Ross TownshipIN
A town of 49,726.
Is Ross Township a good place to live?
Ross Township is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C+ overall, ranked 467th of 585 in Indiana, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is cost of living: homes are within reach, about $224K for a typical one, or 2.5 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. Its lowest everyday mark is in health: CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 71% of the country. Ross Township’s average trip to work is 32 minutes, where Indiana’s towns sit at 24 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes. On the outdoors, just 104 of Indiana’s 1,098 towns do better. The biggest park or preserve is Deep River County Park, at 731 acres.
Every workday, about 28,457 people come to Ross Township for work
Where Ross Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Ross Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Ross Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Soldier Field and 127 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ross Township. 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 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 Ross Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ross Township, 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 Township.
About one in six working residents works right in Ross Township
32,197 jobs are based in Ross Township, 1.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. 23% of working residents cross a state line to work, Chicago among the top destinations.
Most working residents leave Ross Township for work: only 18% work in town. Since 2013, Ross Township has added 2,542 jobs, to 32,197 in 2023. The top destinations are Merrillville (12%), Chicago (11%) and Gary (7%).
| Ross Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 11% | 8% |
| Work from home | 6.6% | 7.8% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 10% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Public schools in Ross Township fall behind 64% of Indiana districts
Its public schools are run by Merrillville Community School Corp. Two of its 17 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pierce Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 878 | C− |
| Merrillville High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,115 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within IN on state tests and graduation
| Ross Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 8.5% | 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 | 731 |
| 3. Hidden Lake Park | — | 103 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Compared with most of Indiana and the rest of the country, more of Ross Township’s adults sleep under 7 hours
44% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Ross Township. Ross Township beats the Indiana average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 10. 17% of adults smoke cigarettes in Ross Township.
| Ross Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 37% | 36% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 26% | 23% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 12% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Ross Township | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with depression | 20.2% | 25.1% |
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.5% | 8.3% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 11.7% | 8.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Low risk in Ross Township, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 68% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 86 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ross Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Four seasons and pleasant summers in Ross Township
Ross Township 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.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Fewer children than Indiana overall
Children under 18 are 19% of residents (23% statewide). Ross Township has grown 2.5% since 2020, to 49,726 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 20% of Ross Township residents are 65 or older.
| Ross Township | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 19% | 23% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 20% | 18% | 18% |
| Median age | 42.1 years | 39.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 26% | 22% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1.4 points). Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Ross Township | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.3% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.7% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.1% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13.9% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.5% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.9% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.3% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.6% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.8% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7.8% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 33.9% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.1% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.9% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 17.1% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 9.3% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Everything we know about Ross Township
Colleges nearby
3 within 15 miles of the center of Ross Township
About 4 of every 100 Ross Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
About Ross Township
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 Township’s neighbors
10 towns share a border with Ross Township.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Township | #467 | C+ | B | — | C+ | C |
| Merrillville | #481 | C | B | — | C+ | C− |
| Union Township | #142 | A− | B | — | A | B− |
| Hobart Township | #461 | C+ | A− | — | C+ | C− |
| Center Township | #19 | A+ | B | — | A | B+ |
| Hobart | #439 | C+ | B | C | B− | C+ |
| Crown Point | #13 | A+ | B− | A− | A | B+ |
| Calumet Township | #573 | D | A− | — | D− | D− |
Ross Township, Merrillville, Union Township, Hobart Township, Center Township and Calumet Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Ross Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Ross Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Ross Township, IN a good place to live?
Ross Township grades C+ overall, better than 36% of U.S. towns and #467 of 585 in Indiana. It grades C for health and C+ for schools.
Is Ross Township, IN expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.