City safety & data profile
East ChicagoIN
East Chicago, IN is a 29K-resident city in Lake County with a median household income of $42,125.
Lake County, Indiana. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for East Chicago, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. East Chicago has a population larger than 61% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $105,400, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.
Data updated 2026-09-04
- 29K
- Population (place)
- Top 39%
- By size
- $42,125
- Median income (place)
- $105,400
- Median home (place)
- 26.3%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on East Chicago
East Chicago posts a median household income higher than 3% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the East Chicago area.
- Bottom 4%
- by median income, US cities
- 1
- hospital in & near East Chicago
Where East Chicago income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$42,125 Bottom 3% higher than 3% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. 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, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
Largest cities in IN
Population among 79 IN places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN
887,642 residents
- Fort Wayne 260,326
Fort Wayne, IN
260,326 residents
- Evansville 119,943
Evansville, IN
119,943 residents
- South Bend 101,516
South Bend, IN
101,516 residents
- Carmel 88,713
Carmel, IN
88,713 residents
- Bloomington 84,067
Bloomington, IN
84,067 residents
- Hammond 77,614
Hammond, IN
77,614 residents
- Gary 77,156
Gary, IN
77,156 residents
- Fishers 76,794
Fishers, IN
76,794 residents
- Lafayette 71,111
Lafayette, IN
71,111 residents
What this shows Indianapolis is the largest IN city on this list; Zionsville leads median income.
Highest median incomes in IN
Median household income among the same 79-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Zionsville
Zionsville, IN
$172,024 median
- Carmel
Carmel, IN
$141,505 median
- Saint John
Saint John, IN
$131,467 median
- Fishers
Fishers, IN
$130,203 median
- Granger
Granger, IN
$123,318 median
- Westfield
Westfield, IN
$122,789 median
- Munster
Munster, IN
$110,187 median
- Dyer
Dyer, IN
$107,159 median
- Noblesville
Noblesville, IN
$104,047 median
- Brownsburg
Brownsburg, IN
$102,235 median
What this shows Zionsville posts the highest place-level median income in IN; Indianapolis is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading East Chicago, IN beyond the headline numbers
East Chicago sits inside Lake County, Indiana, at roughly 41.64°N, -87.45°W. Population 28,699, $42,125 median household income. Median home value $105,400, median rent $854. Poverty rate 26.3%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
1 hospital in/around East Chicago, 4/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER.
26.3% of East Chicago, IN residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.
Housing is inexpensive against local pay -- the median home in East Chicago runs about 2.5 years of median household income, in the cheapest quarter of reporting cities.
Only 4.6% of East Chicago workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.
Among the CDC measures on this page, diabetes departs furthest from its peer median: 20.2% in East Chicago, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,711 cities reporting that measure.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for East Chicago from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
10-Year Trends 2013–2024
County-level trend (Lake County): East Chicago's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 26.3% +112% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 7.6% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 10.7% |
| Work From Home | 4.6% |
| Public Transit | 1% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
Hospitals 1 total
What alerts and safety updates affect East Chicago?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for East Chicago right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet IN-EAST-CHICAGO · East Chicago
East Chicago: no area-tagged alerts on record — state hubs carry the live CAP stream.
- FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
- LEAD-NONE Feed idle
- DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed
Counts reflect published articles tagged to East Chicago; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Indiana state hubs · Methodology
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 6
What is the population of East Chicago, IN? ▼
What is the median household income in East Chicago? ▼
What is the median home value in East Chicago? ▼
What are the top health concerns in East Chicago? ▼
How many hospitals are in East Chicago? ▼
What is the median age in East Chicago? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for East Chicago, both outside Indiana so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside IN (26.3% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside IN ($42,125 here).
Compare East Chicago with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Cities 8
Using East Chicago's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the East Chicago area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare East Chicago against Indiana peers on any ranking lens. Explore Indiana
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Lake County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.