Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Merrillville gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $242K for a typical one, or 2.7 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. It grades C overall, ranked 481st of 585 in Indiana. The low prices come with trade-offs. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 80% of the country. Merrillville’s average trip to work is 32 minutes, above both the Indiana town median (24 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). Its National Register listings include Morgan-Skinner-Boyd Homestead.
Where Merrillville beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Merrillville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 15,918 in 1970, 36,444 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 2006 and 4 maps from 1953 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Merrillville. Close and well known come first.
Big draw31 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw37 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw26 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
3 mi National ParkIndiana Dunes National Park2.6M visitors a year
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw34 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 Merrillville, 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 Merrillville.
Merrillville sends many workers across the state line to Chicago, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
47% of Merrillville adults sleep under 7 hours. Merrillville beats the Indiana average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 14. 29% of Merrillville adults get no exercise outside work.
| Merrillville | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 47% | 37% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 26% | 23% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 12% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Merrillville | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with depression | 19.1% | 25.1% |
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7% | 8.3% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 13.8% | 8.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
6.0 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Oak Ridge Prairie County Park, 442 acres with 2.9 miles of trail.
| Merrillville | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 7.6% | 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. Oak Ridge Prairie County Park | 2.9 mi | 442 |
| 2. Deep River County Park | 0.3 mi | 159 |
| 3. Hidden Lake Park | — | 103 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Merrillville 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
24% of working residents cross a state line to work, Chicago among the top destinations. The average commute for its 15,580 working residents takes 32.1 minutes, against 24.1 across Indiana.
Most working residents leave Merrillville for work: only 13% work in town. Since 2013, Merrillville has added 1,276 jobs, to 21,934 in 2023. The top destinations are Chicago (11%), Gary (8%) and Crown Point (6%).
| Merrillville | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 7.3% | 7.8% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 11% | 8% |
| Median household income | $68,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
123 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 15 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 64% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 123 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Merrillville.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Merrillville's reported crime rate is close to Indiana's. Merrillville’s property crime rate is 13.1 per 1,000 residents. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
| Merrillville | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 13.1 per 1,000 residents | 8.6 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.1 per 1,000 residents | 1.4 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Indiana average. 21% of residents are 65 or older in Merrillville. Merrillville has grown 2.6% since 2020, to 37,407 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Merrillville | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 18% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 23% | 22% |
| Median age | 42.4 years | 39.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 26% | 22% | 29% |
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1.8 points). Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Merrillville | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.4% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.5% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.6% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.7% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.1% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.1% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.6% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7.7% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 33.9% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.2% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.1% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 16.4% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.7% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The typical Merrillville home is worth about $242,000, up 1.4% in a year, 6% below the Indiana typical home. The median rent in Merrillville is $1,282 a month.
| Merrillville | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,282 a month | $946 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 71% | 76% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
3 within 15 miles of the center of Merrillville
About 5 of every 100 Merrillville residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Indiana.
2 places in Merrillville on the National Register of Historic Places.
12 notable people were born in Merrillville.
Town in Indiana, United States
Merrillville ( MAIR-əl-vil, locally ) is a town in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 36,444 at the 2020 census. Merrillville is in east-central Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville became the most populated town in Indiana, as Fishers in Hamilton County was converted from a town to a city. The town serves as a major shopping hub for Northwest Indiana.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Merrillville.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merrillville | #481 | C | B | — | C+ | C− |
| Ross Township | #467 | C+ | B | — | C+ | C |
| Crown Point | #13 | A+ | B− | A− | A | B+ |
| Hobart | #439 | C+ | B | C | B− | C+ |
| Union Township | #142 | A− | B | — | A | B− |
| Center Township | #19 | A+ | B | — | A | B+ |
| Calumet Township | #573 | D | A− | — | D− | D− |
| Winfield | #48 | A | B− | — | A | A− |
Merrillville, Ross Township, Union Township, Center Township, Calumet Township and Winfield report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Merrillville with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Merrillville grades C overall, better than 32% of U.S. towns and #481 of 585 in Indiana. It grades C− for health and C+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
12 notable people were born here, including David Neville and Jeff Samardzija.
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