Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Hammond earns a D, 575th among Indiana's 585 graded towns, mostly because of safety and health. It reports more crime per resident than 93% of U.S. towns, including 445 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. Residents are less healthy than 92% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. In its favor, a typical home costs about $177K, 1.9 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Hammond’s violent crime rate is 5.9 per 1,000 residents, against 1.4 in Indiana’s towns and 1.6 across U.S. towns. Only 45 of Indiana’s 1,097 towns score higher on walkability. Hammond has 15 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them State Street Commercial Historic District and State Bank of Hammond Building.
Where Hammond beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
State Bank of Hammond Building
Its 15 National Register listings are more than in 95% of Indiana towns with a listing.
Census counts: 699 in 1880, a peak of 111,698 in 1960, 77,879 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 2006 and 2 maps from 1953 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Hammond is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Hammond. Close and well known come first.
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw12 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw16 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw20 mi Stadium & arenaUnited Center
Big draw19 mi MuseumArt Institute of Chicago1.5M visitors a yearSoldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · Wrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Art Institute of Chicago: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Hammond, 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 Hammond.
Hammond sends many workers across the state line to Chicago and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
14 miles of trail in 39 parks and preserves. Gibson Woods Nature Preserve, at 119 acres with 2.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Hammond’s trail density is 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Hammond | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.8% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gibson Woods Nature Preserve | 2.3 mi | 119 |
| 2. Doctor Martin Luther King Park | 1.3 mi | 13 |
| 3. Seidner Dune and Swale Nature Preserve | 1.2 mi | 44 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Reported crimes fell from 3,070 to 2,319 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in Hammond is 24.8 per 1,000 residents. Hammond reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 93% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
46% of Hammond adults sleep under 7 hours. Hammond beats the Indiana average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 18. 33% of Hammond adults get no exercise outside work.
| Hammond | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 46% | 37% | 36% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 14% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 21% | 19% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 8.3% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Hammond | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.1% | 8.3% |
| Fewer adults with depression | 20.4% | 25.1% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 28.7% | 14.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 1.9 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income, the typical home (about $177K) costs less against local pay than in 93% of Indiana towns; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living.
62% of households own their home in Hammond. The typical Hammond home is worth about $177,000, up 1.8% in a year, 31% below the Indiana typical home.
| Hammond | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 62% | 76% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 50% | 44% | 48% |
| Median rent | $1,134 a month | $946 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Hammond has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 18° and about 28 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
28% of working residents cross a state line to work, Chicago among the top destinations. Hammond has about as many jobs (25,357) as working residents, but only 5,049 people both live and work here.
Most working residents leave Hammond for work: only 18% work in town. Since 2013, Hammond has lost 2,590 jobs, to 25,357 in 2023. The top destinations are Chicago (13%), Munster (5%) and East Chicago (5%).
| Hammond | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 19% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 11% | 8% |
| Median household income | $56,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 6.9% | 7.8% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
310 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 31 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 64% of U.S. communities. Since 1980, 310 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Hammond.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
18 within 15 miles of the center of Hammond
About 6 of every 100 Hammond residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Indiana.
15 places in Hammond on the National Register of Historic Places.
54 notable people were born in Hammond.
City in Indiana, United States
Hammond ( HAM-ənd) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. Located along Lake Michigan, it is part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. As of the 2020 census, it is the eighth-most populous city in Indiana, with 77,879 residents. It was first settled in the mid-19th century and it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. From north to south, Hammond runs from Lake Michigan to the Little Calumet River; from east to west along its southern border, it runs from the Illinois state line to Cline Avenue. The city is traversed by numerous railroads and expressways, including the South Shore Line, Borman Expressway, and Indiana Toll …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Hammond.
Munster next door grades higher for schools (A+ to Hammond’s C−) and lower for cost of living (C+ to A−).
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hammond | #575 | D | A− | D | C− | D |
| Highland | #155 | A− | B+ | B− | B+ | B |
| Munster | #44 | A | C+ | B+ | A+ | A− |
| North Township | #504 | C | A− | — | C− | D |
| East Chicago | #580 | D | A | D | D | D− |
| Whiting | #455 | C+ | A− | C− | B | D |
| Calumet Township | #573 | D | A− | — | D− | D− |
| Gary | #585 | D− | A− | D− | D− | D− |
North Township and Calumet Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Hammond with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Hammond grades D overall, better than 12% of U.S. towns and #575 of 585 in Indiana. It grades D for health, D for safety and C− for schools. Safety 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−.
54 notable people were born here, including Terry Funk and David Wilkerson.
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