Gary, Indiana
Area Profile
68,113 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Gary, in Lake County.
Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 7.6% and the Opportunity signal places Gary in the bottom 11%.
Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Gary in the top 22% for physical resilience.
A major airport is 4 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 7.6% is lower than 2% of the 3,904 measured US cities.
Employment grew 0.3% over the past year, to 22,800 employed residents.
Median household income of $38,731 is below 91% of measured US cities.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$2,687 | $38,731 | Bottom 9% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$1,128 | $23,453 | Bottom 16% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 33.1% | Top 8% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 28.4 min | Top 41% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 14.8% | Bottom 34% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 22,800 | Bottom 29% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | 2.3% | Top 20% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | 0.3% | Top 25% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 24,662 | Bottom 30% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 50.2% | Bottom 22% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $73,380 | Top 36% | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $54,720 | Top 39% | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | -1.4% | Bottom 1% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 7.6% | Top 2% | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 157,920 | $40,550 |
| General and Operations Managers | 122,930 | $109,390 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 108,520 | $38,180 |
| Registered Nurses | 100,240 | $100,490 |
| Cashiers | 99,240 | $35,010 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 97,280 | $34,630 |
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.
Schools
How it’s calculated →5% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 10% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 18.0 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Side Leadership Academy | Gary Community School Corp | 1,232 | 18.1 | — | — |
| 21st Century Charter Sch of Gary · charter | 21st Century Charter Sch of Gary | 1,180 | 118.0 | 5% | 8% |
| Gary Lighthouse Charter School · charter | Gary Lighthouse Charter School | 1,138 | 15.2 | 3% | 6% |
| Charter School of the Dunes · charter | Charter School of the Dunes | 836 | 17.8 | 4% | 13% |
| Thea Bowman Leadership Academy · charter | Thea Bowman Leadership Academy | 773 | 17.2 | 4% | 11% |
| Aspire Charter Academy · charter | Aspire Charter Academy | 684 | 20.7 | 8% | 16% |
| Calumet New Tech High School | Lake Ridge New Tech Schools | 620 | 15.1 | — | — |
| Glen Park Acad for Excel in Lrn | Gary Community School Corp | 566 | 15.3 | 3% | 4% |
| Longfellow New Tech Elementary Sch | Lake Ridge New Tech Schools | 483 | 19.3 | 12% | 12% |
| Frankie Woods McCullough Academy | Gary Community School Corp | 472 | 15.7 | 5% | 5% |
| Daniel Hale Williams Elem Sch | Gary Community School Corp | 450 | 16.1 | 6% | 8% |
| Lake Ridge New Tech Middle School | Lake Ridge New Tech Schools | 447 | 17.2 | 10% | 20% |
73.4% 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 →Median rent of $1,012 takes 31% of median household income, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 2.4 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 2.45 | Bottom 36% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 49.1% | Bottom 9% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±697 | 37,816 | Top 1% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$38 | $1,012 | Top 47% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$3,944 | $94,700 | Bottom 16% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 31.4% | Top 5% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 28.0% | Top 14% | 2024 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 →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.
Population has fallen 2% since 2020, reaching 67,555 in 2024.
Permit activity has risen for 3 consecutive years.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 0.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.
Weather & climate
5 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 18°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 33.4 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 33.4" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 18°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 85°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 48°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
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.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, earthquake and heat wave.
Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, inland flooding, winter weather, strong wind, lightning, ice storm, hail, wildfire, landslide, coastal flooding, hurricane.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
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.
- Crime
- The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
- Taxes
- No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Full cost of living
- No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.
Access
3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 4 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gary/Chicago Intl | GYY | 4 mi | 8,859 ft |
| Chicago O'Hare Intl | ORD | 39 mi | 11,245 ft |
| South Bend Intl | SBN | 54 mi | 8,412 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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Other cities in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
Same metropolitan area, measured the same way| City | County | Population | Area Score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Cook County | 2,711,226 | 54 | vs Gary |
| Aurora | Kane County | 179,898 | 64 | vs Gary |
| Naperville | DuPage County | 150,692 | 71 | vs Gary |
| Joliet | Will County | 150,445 | 59 | vs Gary |
| Elgin | Kane County | 114,934 | 57 | vs Gary |
| Waukegan | Lake County | 89,076 | 58 | vs Gary |
| Cicero | Cook County | 82,797 | 48 | vs Gary |
| Schaumburg | Cook County | 76,868 | 61 | vs Gary |
| Hammond | Lake County | 76,768 | 58 | vs Gary |
| Evanston | Cook County | 76,340 | 63 | vs Gary |
| Arlington Heights | Cook County | 76,005 | 66 | vs Gary |
| Bolingbrook | Will County | 74,096 | 64 | vs Gary |
Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.
Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyCompare
Put Gary side by side with a similar place.
Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
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.