What is the cost of living in Indiana?

Indiana has a Regional Price Parity (RPP) of 93.3, where 100 represents the national average. Housing costs index at 73.9, which is below the national average. The average 2-bedroom fair market rent is $1,096/month.

What is the median salary in Indiana?

The median salary in Indiana is $68,360 annually (mean: $72,309). Total employment across the state is 3,184,820.

The violent crime rate in Indiana is 308 per 100,000 population. The property crime rate is 1321 per 100K.

How much does childcare cost in Indiana?

Childcare cost data is not currently available for Indiana.

How many metro areas are in Indiana?

Indiana has 12 metropolitan statistical areas tracked by PlainRelocate, including Bloomington, Columbus, Elkhart-Goshen and 9 more.

Is Indiana a good state to relocate to?

Indiana has a Life Score of 50.2/100 (D), based on 6 of 7 available dimensions among cost of living, wages, rent, crime, schools, childcare, and environment (missing dims omitted, weights renormalized). This is a middle-of-the-pack score, where the composite lands for most US states; look at individual dimensions to see the real trade-offs.

Where does Indiana sit among US states on Life Score?

According to PlainRelocate's state Life Score composite, Indiana ranks #30 of 51 scored US states by Life Score (highest score = #1). That ordinal uses the same composite_score DESC ordering as our scored-state table. See /methodology#corpus-placement for the exact sort basis.

State relocation profile · Federal data

Indiana

Indiana sits in the cheaper third of BEA RPP states, rent, wages, safety, schools and childcare below.

Compiled by PlainRelocate

93.3
Cost index (US=100): $1,096
2BR rent / mo: $68,360
Median salary: 50.2
Life Score

The verdict

As of June 2026, Indiana ranks #30 of 51 scored US states on the composite Life Score (50.2/100, D), with its strongest marks in rent and schools.

#30 of 51
Life Score among scored states: 50.2
Life Score · D: 93.3
Cost of living (US=100): $68,360
Median annual salary (BLS)

Weakest dimension: environment (12/100). State-level figures are a benchmark, individual metros can diverge sharply, so weigh each dimension against your own priorities.

According to PlainRelocate's state Life Score composite (BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, and EPA inputs), Indiana ranks #30 of 51 scored US states by Life Score (highest score = #1). Cost-of-living index 93.3 (100 = national average), median 2-bedroom rent $1,096/mo, median salary $68,360; Life Score 50.2/100 (D), strongest in rent and schools.

Signature: BEA RPP 93.3 sits mid-pack (#18 of 51 states); cost is not the extreme signal here.

Purchasing power opens up: BEA RPP 93.3 lands in the cheaper third of US states (cuts at 93.3 / 100.7). HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent averages $1,096/mo statewide, against a BLS median salary of $68,360.

Composite Life Score 50.2/100 (D) sits mid-pack (#30 of 51).

Metro book is dense (12 MSAs); drill a named metro before treating the state average as a destination.

Life Score plate

Sheet IN · Indiana 50.2/100 · D · #30 of 51

LIFE-D · RANK-MID · PHOTO-FINISH · RPP-CHEAP · LEAD-RENT · BOOK-MOST

LIFE-D Life Score D
RANK-MID #30/51
PHOTO-FINISH ±0.4 pts
RPP-CHEAP RPP 93.3
LEAD-RENT Lead · rent
BOOK-MOST 6/7 dims

Nearest Life Score peer: Michigan (+ 0.4 pts)

Instrument codes from this state’s Life Score grade, corpus rank, peer gap, BEA RPP posture, lead dimension, and dimension book, not a moving recommendation.

Indiana Life Score breakdown

Indiana composites to 50.2/100 (D) across 6 of 7 dimensions (missing dims omitted; remaining weights renormalized); corpus place #30 of 51.

Rent

68
Schools

68
Cost of living

66
Safety

44
Wages

36
Environment

12

What this shows Indiana's strongest dimensions are rent and schools; its weakest among scored dims is environment at 12/100. Each dimension is a federal-data percentile; the composite folds 6 of 7 into one comparable figure.

States near Indiana on cost or Life Score

Nearest neighbors to Indiana on BEA RPP or composite Life Score, a different lens than the in-state metro list below.

Similar cost of living (BEA RPP)

Similar Life Score

Metros in Indiana

Explore detailed relocation data for 12 metropolitan areas in Indiana. Indiana contains 12 metropolitan statistical areas in our dataset - Bloomington, Columbus, Elkhart-Goshen and more - each with its own rent, wage and crime profile that can diverge sharply from the statewide average.

Bloomington, IN Columbus, IN Elkhart-Goshen, IN Evansville, IN Fort Wayne, IN Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN Kokomo, IN Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Michigan City-La Porte, IN Muncie, IN South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI Terre Haute, IN

Bloomington metro · Compare metros · Cost vs quality · Methodology

Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA June 2026

Indiana cost figures follow BEA Regional Price Parities and HUD Fair Market Rents; Indiana wages and safety follow BLS OEWS and FBI UCR. Research use only, verify at the agency source before you move.

Verify BEA RPP →