46032Carmel, Indiana

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 46032.

81out of 100
Area Score
Top 1% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 3% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured85
SchoolsTop 7% of 4,422 ZIP areas measured85
GrowthTop 7% of 5,428 ZIP areas measured77
Housing affordabilityTop 29% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured91
Climate3960th of 6,789 ZIP areas measured68
Physical resilienceTop 29% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured76
Access4254th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured89
Economic stabilityTop 16% of 6,742 ZIP areas measured77
The quick read

46032 ranks in the top 3% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.1% and median household income of $132,085.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 1,015 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 44% on the prior year.

A major airport is 18 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
51,515
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$132,085
Top 7% nationally
Density
2,032/sq mi
25.4 sq mi of land
Median age
39.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Carmel
Indiana
Metro area
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN
Nearest major airport
IND
18 mi · Indianapolis Intl
Median home value
$496,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.1% is lower than 95% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 0.7% over the past year, to 56,280 employed residents.

75% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 98% of measured US ZIP areas.

Household income is higher than at least 93% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$9,053$132,085Top 7%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,410$78,612Top 4%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate4.9%Bottom 19%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.4 minBottom 37%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher75.5%Top 2%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment56,280Top 49%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.9%Top 15%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.7%Top 47%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force58,067Top 49%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation68.7%Top 19%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$65,180Bottom 38%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,340Bottom 39%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.1%Bottom 43%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.1%Bottom 5%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024132k108k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $132,085 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand48,100$44,180
Retail Salespersons28,840$31,530
Fast Food and Counter Workers28,400$29,040
Registered Nurses25,800$84,230
Stockers and Order Fillers25,630$37,120
Home Health and Personal Care Aides20,590$35,060

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Carmel, IN, the city containing this ZIP code.

67% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 68% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.4 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
11
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
66.7%
Top 4% in Indiana
Reading proficiency
67.5%
Top 2% in Indiana
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Carmel High SchoolCarmel Clay Schools5,23916.8
Creekside Middle SchoolCarmel Clay Schools1,42818.870%81%
Carmel Middle SchoolCarmel Clay Schools1,04713.840%60%
Carmel Elementary SchoolCarmel Clay Schools70014.676%62%
Smoky Row Elementary SchoolCarmel Clay Schools69215.082%69%
Clay Center Elementary SchoolCarmel Clay Schools66613.9
College Wood Elementary SchoolCarmel Clay Schools61616.689%75%
West Clay Elementary SchoolCarmel Clay Schools58015.389%77%
Towne Meadow Elementary SchoolCarmel Clay Schools52714.280%69%
Indiana Agriculture and Technology · charterIndiana Agriculture and Technology441220.55%25%
Options Westfield · charterOptions Charter Schools24811.8

12.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Indiana’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 5% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,642 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Cost of living
94.7

Prices here run about 5% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
14.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,642
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$496,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index94.7Bottom 30%of 6,0712023
Home price to income3.76Top 33%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate66.5%Bottom 24%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±73322,194Top 2%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$55$1,642Top 18%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$17,477$496,800Top 13%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income14.9%Bottom 30%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.4%Bottom 35%of 33,0282024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
77/ 100
Top 7% of 5,428 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

76% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 10.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
1,015
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
10.0
Top 12% nationally
Year over year
+44%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
75.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Carmel, IN, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 21°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 40.7 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station INDIANAPOLIS EAGLE CREEK AP, 11.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index61.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation40.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low21°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index44.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing47°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
61
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

76 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, earthquake and hail.

TornadoHigh
HailModerate
Heat waveModerate
EarthquakeElevated
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, inland flooding, cold wave, strong wind, ice storm, drought, landslide, hurricane, wildfire.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Hamilton County records 1.4 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 6.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 8.3 per 100,000 residents in Hamilton County.

Homicide
1.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
8.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Hamilton County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around 46032 rather than 46032 itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 18 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Indianapolis IntlIND18 mi11,200 ft
Terre Haute RgnlHUF70 mi9,021 ft
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky IntlCVG102 mi10,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
81
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

46032 vs Carmel

How this ZIP area compares with Carmel as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

46032
Carmel
Median household income
$132,085
vs
$141,505
Per capita income
$78,612
vs
$73,549
Population density
2,032/sq mi
vs
2,071/sq mi
Median home value
$496,800
vs
$486,800
Median gross rent
$1,642
vs
$1,712
Homeownership rate
66.5%
vs
74.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher
75.5%
vs
74.4%
Poverty rate
4.9%
vs
3.9%
Median age
39.9
vs
40.6

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.