Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Hobart gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $242K, 2.7 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 439th of 585 graded towns in Indiana. Hobart’s property crime rate is 22.2 per 1,000 residents, against 8.6 in Indiana’s towns and 9.9 across U.S. towns. On the outdoors, just 105 of Indiana’s 1,098 towns do better. Its National Register listings include Hobart Carnegie Library and Pennsylvania Railroad Station.
Where Hobart beats most towns.
Census counts: 600 in 1880, 29,752 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1909 and 4 maps from 1953 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Hobart is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Hobart. Close and well known come first.
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw25 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
in town National ParkIndiana Dunes National Park2.6M visitors a year
Big draw29 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw33 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 Hobart, 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 Hobart.
Hobart trades workers with Chicago and other neighbors, but it has seen reported crime rise beyond ordinary swings.
8.8 miles of trail in 24 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Hobart Prairie Grove, at 308 acres.
| Hobart | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5.8% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gordon and Faith Greiner Nature Preserve | 0.9 mi | 70 |
| 2. Cressmoor Prairie Nature Preserve | 0.8 mi | 39 |
| 3. Bur Oak Woods Nature Preserve | 0.7 mi | 81 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 71% of U.S. communities. Since 1990, 10 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Hobart.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Reported crimes rose from 635 to 698 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Hobart has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 17° and about 27 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Hobart beats the Indiana average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 41% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Hobart.
| Hobart | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 37% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 16% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 26% | 23% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 17% | 14% |
| What stands out | Hobart | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with depression | 21.8% | 25.1% |
| Fewer adults with high cholesterol | 34.8% | 37.8% |
| More adults sleeping under 7 hours | 41.3% | 37.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Hobart has about as many jobs (13,719) as working residents, but only 1,851 people both live and work here.
Most working residents leave Hobart for work: only 14% work in town. 3.9% of Hobart workers work from home. Since 2013, Hobart has added 939 jobs, to 13,719 in 2023.
| Hobart | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 3.9% | 7.8% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 11% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Indiana average. 21% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 30% across Indiana.
| Hobart | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 20% | 23% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 21% | 22% | 29% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.1 points. Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women. Median age: women 42.0, men 37.9.
| Hobart | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.4% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.4% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.8% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 16.7% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.7% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.1% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.7% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.7% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.4% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.6% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 40.4% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 23.2% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.6% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 16.1% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 5.2% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The typical Hobart home is worth about $242,000, up 1.3% in a year, 6% below the Indiana typical home.
| Hobart | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 70% | 76% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,206 a month | $946 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
3 within 15 miles of the center of Hobart
About 4 of every 100 Hobart residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
5 places in Hobart on the National Register of Historic Places.
13 notable people were born in Hobart.
City in Indiana, United States
Hobart ( HOH-bart, locally ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,752 at the 2020 census, up from 29,059 in 2010. It has been historically primarily residential, though recent annexation has added a notable retail corridor to the city.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Hobart.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart | #439 | C+ | B | C | B− | C+ |
| Lake Station | #527 | C− | A− | — | C− | D |
| Merrillville | #481 | C | B | — | C+ | C− |
| Hobart Township | #461 | C+ | A− | — | C+ | C− |
| Union Township | #142 | A− | B | — | A | B− |
| Ross Township | #467 | C+ | B | — | C+ | C |
| New Chicago | — | — | A− | — | C− | D− |
| Calumet Township | #573 | D | A− | — | D− | D− |
New Chicago has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Lake Station, Merrillville, Hobart Township, Union Township, Ross Township, New Chicago and Calumet Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Hobart with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Hobart grades C+ overall, better than 41% of U.S. towns and #439 of 585 in Indiana. It grades C+ for health, C for safety and B− for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
13 notable people were born here, including Omar Apollo and Alan Abel.
_-_Chicago,_IL_-_June_2026.jpg){kind=link}
