Is New Chicago a good place to live?
The best of New Chicago’s subject grades is an A− for cost of living; the weakest is a D− for health. On health, just 23 of Indiana’s 1,086 towns do worse. New Chicago's schools rank behind 77% of the state's. New Chicago has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes New Chicago stand out
Where New Chicago beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Typical home value
| Widest gap | New Chicago | IN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing food insecurity | 27.3% | 14.7% |
97% of working residents leave New Chicago for work
Where New Chicago’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How New Chicago grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far New Chicago is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Soldier Field and 130 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around New Chicago. Close and well known come first.
Big draw28 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw33 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw23 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
2 mi National ParkIndiana Dunes National Park2.6M visitors a year
Big draw27 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaUnited CenterPhoto credits
Soldier 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
_-_Chicago,_IL_-_June_2026.jpg){kind=link}
Moving to New Chicago: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in New Chicago, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in New Chicago.
A larger share of adults smoke cigarettes in New Chicago than in most of Indiana or the rest of the country
24% of New Chicago adults smoke cigarettes, against 17% in Indiana’s towns and 14% across U.S. towns. 44% of New Chicago adults sleep under 7 hours. New Chicago beats the Indiana average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 21.
| New Chicago | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 17% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 37% | 36% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 14% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 21% | 19% |
| What stands out | New Chicago | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.9% | 8.3% |
| Fewer adults with high cholesterol | 34.6% | 37.8% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 27.3% | 14.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Inland flooding leads a very low hazard risk in New Chicago
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 81% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Homes in New Chicago are worth about $165K, by Zillow’s estimate
The typical New Chicago home is worth about $165,000, up 1% in a year, 36% below the Indiana typical home. 68% of New Chicago households own their home, below both Indiana’s towns (76%) and U.S. towns (73%).
| New Chicago | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 68% | 76% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,141 a month | $947 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Most of New Chicago’s workers commute out: the town has 0.3 jobs for each of them
Most working residents leave New Chicago for work: only 3% work in town. 17% of residents live below the poverty line in New Chicago. Jobs based in New Chicago fell to 271 in 2023, 40 fewer than in 2013.
| New Chicago | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.6% | 11% | 8% |
| Median household income | $57,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Four seasons and pleasant summers in New Chicago
New Chicago has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 18° and about 27 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Everything we know about New Chicago
Colleges nearby
4 within 15 miles of the center of New Chicago
About 6 of every 100 New Chicago residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Indiana.
About New Chicago
Town in Indiana, United States
New Chicago is a town in Hobart Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,999 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 0.7 sq mi
- Elevation
- 636 ft
- Area code
- 219
New Chicago’s neighbors
2 towns share a border with New Chicago.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Chicago | — | — | A− | — | C− | D− |
| Lake Station | #527 | C− | A− | — | C− | D |
| Hobart | #439 | C+ | B | C | B− | C+ |
New Chicago has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. New Chicago and Lake Station report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare New Chicago with a neighbor →
Questions about New Chicago
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is New Chicago, IN expensive?
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−.