Porter County, Indiana

• White (non-Hispanic) 138,257 79.1%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 20,367 11.7%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 7,501 4.3%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 2,533 1.4%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 5,412 3.1%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 83 0.0%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 11 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 654 0.4%

• Under 18 37,321 21.3%
• 18–24 15,105 8.6%
• 25–44 44,837 25.6%
• 45–64 45,602 26.1%
• 65 and over 31,953 18.3%

Median household income

$88,795

90% interval $82,521–$95,069

+$16,837 vs IN · 7th of 92

Below poverty line

8.5%

90% interval 7.1%–9.9%

−3.6 pp vs IN · 79th of 92

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.6%

+0.21 pp vs. state

County GDP

$9.9B

1.9% of state

Avg. annual pay

$62,520

Establishments

4,333

• Education & health services 15,079 23.6%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 12,662 19.8%
• Manufacturing 10,421 16.3%
• Leisure & hospitality 7,361 11.5%
• Professional & business services 6,027 9.4%
• Other services 2,699 4.2%
• Public administration 2,109 3.3%
• Financial activities 1,940 3.0%
• Information 161 0.3%

The sectors listed cover 91.5% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

77.7%

+7.1 pp vs IN · 42nd of 92

Median gross rent

$1,219

+$157 vs IN · 5th of 92

Owner-occupied

53,352

Renter-occupied

15,287

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 60% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Wide wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Manufacturing, $103,631/yr) pays 4.4× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $23,633/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 15 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 46,109 54.3%
• Democratic 37,213 43.8%
• Other / third-party 1,555 1.8%

• Spanish 7,122 4.3%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 1,356 0.8%
• German or other West Germanic 524 0.3%
• Tagalog 513 0.3%
• Chinese 335 0.2%
• Arabic 211 0.1%
• Vietnamese 159 0.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 138 0.1%
• Korean 17 0.0%

Households

68,639

Family households

46,181

67.3% of households

Married couples w/ children

13,751

29.8% of families

Single-mother families

3,595

7.8% of families

Veterans

8,156

5.9% of civilians 18+

• Catholic 31,257 18.0%
• Evangelical Protestant 22,229 12.8%
• Mainline Protestant 7,279 4.2%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 4,898 2.8%
• Orthodox 351 0.2%
• Black Protestant 150 0.1%

Health insured

95.0%

±0.5 pp

Uninsured

5.0%

±0.5 pp

75th of 92

With a disability

11.5%

±0.7 pp

86th of 92

Bachelor's or higher

31.1%

±1.2 pp

+1.6 pp vs IN · 14th of 92

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

7.2%

90% interval 6.5%–7.9% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

Porter Circuit Court

Judges

5 (Combined Circuit + Superior Court trial-court judges per county (both have general civil + criminal jurisdiction); vintage 2026 Indiana Office of Judicial Administration Judicial Service Report, cross-checked against courts.in.gov per-county rosters. Counties with a count of 1 operate the Circuit Court only; larger counties add Superior Court judges with concurrent general jurisdiction. Marion County (Indianapolis) is by far the largest single-county bench in Indiana.)

Court seats

Valparaiso

Traffic fatalities

23

16.73 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

22