Town · LaGrange County, Indiana

Topeka, Indiana

Topeka is a town in LaGrange County, Indiana. It has 1,137 residents. Topeka, Indiana has a quality-of-life score of 34 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,350 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Indiana it ranks #211 of 353 cities and towns. It ranks best on rent-burdened households (low), violent crime rate (low) and property crime rate (low). It ranks worst on voter turnout (low), bachelor's degree or higher (low) and access to exercise opportunities (low).

34Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,350 of 15,651 cities and towns
Indiana: #211 of 353 in IN
Population: 1,137 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 704.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 1876184

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety84#2,547/15,637
Economy26#11,565/15,631
Housing97#447/14,977
Health36#9,914/15,609
Healthcare20#12,506/15,650
Environment32#10,499/15,453
Education32#10,626/15,649
Infrastructure52#7,440/15,650
Community16#13,198/15,651
Leisure & amenities7#14,543/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Topeka, Indiana ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “LaGrange 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 · low10.2%
100/100Indiana 48.1%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Violent crime rate · low22 /100k
100/100Indiana 254 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationLaGrange County value
Property crime rate · low202 /100k
99/100Indiana 1,052 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationLaGrange County value
Hospital quality rating · high5.0
98/100Indiana 3.4United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLaGrange County value
Injury deaths · low51 /100k
94/100Indiana 96 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLaGrange County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low107 min
94/100Indiana 148 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLaGrange County value

Weaknesses

Voter turnout · low38.7%
1/100Indiana 59.4%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionLaGrange County value
Bachelor's degree or higher · low6.0%
2/100Indiana 29.5%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Access to exercise opportunities · low30.5%
2/100Indiana 76.2%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLaGrange County value
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high27.3%
3/100Indiana 9.0%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Adult smoking · high23.3%
4/100Indiana 17.8%United States 16.1%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.0 /10k
4/100Indiana 1.1 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLaGrange County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
933 (2015-2019) → 1,137 (2020-2024)
+22%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
24.8% (2015-2019) → 10.2% (2020-2024)
−15 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Unemployment rateWorsening
1.7% (2015-2019) → 12.3% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
1.6× (2015-2019) → 2.3× (2020-2024)
+41%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
78.9% (2015-2019) → 86.9% (2020-2024)
+8 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
20.4% (2015-2019) → 27.3% (2020-2024)
+6.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%

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, Topeka, Indiana improved on 0 of 10 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.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined1

Price / income+0.7×1.6× → 2.3×

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Topeka, Indiana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.6 min2015-2019	17.3 min2020-2024	−3.3 min	Within the margin of error	81%
Bachelor's degree or higher	8.6%2015-2019	6.0%2020-2024	−2.5 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Broadband subscriptions	78.9%2015-2019	86.9%2020-2024	+8 points	Within the margin of error	49%
Effective property tax rate	0.89%2015-2019	0.89%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	16%
High school diploma or higher	66.6%2015-2019	60.8%2020-2024	−5.8 points	Within the margin of error	4%
Home price to income ratio	1.6×2015-2019	2.3×2020-2024	+0.7×	Declined	39%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3952015-2019	0.3792020-2024	−0.016	Within the margin of error	64%
Median household income	$62,2372015-2019	$62,8752020-2024	+1%	Within the margin of error	8%
Rent as share of income	21.9%2015-2019	19.8%2020-2024	−2.1 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	20.4%2015-2019	27.3%2020-2024	+6.9 points	Within the margin of error	6%

“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 Topeka, Indiana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Topeka, 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, Topeka, Indiana itself moved −3.8 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

1,137 residents (±268)

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

390 households (±84)

Topeka, Indiana
Indiana share

Under $25k11%†41
$25k–50k24%†93
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

390 households (±84)

Topeka, Indiana
Indiana share

Own67%260
Rent33%†130

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

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

508 workers (±123)

Topeka, Indiana
Indiana share

Drive alone49%†251
Carpool34%†174
Public transit

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 LaGrange County, the county holding most of Topeka's residents.

LaGrange County has 977 employer establishments, 239 for every 10,000 residents (0.96× the US rate of 248; 1.05× Indiana's), with 13,799 paid employees at an average annual pay of $51,403. The Census Bureau also counts 4,353 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 977; 4,353 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 239; US 248 · Indiana 226
Paid employees: 13,799
Average annual pay: $51,403; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	101	24.7	1.59×More than typical	587	$62,179	551
Truck transportation	48	11.7	2.32×More than typical	120	$72,483	170
Construction of buildings	42	10.3	1.36×More than typical	251	$57,203	173
Ambulatory health care services	40	9.8	0.47×Fewer than typical	385	$64,517	75
Restaurants and other eating places	36	8.8	0.48×Fewer than typical	566	$19,733	14
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	35	8.5	2.71×More than typical	193	$63,964	119
Religious organizations	31	7.6	1.36×More than typical	136	$24,301	—
Transportation equipment manufacturing	30	7.3	21.1×More than typical	3,541	$61,605	24
Building finishing contractors	27	6.6	1.73×More than typical	119	$56,235	141
Lessors of real estate	23	5.6	0.46×Fewer than typical	62	$23,129	265
Automotive repair and maintenance	22	5.4	1.07×About typical	129	$51,806	46
Services to buildings and dwellings	22	5.4	0.80×Fewer than typical	45	$52,733	190

Rank places for an industry Open LaGrange County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 40,943 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Topeka, Indiana: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

REGENCY CONSULTING INC$00.0%

Spending by fiscal year

21.4KFY2025
0FY2026

What was bought

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

Topeka, Indiana's figures are part of those of LaGrange County, IN ($622.9K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in LaGrange 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.

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

House

Marlin A. StutzmanR-IN-3 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 3.0%

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.

LaGrange County45100% of residents

Other cities and towns in LaGrange 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
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/1876184

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends