Washington, Indiana

Area Profile

12,367 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Washington, in Daviess County.

63out of 100
Area Score
Top 43% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 26% of 3,904 cities measured68
Schools1743rd of 2,668 cities measured40
Growth1660th of 2,973 cities measured47
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 4,223 cities measured94
ClimateTop 39% of 4,223 cities measured73
Physical resilience2242nd of 4,182 cities measured55
Access3508th of 4,226 cities measured75
Economic stability3446th of 4,226 cities measured41
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.0% and median household income $50,331, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

In the public schools here, 39% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.4 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 23 units authorized over the past twelve months, 78% below the prior year.

At a glance

Population
12,367
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$50,331
Bottom 23% nationally
Density
1,854/sq mi
6.7 sq mi of land
Median age
37.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Daviess County
Indiana
Metro area
Washington, IN
Nearest major airport
EVV
47 mi · Evansville Rgnl
Median home value
$152,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

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

Employment grew 0.1% over the past year, to 16,598 employed residents.

Median household income of $50,331 is below 77% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$6,934$50,331Bottom 23%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,251$26,853Bottom 26%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate18.2%Top 28%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.7 minBottom 13%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher16.8%Bottom 40%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment16,598Bottom 18%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)6.1%Top 4%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.1%Top 30%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force17,118Bottom 18%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation60.0%Bottom 48%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
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
202120222023202450k45k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $50,331 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.

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

39% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 33% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.4 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
38.5%
Bottom 46% in Indiana
Reading proficiency
33.1%
Bottom 25% in Indiana
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Washington High SchoolWashington Community Schools82717.2
Washington IntermediateWashington Community Schools53614.934%21%
Washington PrimaryWashington Community Schools48816.337%28%
Washington Junior High SchoolWashington Community Schools35711.927%37%
Washington Upper ElementaryWashington Community Schools35016.755%48%
Veale Elementary SchoolWashington Community Schools8113.556%62%

50.0% 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 $858 takes 20% 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
20.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$858
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$152,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.02Top 47%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate54.9%Bottom 14%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2705,435Top 11%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$75$858Bottom 36%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$9,268$152,200Bottom 38%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.5%Top 38%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate9.4%Bottom 48%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
47/ 100
Ranks 1660 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2022 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 7% since 2020, reaching 12,881 in 2024.

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

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

At 1.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
23
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.9
Bottom 44% nationally
Year over year
−78%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
21.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202413k12k
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
202220232024202514440
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+85%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 23°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.7 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LAWRENCEVILLE INTL AP, 25.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation41.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low23°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing46°F1991-2020 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

55 / 100
Physical resilience

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

EarthquakeHigh
TornadoModerate
Heat waveModerate
Strong windModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, drought, landslide, inland flooding, ice storm, lightning, hail, 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.

Daviess County records 3.6 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 12.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 12.1 per 100,000 residents in Daviess County.

Homicide
3.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
12.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.0
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 Daviess 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 Washington rather than Washington 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences 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. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
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

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 47 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Evansville RgnlEVV47 mi8,021 ft
Terre Haute RgnlHUF55 mi9,021 ft
Owensboro/Daviess County RgnlOWB64 mi8,000 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
63
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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)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
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

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 Washington

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4750118,612$62,98265