RossIN
A town of 6,751, settled in 1857.
Is Ross a good place to live?
Ross’ weakest subject grade is a C for schools. 18% of residents live below the poverty line in Ross, against 10% in Indiana’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 69% of U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Chase Street Conservation Area, at 78 acres. Ross has no overall grade: it has no figures for safety and health, and an overall grade needs at least three of the four big subjects (cost of living, safety, schools and health).
What makes Ross stand out
Where Ross beats most towns.
97% of working residents leave Ross for work
Where Ross’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Ross grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Ross is from typical.
Ross has no overall grade: it has no figures for safety and health, and an overall grade needs at least three of the four big subjects (cost of living, safety, schools and health).
How TownRatings grades towns →
Soldier Field and 137 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ross. Close and well known come first.
Big draw26 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw32 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw21 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
3 mi National ParkIndiana Dunes National Park2.6M visitors a year
Big draw28 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 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Indiana Dunes National Park: J. Crocker, Attribution · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5
_-_Chicago,_IL_-_June_2026.jpg){kind=link}
Moving to Ross: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ross, 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 Ross.
The biggest natural risk in Ross is cold waves, at a very low overall level
Ross has had 5 paid flood insurance claims since 1981. Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in just over four fifths of U.S. communities. FEMA puts 33% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to cold waves, and 33% to inland flooding.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
With only 0.3 jobs per working resident, most people in Ross work out of town
Half of commuters travel less than 9 miles. Employers in Ross shed 182 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 805. Ross’ mean commuting time stands at 28 minutes. The top destinations are Chicago (10%), Gary (8%) and Merrillville (7%).
| Ross | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $55,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.4% | 11% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Ross: four seasons and pleasant summers
The range runs from 17° on a January night to 84° on a July afternoon, with about 27 inches of snow a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
2.1% of the land in Ross is protected from building
Parks and preserves in Ross: 2, covering 82 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chase Street Conservation Area | — | 78 |
| 2. Oak Ridge Prairie County Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Ross
Colleges nearby
5 within 15 miles of the center of Ross
About 2 of every 100 Ross residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
About Ross
Unincorporated community and Census-designated place in Indiana, United States
Ross is an unincorporated community in Calumet Township, Lake County, Indiana.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Elevation
- 640 ft
Ross’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Ross.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ross | — | — | B− | — | C | — |
| Gary | #585 | D− | A− | D− | D− | D− |
| Calumet Township | #573 | D | A− | — | D− | D− |
| Merrillville | #481 | C | B | — | C+ | C− |
| Ross Township | #467 | C+ | B | — | C+ | C |
Ross, Calumet Township, Merrillville and Ross Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Ross isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Ross with a neighbor →
Questions about Ross
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Ross, IN a good place to live?
Ross has no overall grade: it has no figures for safety and health, and an overall grade needs at least three of the four big subjects (cost of living, safety, schools and health).
Is Ross, IN expensive?
The typical home is worth about $119,000. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.