Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,671, settled in 1840. Public schools that outperform most of Indiana.
Trash day: MondayBecause it does well by almost any measure. Ferdinand Township earns an A+, 3rd among Indiana's 585 graded towns. Its public schools beat 97% of Indiana towns on state tests and graduation, and homes are within reach, about $215K for a typical one, or 2.8 years of the Jasper area’s $76K median household income. Its lowest mark, a B, is in health. On civic life, just 43 of Indiana’s 1,043 towns do better. 24% of working residents work locally in Ferdinand Township, above both the Indiana town median (11%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Ferdinand Township has 1 place on the National Register.
Where Ferdinand Township beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Ferdinand Elementary School | PK–4 | 272 |
| Forest Park Jr-Sr High School | 7–12 | 555 |
Where Ferdinand Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Ferdinand Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 500 in 1880, 2,157 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 2013 and 2 maps from 1960 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ferdinand Township, 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 Ferdinand Township.
Ferdinand Township pairs an A+ for schools with modest home prices, draws workers from Jasper and beyond and looks healthier within Indiana than nationally.
Its A+ for schools comes with an A for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $215K. Its A+ ranks #7 of the 592 Indiana towns we grade for schools.
Its public schools are run by Southeast Dubois Co School Corp. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Forest Park Jr-Sr High School, with 555 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ferdinand Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 272 | A+ |
| Forest Park Jr-Sr High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 555 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IN on state tests and graduation
3,560 jobs are based in Ferdinand Township, 1.9 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 4 of Ferdinand Township’s working residents works in town. The average trip to work in Ferdinand Township is 20 minutes. Jobs based in Ferdinand Township grew to 3,560 in 2023, 421 more than in 2013.
| Ferdinand Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 7% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $83,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
8.1 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Ferdinand State Forest, 1,070 acres with 7.9 miles of trail.
| Ferdinand Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 4.5% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ferdinand State Forest | 7.9 mi | 1,070 |
| 2. 18th Street Park | 0.1 mi | 34 |
| 3. 5th Street Park | — | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Adults 18 to 34 are 13% of residents (23% statewide); people 65 and older are 26% of residents (17% statewide). Ferdinand Township’s median age is 45.6 years. 29% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 30% across Indiana.
| Ferdinand Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 26% | 18% | 18% |
| Median age | 45.6 years | 39.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 29% | 22% | 29% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.8 points. Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Ferdinand Township | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.7% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.4% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.5% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 6% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.5% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.8% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.1% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.8% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 14.2% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 33.5% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.7% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.4% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.5% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.9% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,700, single groups can be off by several points
Ferdinand Township has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 24° and about 8 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Within Indiana it is healthier than 81% of the 589 graded towns: much of Indiana scores lower on these measures. Its widest gap with Indiana is food insecurity: 9.4% of its 3,538 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.7% statewide.
32% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Ferdinand Township. Ferdinand Township beats the Indiana average on 11 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 23% of adults get no exercise outside work in Ferdinand Township.
| Ferdinand Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 37% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 9.4% | 14% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 81% | 80% | 79% |
| What stands out | Ferdinand Township | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.4% | 14.7% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 5.5% | 8.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.7% | 8.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 58% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
1 within 15 miles of the center of Ferdinand Township
About 2 of every 100 Ferdinand Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
Town in Indiana, United States
Ferdinand is a town in Ferdinand Township, Dubois County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 2,157 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Ferdinand Township.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferdinand Township | #3 | A+ | A | — | A+ | B |
| Jackson Township | — | — | A− | — | A+ | C |
| Cass Township | — | — | A+ | — | A | C |
| Harrison Township | — | — | A− | — | A+ | B |
| Patoka Township | #236 | B+ | A | — | A | C− |
| Clark Township | — | — | A | — | A− | C+ |
Jackson Township, Cass Township, Harrison Township and Clark Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Ferdinand Township, Jackson Township, Cass Township, Harrison Township, Patoka Township and Clark Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Ferdinand Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Ferdinand Township grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #3 of 585 in Indiana. It grades B for health and A+ for schools.
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.