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 85/100 (A) · 50.8%
Poverty rate: 84/100 (A-) · 2.3%
Household income: 76/100 (B+) · $97,813
Violent crime: 76/100 (B+) · 78 /100k
Cost of living: 72/100 (B) · 93.3 index
Where Winona Lake sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Winona Lake'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 - Winona Lake highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Winona Lake, IN (this city): home $242,400, crime 372/100k
Hiram, GA : home $236,700, crime 5,171/100k
Redwood Falls, MN : home $162,000, crime 1,487/100k
Lone Grove, OK : home $184,400, crime 1,123/100k
Pendleton, IN : home $236,200, crime 84/100k
Linton, IN : home $86,800, crime 2,129/100k
Porter, IN : home $259,700, crime 211/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Winona Lake compare to other US cities?
Winona Lake measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income76% higher than other cities
Home value54% pricier than other cities
Median rent27% pricier than other cities
Safety90% 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, Winona Lake ranks #16 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 Winona Lake 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 Winona Lake near the bottom of Indiana's cities
Among the 850 Indiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Winona Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Winona Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#92 of 766
88th percentile in Indiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 850
0th percentile in Indiana
Median Home Value
#96 of 771
88th percentile in Indiana
Poverty Rate
#594 of 849
30th percentile in Indiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#35 of 850
96th 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
76th percentile nationally for median household income · 90th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Winona Lake's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Winona Lake'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 Winona Lake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$242,40046th percentilemore affordable than 46% 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
Winona Lake's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,894 of 15,516
More affordable than 75% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,517 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.5×, Winona Lake sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,894 of 15,516 and #3,517 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$97,813Winona Lake, IN median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Winona Lake, 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 Winona Lake, IN.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)50.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)69.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,073
Median Income
$97,813
Median Home Value
$242,400
Median Age
28.0
Poverty Rate
2.3%
Labor force participation
69.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
50.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
371.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
78.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
293.4
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
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Winona Lake's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,058 residents
2021
5,058 residents
2022
5,084 residents
2023
5,087 residents
2024
5,101 residents
2025
5,126 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
23
housing units authorized
Single-Family
23
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
26
26
0
$6.9M
2020
23
23
0
$6.0M
2021
22
22
0
$10.2M
2022
28
26
2
$10.7M
2023
12
12
0
$3.9M
2024
23
23
0
$8.7M
Permit volume decreased 12% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
13.2 minutes
Drive Alone
80.7%
Carpool
4.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
7.5%
Work from Home
6.9%
Based on 3,029 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 Winona Lake. 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 Winona Lake 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 Winona Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Winona Lake 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.