Town · Lake County, Indiana

Winfield, Indiana

Winfield is a town in Lake County, Indiana, part of the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN metro area. It has 7,816 residents. Winfield, Indiana has a quality-of-life score of 48 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #8,100 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Indiana it ranks #121 of 353 cities and towns. It ranks best on drought exposure (low), income inequality (Gini index) (low) and new homes permitted (high). It ranks worst on rent as share of income (high), preventable hospital stays (high) and days with unhealthy air (high).

48Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #8,100 of 15,651 cities and towns
Indiana: #121 of 353 in IN
Population: 7,816 (2020-2024)
Land area: 12 mi²
Density: 630.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 1884878

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.

Safety17#12,904/15,637
Economy85#2,414/15,631
Housing48#7,735/14,977
Health52#7,435/15,609
Healthcare57#6,715/15,650
Environment16#12,966/15,453
Education54#7,122/15,649
Infrastructure63#5,851/15,650
Community54#7,243/15,651
Leisure & amenities44#8,714/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Drought exposure · low0%
98/100Indiana 19%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAALake County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.325
97/100Indiana 0.452United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
New homes permitted · high13.9 /1k
92/100Indiana 3.9 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Median household income · high$135,870
92/100Indiana $71,958United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
Distance to an emergency room · low3.1 mi
90/100Indiana 5.2 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLake County value
Lack of reliable transportation · low5.8%
86/100Indiana 8.1%United States 8.3%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate

Weaknesses

Rent as share of income · high51.0%
2/100Indiana 29.1%United States 30.6%2019-2023U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071At least this value: the publisher's top bracket is open-ended
Preventable hospital stays · high4,344 /100k
6/100Indiana 3,202 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLake County value
Days with unhealthy air · high4.1%
9/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyLake County value
Median Air Quality Index · high53
10/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyLake County value
Average commute time · high36.6 min
10/100Indiana 24.1 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Homicide rate · high8.4 /100k
12/100Indiana 5.6 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataLake County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
5,705 (2015-2019) → 7,816 (2020-2024)
+37%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
22.8% (2015-2019) → 82.0% (2020-2024)
+59 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
22.3% (2015-2019) → 51.0% (2019-2023)
+29 pts4 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.2%
Child poverty rateWorsening
0.0% (2015-2019) → 10.3% (2020-2024)
+10 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
89.0% (2015-2019) → 98.0% (2020-2024)
+9 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
34.7% (2015-2019) → 42.5% (2020-2024)
+7.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

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, Winfield, Indiana improved on 1 of 9 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 7 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.

Improved1

Household income+29%$105,214 → $135,870

Declined1

Child poverty+10 points0.0% → 10.3%

All 9 measures

Change of every measure of Winfield, Indiana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	30.6 min2015-2019	36.6 min2020-2024	+6.0 min	Within the margin of error	7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.7%2015-2019	42.5%2020-2024	+7.7 points	Within the margin of error	83%
Broadband subscriptions	89.0%2015-2019	98.0%2020-2024	+9 points	Within the margin of error	55%
Child poverty rate	0.0%2015-2019	10.3%2020-2024	+10 points	Declined	11%
Effective property tax rate	1.20%2015-2019	0.98%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	61%
High school diploma or higher	93.2%2015-2019	93.0%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	30%
Home price to income ratio	2.7×2015-2019	3.0×2020-2024	+0.3×	Within the margin of error	59%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3462015-2019	0.3252020-2024	−0.021	Within the margin of error	68%
Median household income	$105,2142015-2019	$135,8702020-2024	+29%	Improved	53%

“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 Winfield, Indiana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Winfield, 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, Winfield, Indiana itself moved +0.8 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

7,816 residents (±22)

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

2,483 households (±191)

Winfield, Indiana
Indiana share

Under $25k2.9%†73
$25k–50k7.7%†192
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,483 households (±191)

Winfield, Indiana
Indiana share

Own95%2,357
Rent5.1%†126

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+6.9 points).

† 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

4,009 workers (±367)

Winfield, Indiana
Indiana share

Drive alone73%2,925
Carpool9.5%†381
Public transit0.3%†11

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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-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 Lake County, the county holding most of Winfield's residents.

Lake County has 10,566 employer establishments, 211 for every 10,000 residents (0.85× the US rate of 248; 0.93× Indiana's), with 171,790 paid employees at an average annual pay of $57,154. The Census Bureau also counts 35,311 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 10,566; 35,311 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 211; US 248 · Indiana 226
Paid employees: 171,790
Average annual pay: $57,154; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	1,071	21.4	1.03×About typical	16,364	$68,052	1,790
Restaurants and other eating places	923	18.5	1.00×About typical	18,320	$19,472	230
Specialty trade contractors	638	12.8	0.82×About typical	7,976	$85,404	1,727
Limited-service restaurants	484	9.7	1.21×About typical	9,201	$17,803	108
Truck transportation	415	8.3	1.64×More than typical	3,848	$60,862	1,634
Offices of physicians	386	7.7	1.19×About typical	7,322	$92,828	237
Automotive repair and maintenance	362	7.2	1.44×More than typical	2,094	$46,582	454
Lessors of real estate	362	7.2	0.59×Fewer than typical	1,254	$43,400	3,618
Full-service restaurants	320	6.4	0.83×About typical	7,460	$21,876	72
Construction of buildings	287	5.7	0.76×Fewer than typical	2,119	$83,719	949
Religious organizations	277	5.5	1.00×About typical	2,336	$28,570	—
Legal services	263	5.3	0.98×About typical	1,129	$74,329	275

Rank places for an industry Open Lake County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 500,134 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 $72.4K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Winfield, Indiana: $9.27 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $72.4K; +1,604% vs FY2025
Per resident: $9.27; US $1,994
Sole-source: 9.9%; US 30%
Single offer: 10%; 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

PROJECT ONE RETRIEVERS LLC$54.4K75%
DIXI MEDICAL USA CORP$9,75013%
1 SOURCE SOLUTIONS CO, LLC$7,44210%
REPUBLIC SERVICES OF INDIANA, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP$3,4414.8%
GLASS LORRI L-$1750.0%

Spending by fiscal year

132.1KFY2017
40.7KFY2018
178.3KFY2019
149.1KFY2020
221.2KFY2021
153.5KFY2022
234.5KFY2023
-20.6KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Other animal production · 1129$54.4K75%
Fabric mills · 3132$7,44210%
Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing · 3391$7,2029.9%
Waste collection · 5621$3,4414.8%
Professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers · 4234$2,5483.5%

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

Winfield, Indiana's figures are part of those of Lake County, IN ($85.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.1% of that total.

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

See federal money in Lake 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.

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

House

Frank J. MrvanD-IN-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 92%Missed 2.8%

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.

Lake County39100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN66

Other cities and towns in Lake 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/1884878

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends