Lebanon, Indiana

Area Profile

17,812 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Lebanon, in Boone County.

76out of 100
Area Score
Top 6% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 20% of 3,904 cities measured71
SchoolsTop 42% of 2,668 cities measured57
GrowthTop 17% of 2,973 cities measured70
Housing affordabilityTop 8% of 4,223 cities measured100
Climate2542nd of 4,223 cities measured68
Physical resilienceTop 16% of 4,182 cities measured85
Access2893rd of 4,226 cities measured86
Economic stabilityTop 22% of 4,226 cities measured73
The quick read

Lebanon ranks in the top 20% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.0% and median household income of $65,154.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 91 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 25% on the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Lebanon in the top 16% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
17,812
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$65,154
Bottom 47% nationally
Density
1,029/sq mi
17.3 sq mi of land
Median age
34.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Boone County
Indiana
Metro area
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN
Nearest major airport
IND
23 mi · Indianapolis Intl
Median home value
$195,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.0% is lower than 96% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.6% over the past year, to 42,319 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$3,923$65,154Bottom 47%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,281$32,583Bottom 46%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.9%Bottom 37%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.2 minBottom 31%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher21.7%Top 47%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment42,319Bottom 46%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)5.5%Top 5%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.6%Top 46%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force43,645Bottom 46%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation68.1%Top 23%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$65,180Bottom 32%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,340Bottom 35%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.1%Bottom 41%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.0%Bottom 4%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202465k58k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $65,154 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 publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Boone County, IN, which contains this city.

43% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 41% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
43.2%
Top 37% in Indiana
Reading proficiency
40.7%
Top 47% in Indiana
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Lebanon Senior High SchoolLebanon Community School Corp1,07016.0
Lebanon Middle SchoolLebanon Community School Corp84918.132%42%
Perry Worth Elementary SchoolLebanon Community School Corp60116.758%45%
Harney Elementary SchoolLebanon Community School Corp44814.032%27%
Hattie B Stokes Elementary SchoolLebanon Community School Corp39410.934%29%
Central Elementary SchoolLebanon Community School Corp33916.171%61%

47.1% 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 $962 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
17.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$962
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$195,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.00Top 48%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate69.5%Bottom 37%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4397,548Top 8%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$98$962Bottom 49%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,622$195,600Top 48%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.7%Bottom 44%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2.3%Bottom 17%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
70/ 100
Top 17% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, 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 grown 5% since 2020, reaching 17,608 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 5.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
91
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.1
Top 29% nationally
Year over year
+25%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202418k17k
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
20202021202220232024202515549
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−39%).

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 36, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

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, 16.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index51.02024 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 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index36.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing47°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
36
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
51
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
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

85 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Overall hazard risk is lower than 77% of measured US cities.

HailModerate
EarthquakeHigh
DroughtModerate
Inland floodingModerate
Heat waveModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, strong wind, cold wave, ice storm, tornado, 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. 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. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Boone County records 2.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 9.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 11.1 per 100,000 residents in Boone County.

Homicide
2.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
9.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
11.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
11.8
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 Boone 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 Lebanon rather than Lebanon 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 and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. 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 23 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Indianapolis IntlIND23 mi11,200 ft
Terre Haute RgnlHUF61 mi9,021 ft
South Bend IntlSBN116 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
76
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Other cities in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
IndianapolisMarion County885,860vs Lebanon
FishersHamilton County102,33778vs Lebanon
CarmelHamilton County101,65181vs Lebanon
NoblesvilleHamilton County73,36280vs Lebanon
GreenwoodJohnson County66,02974vs Lebanon
AndersonMadison County55,36757vs Lebanon
WestfieldHamilton County54,67782vs Lebanon
LawrenceMarion County49,51763vs Lebanon
PlainfieldHendricks County36,36975vs Lebanon
ZionsvilleBoone County32,09584vs Lebanon
BrownsburgHendricks County31,21583vs Lebanon
FranklinJohnson County26,16872vs Lebanon

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.

Compare

Put Lebanon side by side with a similar place.

Lebanon vs HeathLebanon vs VermilionLebanon vs GreenfieldLebanon vs Vandalia

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)
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)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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)
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 Lebanon

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4605223,553$68,93076