City · Dubois County, Indiana

Jasper, Indiana

Jasper is a city in Dubois County, Indiana, part of the Jasper, IN metro area. It has 15,991 residents. Jasper, Indiana has a quality-of-life score of 79 out of 100 (high), ranking #3,217 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Indiana it ranks #22 of 353 cities and towns. It ranks best on property crime rate (low), math scores (high) and rent-burdened households (low). It ranks worst on job growth (low), comfortable days (low) and distance to an Amtrak station (high).

79High

Quality-of-life score: #3,217 of 15,651 cities and towns
Indiana: #22 of 353 in IN
Population: 15,991 (2020-2024)
Land area: 13 mi²
Density: 1,202.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 1837782

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 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.

Safety91#1,338/15,637
Economy38#9,634/15,631
Housing97#495/14,977
Health52#7,444/15,609
Healthcare73#4,166/15,650
Environment38#9,602/15,453
Education71#4,547/15,649
Infrastructure48#8,089/15,650
Community78#3,415/15,651
Leisure & amenities89#1,668/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Jasper, Indiana ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Dubois 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

Property crime rate · low231 /100k
98/100Indiana 1,052 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationDubois County value
Math scores · high3.53
98/100Indiana 3.19United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteDubois County value
Rent-burdened households · low28.5%
97/100Indiana 48.1%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Average commute time · low15.3 min
97/100Indiana 24.1 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Rent as share of income · low20.5%
95/100Indiana 29.1%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Mammography screening · high56.0%
94/100Indiana 49.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteDubois County value

Weaknesses

Job growth · low-3.8%
4/100Indiana -0.1%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataDubois County value
Comfortable days · low22.8%
6/100Indiana 24.0%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationDubois County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high101 mi
10/100Indiana 29 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauDubois County value
New business applications · low8.6 /1k
11/100Indiana 12.9 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauDubois County value
Child poverty rate · high27.8%
17/100Indiana 15.8%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Adult obesity · high40.4%
20/100Indiana 39.7%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

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

New homes permittedImproving
4.6 /1k (2021) → 8.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+84%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Child poverty rateWorsening
14.9% (2015-2019) → 27.8% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
40.4% (2015-2019) → 28.5% (2020-2024)
−12 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
26.5% (2015-2019) → 20.5% (2020-2024)
−6 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
82.1% (2015-2019) → 87.3% (2020-2024)
+5.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.7× (2015-2019) → 3.4× (2020-2024)
+26%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×

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, Jasper, Indiana improved on 4 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 8 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.

Improved4

Rent / income−6 points26.5% → 20.5%
Inequality−0.0550.476 → 0.421
Household income+21%$57,062 → $68,817
Broadband+5.2 points82.1% → 87.3%

Declined1

Price / income+0.7×2.7× → 3.4×

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Jasper, Indiana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	15.6 min2015-2019	15.3 min2020-2024	−0.2 min	Within the margin of error	50%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.8%2015-2019	29.4%2020-2024	+2.6 points	Within the margin of error	48%
Broadband subscriptions	82.1%2015-2019	87.3%2020-2024	+5.2 points	Improved	33%
Effective property tax rate	0.85%2015-2019	0.80%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	25%
High school diploma or higher	90.7%2015-2019	90.7%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Home price to income ratio	2.7×2015-2019	3.4×2020-2024	+0.7×	Declined	36%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4762015-2019	0.4212020-2024	−0.055	Improved	86%
Median household income	$57,0622015-2019	$68,8172020-2024	+21%	Improved	34%
Poverty rate	10.6%2015-2019	14.4%2020-2024	+3.8 points	Within the margin of error	16%
Rent as share of income	26.5%2015-2019	20.5%2020-2024	−6 points	Improved	86%
Rent-burdened households	40.4%2015-2019	28.5%2020-2024	−12 points	Within the margin of error	85%
Unemployment rate	1.9%2015-2019	1.4%2020-2024	−0.5 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	5.7%2015-2019	6.4%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	37%

