South HavenIN
The town, home to 7,241 people, lies in Indiana.
Is South Haven a good place to live?
What it saves you on housing, it gives back elsewhere. Its weakest is health — residents are less healthy than four fifths of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. South Haven’s overall grade is C+, better than 39% of U.S. towns. In the ranking it comes 449th of 585 in Indiana. It also trails on walkability. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than three quarters of U.S. towns. Cost of living is its strong suit: a typical home costs about $178K, 2 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. The biggest park or preserve is Haven Hollow Park, at 26 acres.
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · health, CDC PLACES · OpenStreetMap.
What makes South Haven stand out
Where South Haven beats most towns.
99% of working residents leave South Haven for work
Where South Haven’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How South Haven grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far South Haven is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Soldier Field and 117 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around South Haven. Close and well known come first.
Big draw33 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw29 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw39 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
4 mi National ParkIndiana Dunes National Park2.6M visitors a year
Big draw33 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaUnited CenterPhoto credits
Soldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · Wrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · 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 South Haven: who provides what
South Haven is unincorporated, so Porter County and regional agencies provide most services.
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 South Haven.
South Haven has homes that are cheap against local pay and sends most of its workers to Portage and beyond.
South Haven earns a C− for health
43% of adults have obesity in South Haven, against 39% in Indiana’s towns and 35% across U.S. towns. The share of adults in South Haven who report frequent mental distress: 19%.
| South Haven | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 39% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 37% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 14% |
| What stands out | South Haven | IN |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 23.5% | 15.4% |
| Fewer adults seeing a dentist | 56% | 61.2% |
| Fewer adults screened for colon cancer | 61.4% | 66.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents commute out of South Haven
South Haven has 395 jobs for its 3,423 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Since 2013, South Haven has lost 71 jobs, to 395 in 2023. 1.5% of working residents work locally in the town, below both Indiana’s towns (11%) and U.S. towns (8%). The top destinations are Portage (14%), Valparaiso (13%) and Gary (5%). South Haven: 4.6% of workers work from home.
| South Haven | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 1.5% | 11% | 8% |
| Work from home | 4.6% | 7.8% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 10% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
South Haven faces a low natural-hazard risk, led by cold waves
South Haven’s natural-hazard score from FEMA stands at 22 of 100. One claim on flood insurance has been paid out locally since 2015. FEMA puts 30% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to cold waves, and 30% to inland flooding.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Snowy winters and pleasant summers in South Haven
In July, afternoons reach 83°; in January, nights fall to 17°, and about 40 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Conservation land takes up 2.5% of South Haven
South Haven has 2 parks and preserves, 37 acres in all.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Haven Hollow Park | — | 26 |
| 2. Field of Dreams Park | — | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median home in South Haven sells for about $245K
At 2 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 91% of Indiana towns; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living.
The typical rent in South Haven is $1,297 a month. In South Haven, 29% of sales closed above the list price. On the market in the town: a median 32 days to sell.
| South Haven | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,297 a month | $946 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 73% | 76% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about South Haven
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of South Haven
About 5 of every 100 South Haven residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Indiana.
About South Haven
Census-designated place in Indiana, United States
South Haven is a census-designated place in Portage Township, Porter County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 census, South Haven had a population of 5,084.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 1.2 sq mi
- Elevation
- 653 ft
- Area code
- 219
South Haven’s neighbors
One town shares a border with South Haven.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Haven | #449 | C+ | A− | — | C+ | C− |
| Wheeler | — | — | — | — | — | — |
South Haven reports no FBI crime data of its own. Wheeler isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare South Haven with a neighbor →
Questions about South Haven
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is South Haven, IN a good place to live?
South Haven grades C+ overall, better than 39% of U.S. towns and #449 of 585 in Indiana. It grades C− for health and C+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is South Haven, IN expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $178,000, 31% below the Indiana typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.