Town · LaPorte County, Indiana

Trail Creek, Indiana

Trail Creek is a town in LaPorte County, Indiana, part of the Michigan City-La Porte, IN metro area. It has 2,351 residents. Trail Creek, Indiana has a quality-of-life score of 38 out of 100 (low), ranking #9,713 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Indiana it ranks #182 of 353 cities and towns. It ranks best on natural hazard risk (low), drought exposure (low) and high school diploma or higher (high). It ranks worst on suicide rate (high), firearm deaths (high) and preventable hospital stays (high).

38Low

Quality-of-life score: #9,713 of 15,651 cities and towns
Indiana: #182 of 353 in IN
Population: 2,351 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 1,932.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 1876328

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.

Safety31#10,757/15,637
Economy37#9,770/15,631
Housing64#5,373/14,977
Health16#13,128/15,609
Healthcare32#10,607/15,650
Environment40#9,196/15,453
Education69#4,778/15,649
Infrastructure86#2,193/15,650
Community18#12,777/15,651
Leisure & amenities37#9,815/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Natural hazard risk · low3.2
96/100Indiana 24.52025Federal Emergency Management AgencyLaPorte County value
Drought exposure · low0%
95/100Indiana 19%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAALaPorte County value
High school diploma or higher · high94.3%
86/100Indiana 90.4%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Distance to an emergency room · low3.8 mi
82/100Indiana 5.2 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLaPorte County value
Home price to income ratio · low2.5×
81/100Indiana 3.0×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.376
80/100Indiana 0.452United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083

Weaknesses

Suicide rate · high30.4 /100k
3/100Indiana 16.1 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataLaPorte County value
Firearm deaths · high26.0 /100k
5/100Indiana 14.6 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataLaPorte County value
Preventable hospital stays · high4,039 /100k
8/100Indiana 3,202 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLaPorte County value
Homicide rate · high9.0 /100k
10/100Indiana 5.6 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataLaPorte County value
Job growth · low-2.1%
12/100Indiana -0.1%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataLaPorte County value
Days with unhealthy air · high3.3%
12/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyLaPorte County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
1,917 (2015-2019) → 2,351 (2020-2024)
+23%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
29.2% (2015-2019) → 54.5% (2020-2024)
+25 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
New homes permittedWorsening
0.5 /1k (2021) → 0.0 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−100%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Median household incomeImproving
$54,408 (2015-2019) → $77,635 (2020-2024)
+43%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
88.2% (2015-2019) → 95.8% (2020-2024)
+7.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
25.8% (2015-2019) → 31.9% (2020-2024)
+6.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

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, Trail Creek, Indiana improved on 2 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 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.

Improved2

Household income+43%$54,408 → $77,635
Broadband+7.6 points88.2% → 95.8%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Trail Creek, Indiana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.8 min2015-2019	22.1 min2020-2024	+2.3 min	Within the margin of error	25%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.5%2015-2019	23.4%2020-2024	+3.9 points	Within the margin of error	59%
Broadband subscriptions	88.2%2015-2019	95.8%2020-2024	+7.6 points	Improved	47%
Effective property tax rate	0.90%2015-2019	0.78%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	41%
High school diploma or higher	94.4%2015-2019	94.3%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Home price to income ratio	2.5×2015-2019	2.5×2020-2024	−0.0×	Within the margin of error	80%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4402015-2019	0.3762020-2024	−0.064	Within the margin of error	89%
Median household income	$54,4082015-2019	$77,6352020-2024	+43%	Improved	77%
Poverty rate	6.3%2015-2019	6.6%2020-2024	+0.3 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	6.2%2015-2019	5.0%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	62%

“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 Trail Creek, Indiana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Trail Creek, 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, Trail Creek, Indiana itself moved +6.9 points in standing on average over the same 8 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

2,351 residents (±326)

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

968 households (±136)

Trail Creek, Indiana
Indiana share

Under $25k10%†100
$25k–50k23%†226
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

968 households (±136)

Trail Creek, Indiana
Indiana share

Own92%887
Rent8.4%†81

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

987 workers (±198)

Trail Creek, Indiana
Indiana share

Drive alone82%814
Carpool4.3%†42
Public transit0.7%†7

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 Michigan City-La Porte, 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 LaPorte County, the county holding most of Trail Creek's residents.

LaPorte County has 2,297 employer establishments, 207 for every 10,000 residents (0.83× the US rate of 248; 0.91× Indiana's), with 34,909 paid employees at an average annual pay of $50,859. The Census Bureau also counts 6,608 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 2,297; 6,608 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 207; US 248 · Indiana 226
Paid employees: 34,909
Average annual pay: $50,859; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	190	17.1	0.93×About typical	3,845	$19,765	23
Ambulatory health care services	184	16.6	0.79×Fewer than typical	2,349	$69,724	236
Specialty trade contractors	137	12.3	0.80×Fewer than typical	857	$67,124	429
Full-service restaurants	90	8.1	1.05×About typical	1,885	$20,364	9
Limited-service restaurants	79	7.1	0.89×About typical	1,774	$19,045	8
Offices of physicians	74	6.7	1.03×About typical	1,347	$83,774	36
Lessors of real estate	73	6.6	0.53×Fewer than typical	189	$39,741	752
Services to buildings and dwellings	73	6.6	0.97×About typical	457	$39,742	567
Clothing and accessories stores	66	5.9	1.64×More than typical	864	$18,753	58
Religious organizations	63	5.7	1.02×About typical	314	$20,611	—
Construction of buildings	62	5.6	0.74×Fewer than typical	741	$96,439	242
Automotive repair and maintenance	61	5.5	1.09×About typical	338	$47,053	85

Rank places for an industry Open LaPorte County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 111,144 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 $20.7K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Trail Creek, Indiana: $8.79 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $20.7K; +348% vs FY2025
Per resident: $8.79; US $1,995
Sole-source: 17%; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

76.8KFY2017
14.5KFY2018
111.7KFY2019
14.5KFY2020
122.2KFY2021
89.6KFY2022
82.5KFY2023
148.1KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Other heavy and civil engineering construction · 2379$15.4K74%
Building equipment contractors · 2382$3,93519%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$8244.0%
Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$5282.6%
Printing and related support activities · 3231$19.420.1%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 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 Trail Creek, Indiana, so they do not add up across cities.

Trail Creek, Indiana's figures are part of those of LaPorte County, IN ($3.1M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.7% of that total.

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

See federal money in LaPorte 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.

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

House

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.

LaPorte County45100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Michigan City-La Porte, IN30

Other cities and towns in LaPorte 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/1876328

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends