Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Shadeland’s best subject grade is an A− for health; its weakest is a D for walkability. On health, just 18 of Indiana’s 1,086 towns do better. Shadeland's schools rank ahead of 72% of Indiana towns. Only 8 of the 190 Indiana towns we compare have a higher typical home value than Shadeland. Only 90 of Indiana’s 1,043 towns score lower on civic life. Shadeland has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Stidham United Methodist Church and Farmers Institute (Boundary Increase). Shadeland has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Shadeland beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Shadeland | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.5% | 14.7% |
Stidham United Methodist ChurchEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Shadeland is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,674 in 1990, 1,757 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1937 and 2 maps from 1961 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Shadeland, 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 Shadeland.
The typical Shadeland home is worth about $413,000, up 3.7% in a year, 61% above the Indiana typical home. 81% of households own their home in Shadeland, where Indiana’s towns sit at 76% and U.S. towns at 73%.
| Shadeland | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 81% | 76% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,121 a month | $947 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
28% of adults have obesity in Shadeland, below both Indiana’s towns (39%) and U.S. towns (35%). 23% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Shadeland. Shadeland beats the Indiana average on 12 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1.
| Shadeland | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 39% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 26% | 25% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 18% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 33% |
| What stands out | Shadeland | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.5% | 14.7% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 5.3% | 8.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.7% | 8.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 80% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Shadeland has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 18° and about 21 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most working residents leave Shadeland for work: only 2% work in town. Shadeland’s average trip to work is 17 minutes. The top destinations are Lafayette (38%), West Lafayette (24%) and Indianapolis (6%).
| Shadeland | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 17 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 16% | 7.8% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.1% | 11% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Adults 35 to 64 are 43% of residents (37% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 18% of residents (23% statewide). 15% of Shadeland residents are 65 or older. Shadeland has grown 4.5% since 2020, to 1,841 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Shadeland | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 18% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 25% | 23% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 30% | 22% | 29% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.8 points. Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Shadeland | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 14.1% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.1% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.6% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 17.7% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.8% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.1% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.2% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.5% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7.8% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 41.8% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 13.7% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.8% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.1% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.8% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,800, single groups can be off by several points
| Shadeland | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.2% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Shadeland Recreation Center | 0.1 mi | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Shadeland. Close and well known come first.
7 mi Stadium & arenaRoss–Ade Stadium
13 mi State parkProphetstown State Park23 mi LandmarkWabash and Erie Canal32 mi Theme parkIndiana Beach
34 mi State parkTurkey Run State Park
7 mi MuseumSamaraRoss–Ade Stadium: Tstuddud at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Prophetstown State Park: Flickr user: Dan https://www.flickr.com/photos/dwmizell/, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Turkey Run State Park: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Samara: Tim Musson, CC BY-SA 2.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Shadeland
About 4 of every 100 Shadeland residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
2 places in Shadeland on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Indiana, United States
Shadeland is a town in Union Township, Tippecanoe County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 census, Shadeland had a population of 1,757. It is part of the Lafayette, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Shadeland.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadeland | — | — | B | — | B+ | A− |
| Union Township | — | — | B | — | B+ | B |
| Wabash Township | – | B+ | D | — | B+ | B+ |
| Wea Township | #278 | B | C+ | — | B+ | B |
| Wayne Township | — | — | A− | — | B+ | A− |
| Lafayette | #452 | C+ | B− | C− | B | B− |
| Fairfield Township | #242 | B+ | B− | — | B | B− |
Shadeland, Union Township and Wayne Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Shadeland, Union Township, Wabash Township, Wea Township, Wayne Township and Fairfield Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Shadeland with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 6.7 years of the area's median household income ($62,011 across the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
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