Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Crawfordsville gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $228K, 3.2 years of the Crawfordsville area’s $71K median household income. It grades B overall, 286th of 585 graded towns in Indiana. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 89% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 95% of U.S. towns, with 13 places on the National Register. 36% of working residents work locally in Crawfordsville, against 11% in Indiana’s towns and 8% across U.S. towns. Only 50 of Indiana’s 1,097 towns score higher on walkability. Its National Register listings include Montgomery County Jail and Sheriff's Residence and Henry S. Lane House.
Where Crawfordsville beats most towns.
Montgomery County Jail and Sheriff's Residence
Montgomery County Jail and Sheriff's Residence is one of 2 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,327 in 1840, 16,306 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1899 and a map from 1984 on.
13 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Crawfordsville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Crawfordsville, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Crawfordsville.
Crawfordsville trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and has seen reported crime fall by a fifth or more.
32% of Crawfordsville adults get no exercise outside work. Crawfordsville beats the Indiana average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 16. 20% of Crawfordsville adults smoke cigarettes.
| Crawfordsville | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 26% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 17% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 21% | 19% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Crawfordsville | IN |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 24% | 15.4% |
| More adults with COPD | 10.9% | 8.1% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 19.4% | 14.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 82% of U.S. communities. Since 1998, 9 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Crawfordsville.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Crawfordsville has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 18° and about 22 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
About one in 3 of Crawfordsville’s working residents works in town. Crawfordsville’s average trip to work is 18 minutes. Since 2013, Crawfordsville has lost 1,363 jobs, to 9,710 in 2023.
| Crawfordsville | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 5.1% | 7.8% | 11% |
| Median household income | $55,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Homes are within reach (about $228K for the typical one, A for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 22 miles.
The typical Crawfordsville home is worth about $228,000, up 4% in a year, 11% below the Indiana typical home. The median rent in Crawfordsville is $857 a month.
| Crawfordsville | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 69% | 76% | 73% |
| Median rent | $857 a month | $947 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Reported crimes fell from 219 to 156 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
0.6 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Milligan Park, at 42 acres.
| Crawfordsville | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.1% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Milligan Park | 0.1 mi | 42 |
| 2. Sugar Creek Nature Park | — | 30 |
| 3. Fishero Park | — | 12 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Crawfordsville. Close and well known come first.
27 mi Stadium & arenaRoss–Ade Stadium
20 mi State parkTurkey Run State Park
32 mi State parkProphetstown State Park40 mi LandmarkWabash and Erie Canal
in town MuseumGeneral Lew Wallace Study
6 mi MuseumRopkey Armor MuseumRoss–Ade Stadium: Tstuddud at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Turkey Run State Park: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Prophetstown State Park: Flickr user: Dan https://www.flickr.com/photos/dwmizell/, CC BY-SA 2.0 · General Lew Wallace Study: Chris Light (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ropkey Armor Museum: John Schanlaub, CC BY 3.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Crawfordsville
About 7 of every 100 Crawfordsville residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Indiana.
13 places in Crawfordsville on the National Register of Historic Places.
27 notable people were born in Crawfordsville.
City in Indiana, United States
Crawfordsville () is a city in Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, 49 miles (79 km) west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The city is the county seat of Montgomery County, the only chartered city and the largest populated place in the county. It is the principal city of the Crawfordsville, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Montgomery County. The city is also part of the Indianapolis–Carmel–Muncie, IN Combined Statistical Area. The city was founded in 1823 on the bank of Sugar Creek, a southern tributary of the Wabash River and named for U.S. Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford. The cit…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Crawfordsville grades B overall, better than 62% of U.S. towns and #286 of 585 in Indiana. It grades D for health, B for safety and B for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.
27 notable people were born here, including The Ultimate Warrior and Joseph P. Allen.
