Lake County, IN
Demographic and economic profile of Lake County, IN, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.
AI Overview
Lake County, IN, a densely populated metro-adjacent county of roughly 503,000 residents, sits within the Chicago–Gary industrial corridor, with a workforce oriented toward manufacturing and logistics rather than knowledge industries—only 24.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, though 90.2% have a high school diploma. The labor pool of about 308,000 carries moderate costs, with median worker earnings of $41,869 and a median home value of $214,700, though a 6.3% unemployment rate and 61.3% labor force participation rate point to slack in the local labor market. The county posted 2.5% population growth over five years alongside a poverty rate of 14.6% and a GDP per capita of $47,142, reflecting a mid-tier economic output with relatively affordable operating conditions.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page
Population Growth (5-year)
+2.5% since 2018
Lake County added population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.
Demographics
Race & Ethnicity
- White Alone274,459 (54.9%)
- Black or African American Alone115,462 (23.1%)
- Two Races Including Some Other Race44,346 (8.9%)
- Some Other Race Alone39,870 (8.0%)
- Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races15,517 (3.1%)
- Asian Alone8,064 (1.6%)
Top Languages Spoken at Home
- 1.Spanish51,458
- 2.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic6,514
- 3.Other Indo-European3,841
- 4.Arabic1,504
- 5.German or other West Germanic1,211
Economy
Cost of Living Index
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Not yet cached
Top Industries
- 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance54,968
- 2.Manufacturing (Group)33,245
- 3.Retail Trade (Group)25,454
- 4.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services21,994
- 5.Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation, & Accommodation & Food Services20,427
Top Occupations
- 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations78,201
- 2.Sales & Office Occupations47,115
- 3.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations42,746
- 4.Service Occupations38,273
- 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations22,130
Housing
Education
Workforce
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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.