Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Griffith gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $250K, 2.8 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. It grades A overall, 60th of 585 graded towns in Indiana. On the plus side, its schools rank ahead of 79% of Indiana towns. 15% of the land in Griffith is conserved, where Indiana’s towns sit at 1.9% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. On the outdoors, just 16 of Indiana’s 1,098 towns do better. Griffith has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Griffith E.J. and E. Interlocking Tower and Griffith Grand Trunk Depot.
Where Griffith beats most towns.
15.1% of the town is conserved land, across 10 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Griffith is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 523 in 1910, 16,528 in 2020. The archive holds 22 old photos and papers going back to 1965 and 5 maps from 1900 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Griffith. Close and well known come first.
Big draw25 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw31 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw20 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
in town National ParkIndiana Dunes National Park2.6M visitors a year
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw28 mi Stadium & arenaUnited CenterSoldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · Indiana Dunes National Park: J. Crocker, Attribution · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Griffith, 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 Griffith.
Griffith sends many workers across the state line, reports less crime than Schererville or any other graded neighbor and is one of Indiana’s best towns for the outdoors.
Its A for the outdoors ranks #11 of 593 in Indiana.
4.6 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Oak Ridge Prairie County Park, 429 acres with 2.6 miles of trail. Griffith’s trail density is 0.6 miles per square mile, against 0.2 in Indiana’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Oak Ridge Prairie County Park | 2.6 mi | 429 |
| 2. Central Park | 0.6 mi | 12 |
| 3. Hoosier Prairie State Nature Preserve | — | 247 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
27% of working residents cross a state line to work.
Most working residents leave Griffith for work: only 5% work in town. The average trip to work in Griffith is 28 minutes. The top destinations are Chicago (10%), Hammond (7%) and Munster (6%).
| Griffith | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 5.5% | 7.8% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 7.1% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.4% | 11% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Griffith has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 17° and about 27 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
215 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 27 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 66% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 215 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Griffith.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its B tops all 3 graded towns on its borders; Schererville (B) comes closest.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Indiana average. 20% of residents are under 18 in Griffith. Griffith has lost 2.5% of its people since 2020, down to 16,137 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Griffith | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 20% | 23% | 22% |
| Median age | 37.5 years | 39.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 28% | 22% | 29% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.3 points. Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women. Median age: women 37.4, men 37.6.
| Griffith | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.2% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.6% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.4% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.7% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.8% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.1% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.1% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.3% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 36.8% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.3% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.7% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.2% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.7% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Within Indiana it is healthier than 76% of the 589 graded towns: much of Indiana scores lower on these measures.
21% of Griffith adults have been diagnosed with depression. Griffith beats the Indiana average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 34% of Griffith adults have high blood pressure.
| Griffith | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 37% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 16% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 26% | 23% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 39% | 35% |
| What stands out | Griffith | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5.7% | 6.8% |
| Fewer adults with COPD | 6.8% | 8.1% |
| More adults sleeping under 7 hours | 41.7% | 37.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical Griffith home is worth about $250,000, up 2.3% in a year, close to the Indiana typical home. Griffith’s median rent is $1,235 a month.
| Griffith | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,235 a month | $946 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 72% | 76% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
5 within 15 miles of the center of Griffith
About 2 of every 100 Griffith residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
Where Griffith’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
3 places in Griffith on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Indiana, United States
Griffith is a town in North and St. John townships in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 16,420 in 2020. The town's population is currently declining at a rate of 0.69% annually. Griffith has the 11th largest population and 17th largest area by size of incorporated municipalities in Lake County, Indiana.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Griffith.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Griffith | #60 | A | A− | B | A− | B− |
| Calumet Township | #573 | D | A− | — | D− | D− |
| Schererville | #97 | A | B− | B | A | B+ |
| Highland | #155 | A− | B+ | B− | B+ | B |
| North Township | #504 | C | A− | — | C− | D |
| St. John Township | #36 | A | B− | — | A | B+ |
| Gary | #585 | D− | A− | D− | D− | D− |
| Merrillville | #481 | C | B | — | C+ | C− |
Calumet Township, North Township, St. John Township and Merrillville report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Griffith with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Griffith grades A overall, better than 92% of U.S. towns and #60 of 585 in Indiana. It grades B− for health, B for safety 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−.
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