Wells County, Indiana

• White (non-Hispanic) 26,201 92.2%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1,145 4.0%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 283 1.0%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 64 0.2%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 670 2.4%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 2 0.0%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 30 0.1%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 25 0.1%

• Under 18 7,014 24.7%
• 18–24 2,257 7.9%
• 25–44 6,807 24.0%
• 45–64 7,043 24.8%
• 65 and over 5,299 18.6%

Median household income

$76,864

90% interval $70,998–$82,730

+$4,906 vs IN · 27th of 92

Below poverty line

8.0%

90% interval 6.1%–9.9%

−4.1 pp vs IN · 84th of 92

Unemployment (12-mo)

2.7%

−0.73 pp vs. state

County GDP

$1.6B

0.3% of state

Avg. annual pay

$51,427

Establishments

710

• Manufacturing 3,083 27.6%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 2,881 25.8%
• Education & health services 2,166 19.4%
• Leisure & hospitality 566 5.1%
• Construction 512 4.6%
• Professional & business services 437 3.9%
• Other services 432 3.9%
• Public administration 428 3.8%
• Financial activities 344 3.1%
• Natural resources & mining 217 1.9%
• Information 95 0.9%

Home ownership

75.6%

+5.0 pp vs IN · 56th of 92

Median gross rent

$813

−$249 vs IN · 70th of 92

Owner-occupied

8,731

Renter-occupied

2,815

• Concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 73% of the county workforce. Most panelists likely share employer relationships within these sectors, surface those connections early in voir dire before any institutional-defendant or sector-specific framing.

• Wide wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Financial activities, $73,447/yr) pays 4.0× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $18,332/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 16 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 11,006 78.1%
• Democratic 2,850 20.2%
• Other / third-party 244 1.7%

• Spanish 516 1.9%
• German or other West Germanic 152 0.6%
• Tagalog 25 0.1%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 19 0.1%
• Vietnamese 2 0.0%

Households

11,546

Family households

7,491

64.9% of households

Married couples w/ children

2,334

31.2% of families

Single-mother families

590

7.9% of families

Veterans

1,229

5.7% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 9,534 33.8%
• Black Protestant 1,950 6.9%
• Mainline Protestant 1,805 6.4%
• Catholic 300 1.1%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 181 0.6%

Health insured

93.1%

±1.3 pp

Uninsured

6.9%

±1.3 pp

39th of 92

With a disability

12.7%

±1.2 pp

77th of 92

Bachelor's or higher

19.9%

±1.9 pp

−9.6 pp vs IN · 49th of 92

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

8.7%

90% interval 7.7%–9.7% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

Wells Circuit Court

Judges

2 (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

Bluffton

Traffic fatalities

5

23.36 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

5