City · Fountain County, Indiana

Covington, Indiana

Covington is a city in Fountain County, Indiana. It has 3,069 residents. Covington, Indiana has a quality-of-life score of 54 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #7,182 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Indiana it ranks #88 of 353 cities and towns. It ranks best on rent-burdened households (low), grocery stores (high) and pharmacies (high). It ranks worst on primary care physicians (low), average weekly wage (low) and distance to an emergency room (high).

54Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #7,182 of 15,651 cities and towns
Indiana: #88 of 353 in IN
Population: 3,069 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 2,014.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 1815490

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 70 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety70#4,670/15,637
Economy16#13,138/15,631
Housing93#1,087/14,977
Health23#12,004/15,609
Healthcare18#12,868/15,650
Environment65#5,438/15,453
Education58#6,590/15,649
Infrastructure70#4,728/15,650
Community52#7,477/15,651
Leisure & amenities64#5,613/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Covington, Indiana ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Fountain County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Rent-burdened households · low18.5%
99/100Indiana 48.1%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Grocery stores · high3.5 /10k
97/100Indiana 1.3 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsFountain County value
Pharmacies · high2.9 /10k
95/100Indiana 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsFountain County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Indiana 5.6 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataFountain County value
Public libraries · high2.4 /10k
93/100Indiana 0.6 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesFountain County value
Average commute time · low17.3 min
89/100Indiana 24.1 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013

Weaknesses

Primary care physicians · low18 /100k
4/100Indiana 66 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFountain County value
Average weekly wage · low$921
8/100Indiana $1,251United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsFountain County value
Distance to an emergency room · high14.2 mi
8/100Indiana 5.2 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesFountain County value
Preventable hospital stays · high4,009 /100k
9/100Indiana 3,202 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFountain County value
New business applications · low8.5 /1k
10/100Indiana 12.9 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauFountain County value
Access to exercise opportunities · low51.7%
12/100Indiana 76.2%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteFountain County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
2,439 (2015-2019) → 3,069 (2020-2024)
+26%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
46.5% (2015-2019) → 18.5% (2020-2024)
−28 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
1.9× (2015-2019) → 3.1× (2020-2024)
+63%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Rent as share of incomeImproving
29.1% (2015-2019) → 19.0% (2020-2024)
−10 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
82.1% (2015-2019) → 89.9% (2020-2024)
+7.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
New homes permittedWorsening
4.6 /1k (2021) → 2.9 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−37%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Covington, Indiana improved on 3 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Rent burden−28 points46.5% → 18.5%
Rent / income−10 points29.1% → 19.0%
Broadband+7.8 points82.1% → 89.9%

Declined1

Price / income+1.2×1.9× → 3.1×

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Covington, Indiana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.1 min2015-2019	17.3 min2020-2024	+0.1 min	Within the margin of error	46%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.6%2015-2019	18.2%2020-2024	−2.4 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Broadband subscriptions	82.1%2015-2019	89.9%2020-2024	+7.8 points	Improved	48%
Child poverty rate	16.8%2015-2019	22.6%2020-2024	+5.8 points	Within the margin of error	18%
Effective property tax rate	0.73%2015-2019	0.71%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	19%
High school diploma or higher	89.5%2015-2019	95.3%2020-2024	+5.8 points	Within the margin of error	85%
Home price to income ratio	1.9×2015-2019	3.1×2020-2024	+1.2×	Declined	15%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4672015-2019	0.4592020-2024	−0.008	Within the margin of error	58%
Median household income	$51,6072015-2019	$52,4662020-2024	+1.7%	Within the margin of error	9%
Poverty rate	12.3%2015-2019	15.0%2020-2024	+2.7 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Rent as share of income	29.1%2015-2019	19.0%2020-2024	−10 points	Improved	93%
Rent-burdened households	46.5%2015-2019	18.5%2020-2024	−28 points	Improved	97%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	9.0%2015-2019	7.9%2020-2024	−1.1 points	Within the margin of error	60%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Covington, Indiana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Covington, Indiana in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Covington, Indiana itself moved +3.7 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

3,069 residents (±192)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,348 households (±145)

Covington, Indiana
Indiana share

Under $25k17%†228
$25k–50k28%†373
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,348 households (±145)

Covington, Indiana
Indiana share

Own62%836
Rent38%512

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,438 workers (±191)

Covington, Indiana
Indiana share

Drive alone75%1,076
Carpool9.4%†135
Public transit1.8%†26

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Fountain County, the county holding most of Covington's residents.

Fountain County has 332 employer establishments, 199 for every 10,000 residents (0.80× the US rate of 248; 0.88× Indiana's), with 4,384 paid employees at an average annual pay of $53,885. The Census Bureau also counts 1,031 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 332; 1,031 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 199; US 248 · Indiana 226
Paid employees: 4,384
Average annual pay: $53,885; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Fountain County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	23	13.8	0.75×Fewer than typical	325	$16,923	5
Religious organizations	22	13.2	2.38×More than typical	97	$22,134	—
Specialty trade contractors	16	9.6	0.62×Fewer than typical	48	$61,104	97
Ambulatory health care services	15	9	0.43×Fewer than typical	454	$119,412	19
Truck transportation	15	9	1.78×More than typical	91	$64,451	50
Banks and credit unions	14	8.4	2.60×More than typical	129	$60,953	—
Gasoline stations	13	7.8	2.41×More than typical	94	$26,479	—
Limited-service restaurants	11	6.6	0.82×About typical	229	$16,371	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	10	6	1.19×About typical	39	$50,487	25
Full-service restaurants	9	5.4	0.70×Too few to compare	88	$18,239	—
Services to buildings and dwellings	9	5.4	0.80×Too few to compare	44	$25,182	63
Lessors of real estate	8	4.8	0.39×Too few to compare	26	$23,000	131

Rank places for an industry Open Fountain County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 16,669 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $2,184 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Covington, Indiana: $0.71 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $2,184; −74% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.71; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of Veterans Affairs$2,184100%

Top recipients

THE WATERS OF COVINGTON, LLC$2,184100%

Spending by fiscal year

4.8KFY2017
3KFY2018
1.4KFY2019
3.1KFY2020
10.9KFY2021
15.9KFY2022
11.7KFY2023
2.9KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Nursing care facilities (skilled nursing facilities) · 6231$2,184100%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Covington, Indiana, so they do not add up across cities.

Covington, Indiana's figures are part of those of Fountain County, IN ($114.6K in FY2026), never added to them: 1.9% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Covington is mostly in Fountain County.

See federal money in Fountain County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Covington, Indiana is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Fountain County61100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Fountain County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1815490

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends