Lake Station, Indiana

Area Profile

13,185 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Lake Station, in Lake County.

56out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 33% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2584th of 3,904 cities measured48
Schools2572nd of 2,668 cities measured13
Growth2609th of 2,973 cities measured25
Housing affordabilityTop 33% of 4,223 cities measured89
Climate3314th of 4,223 cities measured62
Physical resilienceTop 23% of 4,182 cities measured81
AccessTop 29% of 4,226 cities measured97
Economic stability2880th of 4,226 cities measured50
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.7% and median household income $59,591, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Lake Station in the top 23% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 9 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
13,185
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$59,591
Bottom 38% nationally
Density
1,590/sq mi
8.3 sq mi of land
Median age
33.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Lake County
Indiana
Metro area
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
Nearest major airport
GYY
9 mi · Gary/Chicago Intl
Median home value
$137,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 36% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.3% over the past year, to 234,985 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,300$59,591Bottom 38%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,994$26,896Bottom 26%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate15.4%Top 35%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute29.0 minTop 38%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher7.4%Bottom 15%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment234,985Top 27%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.9%Top 15%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.3%Top 25%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force246,586Top 27%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation61.6%Top 46%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$73,380Top 36%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$54,720Top 39%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.4%Bottom 26%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 36%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202460k51k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $59,591 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 — Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand157,920$40,550
General and Operations Managers122,930$109,390
Home Health and Personal Care Aides108,520$38,180
Registered Nurses100,240$100,490
Cashiers99,240$35,010
Fast Food and Counter Workers97,280$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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Lake County, IN, which contains this city.

19% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 23% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.8 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
19.1%
Bottom 7% in Indiana
Reading proficiency
23.2%
Bottom 6% in Indiana
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Thomas A Edison Jr-Sr HSLake Station Community Schools59518.63%22%
Henry S Evans Elementary SchoolRiver Forest Community Sch Corp40018.235%25%
Virgil I Bailey Elementary SchoolLake Station Community Schools23513.829%13%
Alexander Hamilton Elementary SchLake Station Community Schools20014.324%35%

77.8% 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 2% above the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,124 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.3 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
102.5

Prices here run about 2% above 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
22.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,124
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$137,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index102.5Top 47%of 3,6582023
Home price to income2.31Bottom 32%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.0%Bottom 42%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3004,947Top 12%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$84$1,124Top 38%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$8,977$137,400Bottom 33%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.6%Top 26%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.1%Bottom 29%of 32,0012024 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
25/ 100
Ranks 2609 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2020 to 2025.

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 13,033 in 2024.

At 0.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
0
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 1% nationally
Year over year
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202413k13k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420250.00.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey.

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.

Air quality measures a median index of 52, in the Moderate band, and about 5 days a year pass 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 VALPARAISO PORTER CO MUNI AP, 15.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index71.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation33.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10052024 calendar year
Median air quality index52.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing48°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
52
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
71
90th percentile index
Days above 100
5
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

81 / 100
Physical resilience

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

TornadoModerate
Heat waveModerate
EarthquakeModerate

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.

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

Lake County records 7.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 22.6 per 100,000 residents in Lake County.

Homicide
7.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
22.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.2
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 Lake 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 Lake Station rather than Lake Station 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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Gary/Chicago IntlGYY9 mi8,859 ft
Chicago O'Hare IntlORD44 mi11,245 ft
South Bend IntlSBN49 mi8,412 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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Area Score
56
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Other cities in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
ChicagoCook County2,711,22654vs Lake Station
AuroraKane County179,89864vs Lake Station
NapervilleDuPage County150,69271vs Lake Station
JolietWill County150,44559vs Lake Station
ElginKane County114,93457vs Lake Station
WaukeganLake County89,07658vs Lake Station
CiceroCook County82,79748vs Lake Station
SchaumburgCook County76,86861vs Lake Station
HammondLake County76,76858vs Lake Station
EvanstonCook County76,34063vs Lake Station
Arlington HeightsCook County76,00566vs Lake Station
BolingbrookWill County74,09664vs Lake Station

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.

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.

ZIP codes in Lake Station

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4640512,184$60,88157