“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 Jasper, Indiana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Jasper, 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, Jasper, Indiana itself moved +2.4 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

15,991 residents (±707)

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

6,548 households (±442)

Jasper, Indiana
Indiana share

Under $25k11%†725
$25k–50k23%1,528
$50k–75k21%1,405

Homes

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

Owners and renters

6,548 households (±442)

Jasper, Indiana
Indiana share

Own61%4,005
Rent39%2,543

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−11.1 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

7,688 workers (±595)

Jasper, Indiana
Indiana share

Drive alone81%6,228
Carpool9.3%715
Public transit0.6%†44

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Jasper, IN

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 Dubois County, the county holding most of Jasper's residents.

Dubois County has 1,313 employer establishments, 300 for every 10,000 residents (1.21× the US rate of 248; 1.33× Indiana's), with 28,700 paid employees at an average annual pay of $52,800. The Census Bureau also counts 3,560 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,313; 3,560 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 300; US 248 · Indiana 226
Paid employees: 28,700
Average annual pay: $52,800; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	104	23.8	1.54×More than typical	662	$64,834	202
Ambulatory health care services	90	20.6	0.99×About typical	813	$53,861	90
Restaurants and other eating places	90	20.6	1.12×About typical	1,916	$17,233	17
Truck transportation	53	12.1	2.39×More than typical	1,347	$62,673	73
Construction of buildings	50	11.4	1.51×More than typical	291	$53,814	108
Full-service restaurants	44	10.1	1.31×More than typical	615	$17,678	7
Limited-service restaurants	40	9.1	1.14×About typical	1,260	$16,840	7
Services to buildings and dwellings	38	8.7	1.29×More than typical	301	$23,179	362
Building equipment contractors	37	8.5	1.40×More than typical	358	$64,182	39
Lessors of real estate	36	8.2	0.67×Fewer than typical	125	$31,872	519
Offices of other health practitioners	36	8.2	1.35×More than typical	174	$46,282	41
Automotive repair and maintenance	33	7.5	1.50×More than typical	133	$48,068	66

Rank places for an industry Open Dubois County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 43,766 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 $772.9K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Jasper, Indiana: $48.33 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $772.9K; −53% vs FY2025
Per resident: $48.33; US $1,994
Sole-source: 36%; US 30%
Single offer: 2.0%; 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

Federal Acquisition Service$460.9K60%
Department of the Navy$268.9K35%
Offices, Boards and Divisions$11.9K1.5%
Office of the Inspector General$7,7561.0%
Department of the Air Force$7,6041.0%
Department of the Army$5,7160.7%
Federal Prison Industries / Unicor$4,9120.6%
Department of Veterans Affairs$4,7180.6%

Top recipients

INDIANA FURNITURE INDUSTRIES, INC.$476.2K62%
KIMBALL INTERNATIONAL INC$283.4K37%
JASPER ENGINE EXCHANGE, INC.$4,9120.6%
KREMPP CONSTRUCTION INC$4,0360.5%
COMPASS MOBILITY LLC$2,6420.3%

Spending by fiscal year

241.2KFY2017
588.7KFY2018
1.4MFY2019
991.5KFY2020
2.3MFY2021
1.5MFY2022
1.9MFY2023
2M

Top industries (NAICS)

Office furniture (including fixtures) manufacturing · 3372$761.3K99%
Motor vehicle parts manufacturing · 3363$4,9120.6%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$4,0360.5%
Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing · 3391$2,6420.3%

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 Jasper, Indiana, so they do not add up across cities.

Jasper, Indiana's figures are part of those of Dubois County, IN ($14.6M in FY2026), never added to them: 5.3% of that total.

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

See federal money in Dubois 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.

Jasper, Indiana is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Mark B. MessmerR-IN-8 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 1.9%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

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

Dubois County89100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Jasper, IN87

Other cities and towns in Dubois 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/1837782

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends