Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,441, settled in 1857. 89% more nonprofits per person than the typical Indiana town.
Trash & recyclingTell City gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $184K for a typical one, or 3 years of the county’s $61K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 425th of 585 graded towns in Indiana. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $53K, and 22% of residents live below the poverty line, and CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 78% of the country. 22% of residents live below the poverty line in Tell City, against 10% in Indiana’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Only 48 of Indiana’s 1,098 towns score lower on hazard risk. Tell City's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 88% of U.S. towns.
Where Tell City beats most towns.
6% of the town is conserved land, across 8 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Indiana), ordered by how far Tell City is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,030 in 1860, 7,506 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1870 and 4 maps from 1903 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Tell City, 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 Tell City.
Tell City has milder winter nights than almost anywhere else in Indiana and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Indiana (mostly inland flooding).
1.0 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Hagedorn Park, at 51 acres.
| Tell City | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6% | 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. Hagedorn Park | 0.5 mi | 51 |
| 2. Sunset Park | — | 16 |
| 3. Roy Fenn Park & Soccer Complex | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 6,772 U.S. towns with household incomes like Tell City’s, it is less healthy than 54%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
43% of adults have high blood pressure in Tell City.
| Tell City | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 39% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 12% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Tell City | IN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 80.7% | 77.4% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 25% | 15.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The median rent in Tell City is $657 a month. The typical Tell City home is worth about $185,000, up 1.6% in a year, 28% below the Indiana typical home. 65% of Tell City households own their home.
| Tell City | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $657 a month | $947 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 65% | 76% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 96% of Indiana towns, with expected losses of about $324 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
Tell City’s FEMA risk score is 72 of 100. Since 1978, 20 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Tell City.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
January nights average 25.5°, the highest of 1,978 Indiana places with climate records; July afternoons average 87.4°.
Tell City has chilly winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. No town among the 593 in Indiana we compare has a higher January low than Tell City. About 11 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Tell City | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 87°F | 84°F | 85°F |
| January low | 26°F | 19°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Tell City has about as many jobs (3,137) as working residents, but only 848 people both live and work here.
About one in 4 of Tell City’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Tell City has added 312 jobs, to 3,137 in 2023. The top destinations are Tobin Township (7%), Ferdinand (5%) and Troy Township (5%).
| Tell City | Indiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 26% | 11% | 8% |
| Median household income | $53,000 | $71,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Reported crimes fell from 122 to 75 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
1 within 15 miles of the center of Tell City
About 5 of every 100 Tell City residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Indiana.
7 notable people were born in Tell City.
City in Indiana, United States
Tell City is a city in and the county seat of Perry County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 7,506 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Tell City.
| Town | IN rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tell City | #425 | C+ | A | B− | B | C− |
| Troy Township | #463 | C+ | A | — | B | C− |
Troy Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Tell City with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Tell City grades C+ overall, better than 43% of U.S. towns and #425 of 585 in Indiana. It grades C− for health, B− for safety and B for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.
7 notable people were born here, including Paul D. Etienne and John H. Hoeppel.