Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lawrence is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C+ overall, 459th of 585 graded towns in Indiana, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $74K. Its lowest everyday mark is in safety: its police reported 126 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 70% of U.S. towns. A typical home there costs about $267K, 3.3 years of the Indianapolis metro’s $80K median household income. 18% of the land in Lawrence is conserved, above both Indiana’s towns (1.9%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). On the outdoors, just 26 of Indiana’s 1,098 towns do better. Lawrence is home to Horizon University.
Where Lawrence beats most towns.
Census counts: 253 in 1880, 49,370 in 2020. The archive holds 30 old photos and papers going back to 2011 and 5 maps from 1948 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Lawrence is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lawrence. Close and well known come first.
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaLucas Oil Stadium
11 mi Stadium & arenaGainbridge Fieldhouse
10 mi Stadium & arenaHinkle Fieldhouse
11 mi LandmarkSoldiers' and Sailors' Monument
9 mi MuseumConner Prairie
11 mi MuseumIndianapolis Museum of Art428K visitors a yearLucas Oil Stadium: Josh Hallett from Winter Haven, FL, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Gainbridge Fieldhouse: Durin at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hinkle Fieldhouse: Peetlesnumber1, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument: alexeatswhales, CC BY 2.0 · Conner Prairie: Unknown, CC BY 2.5 · Indianapolis Museum of Art: No machine-readable author provided. Cszmurlo assumed (based on copyright claims, CC BY 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lawrence, 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 Lawrence.
Lawrence looks healthier within Indiana than nationally and has seen reported crime fall by a third or more.
22 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. Lawrence’s trail density is 1.1 miles per square mile, above both the Indiana town median (0.2) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4). Fort Harrison State Park, at 1,725 acres with 13.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fort Harrison State Park | 13.4 mi | 1,725 |
| 2. Lee Road Park | 0.4 mi | 29 |
| 3. Lawrence Community Park | — | 147 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Most working residents leave Lawrence for work: only 7% work in town. Since 2013, Lawrence has added 2,708 jobs, to 15,316 in 2023. 15% of workers work from home in Lawrence.
| Lawrence | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 15% | 7.8% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.8% | 11% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 8.7% | 10% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Reported crimes fell from 1,268 to 714 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Lawrence reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 70% report less. The violent crime rate in Lawrence is 2.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Lawrence | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.5 per 1,000 residents | 1.4 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 11.8 per 1,000 residents | 8.6 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 70% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lawrence.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Lawrence has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 20° and about 27 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
People 65 and older are 12% of residents (17% statewide). 27% of Lawrence residents are under 18. Lawrence has grown 2.1% since 2020, to 50,420 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Lawrence | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 34.3 years | 39.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 12% | 18% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 27% | 23% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 36% | 22% | 29% |
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2 points). Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women. Median age: women 35.8, men 33.2.
| Lawrence | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 14.9% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.7% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.7% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.3% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.7% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.9% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.3% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 7.3% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.1% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 10.9% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.2% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.4% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.9% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.6% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Within Indiana it is healthier than 75% of the 589 graded towns: much of Indiana scores lower on these measures.
Lawrence beats the Indiana average on 5 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5.
| Lawrence | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 37% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 32% | 33% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 8.3% | 8.1% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Lawrence | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5.5% | 6.8% |
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.8% | 8.3% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 10.9% | 8.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
10 within 15 miles of the center of Lawrence
About 5 of every 100 Lawrence residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Indiana.
18.4% of the town is conserved land, across 8 parks and preserves.
6 places in Lawrence on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Indiana, United States
Lawrence is a city in Lawrence Township, Marion County, Indiana, United States. It is one of four "excluded cities" in Marion County. The city is home to Fort Benjamin Harrison within Fort Harrison State Park. The population was 49,370 at the 2020 census. The city is on the northeast side of Indianapolis.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Lawrence.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawrence | #459 | C+ | B | C | C | B− |
| Indianapolis | — | — | C | D | — | — |
| Lawrence Township | #413 | C+ | B− | — | C | B |
| Buck Creek Township | #136 | A− | B− | — | A− | B+ |
Lawrence Township and Buck Creek Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Indianapolis isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Lawrence with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Lawrence grades C+ overall, better than 37% of U.S. towns and #459 of 585 in Indiana. It grades B− for health, C for safety and C 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.
