Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 14,373, laid out in 1912.
Speedway grades B overall, 324th of 585 graded towns in Indiana, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. Its schools outperform 91% of the state's and it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 90% of U.S. towns. On the other side, its crime rate is higher than 79% of U.S. towns, with 28 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. Speedway’s trail density is 1.4 miles per square mile, above both Indiana’s towns (0.2) and U.S. towns (0.4). On hazard risk, just 43 of Indiana’s 1,098 towns do worse. Speedway's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 98% of U.S. towns.
Where Speedway beats most towns.
11,812 counted in 2010 and 13,952 in 2020; an estimated 14,373 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Speedway is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,420 in 1930, 13,952 in 2020. The archive holds 26 old photos and papers going back to 1909 and 4 maps from 1953 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Speedway. Close and well known come first.
Big draw5 mi Stadium & arenaLucas Oil Stadium
5 mi Stadium & arenaGainbridge Fieldhouse
5 mi LandmarkSoldiers' and Sailors' Monument
6 mi Stadium & arenaHinkle Fieldhouse
4 mi MuseumIndianapolis Museum of Art428K visitors a year
5 mi MuseumThe Children's Museum of Indianapolis1.0M visitors a yearLucas Oil Stadium: Josh Hallett from Winter Haven, FL, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Gainbridge Fieldhouse: Durin at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument: alexeatswhales, CC BY 2.0 · Hinkle Fieldhouse: Peetlesnumber1, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Indianapolis Museum of Art: No machine-readable author provided. Cszmurlo assumed (based on copyright claims, CC BY 3.0 · The Children's Museum of Indianapolis: HstryQT, CC BY 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Speedway, 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 Speedway.
Speedway is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has seen reported crime fall by a third or more, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Indiana (mostly inland flooding).
For Speedway, that is above the Indiana town median (1.9%) and near the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). 6.8 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. IMS Pagoda Plaza | 0.6 mi | 3 |
| 2. Leonard Park | 0.1 mi | 16 |
| 3. Meadowood Park | — | 15 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Reported crimes fell from 472 to 305 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Speedway’s property crime rate is 19.3 per 1,000 residents. Speedway reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 79% report less.
| Speedway | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 19.3 per 1,000 residents | 8.6 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2 per 1,000 residents | 1.4 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 98% of Indiana towns, with expected losses of about $464 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Speedway is 77 of 100. Since 1978, 18 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Speedway.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Speedway has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 20° and about 26 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most working residents leave Speedway for work: only 7% work in town. 18% of Speedway residents live below the poverty line. Since 2013, Speedway has added 1,452 jobs, to 9,281 in 2023.
| Speedway | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 18% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $60,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 12% | 7.8% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 8,952 U.S. towns with household incomes like Speedway’s, it is healthier than 84%, so its B isn’t only a matter of income. Within Indiana it is healthier than 81% of the 589 graded towns: much of Indiana scores lower on these measures.
Speedway beats the Indiana average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 19% of adults binge drink in Speedway.
| Speedway | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 32% | 33% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 26% | 25% |
| What stands out | Speedway | IN |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5.6% | 6.8% |
| Fewer adults with COPD | 6.8% | 8.1% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 10.1% | 8.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Among 593 Indiana towns, just 10 have a lower share of households owning their home than Speedway. The typical Speedway home is worth about $233,000, down 1.6% in a year, 9% below the Indiana typical home.
| Speedway | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 45% | 76% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,141 a month | $946 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Only 45.2% of households own their home, against 70.6% across Indiana.
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Indiana average. Speedway has grown 2.9% since 2020, to 14,373 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 34% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 30% across Indiana.
| Speedway | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 34.5 years | 39.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 27% | 23% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 13% | 18% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 34% | 22% | 29% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.4 points. Across Indiana, 50.4% of residents are women. Median age: women 32.4, men 36.5.
| Speedway | IN | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 16.9% | 12.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.8% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.1% | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.9% | 13.1% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.1% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.4% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.4% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 7.8% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.6% | 6.7% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9.8% | 9.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.8% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 17% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.1% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.5% | 18.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.9% | 10.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
8 within 15 miles of the center of Speedway
About 8 of every 100 Speedway residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Indiana.
6.9% of the town is conserved land, across 4 parks and preserves.
2 places in Speedway on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Indiana, United States
Speedway is a town in Wayne Township, Marion County, Indiana, United States. The population was 13,952 at the 2020 census, up from 11,812 in 2010. Speedway, which is an enclave of Indianapolis, is the home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Speedway grades B overall, better than 56% of U.S. towns and #324 of 585 in Indiana. It grades B for health, C− for safety and A for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
Speedway was laid out in 1912 and has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 2 notable people were born here, including Stevie Reeves and Mason Jobst.
