Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US counties.

Safety42#1,785/3,096
Economy27#2,294/3,143
Housing85#473/3,140
Health24#2,399/3,144
Healthcare25#2,351/3,143
Environment46#1,679/3,108
Education3#3,038/3,144
Infrastructure16#2,649/3,144
Community24#2,394/3,144
Leisure & amenities31#2,184/3,143

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Switzerland County, Indiana ranks highest and lowest among US counties (score = percentile, 100 = best).

Strengths

Drought exposure · low0%
98/100Indiana 18%United States 43%Nov 2025–Oct 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAA
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.389
96/100Indiana 0.452United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Grocery stores · high5.0 /10k
94/100Indiana 1.3 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Rent as share of income · low22.8%
92/100Indiana 29.1%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
New homes permitted · high8.1 /1k
91/100Indiana 3.9 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Distance to an airport · low25 mi
87/100Indiana 38 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census Bureau

Weaknesses

Bachelor's degree or higher · low8.9%
1/100Indiana 29.5%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Some college · low39.6%
5/100Indiana 63.1%United States 67.8%2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute
Average weekly wage · low$822
5/100Indiana $1,251United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Students per teacher · high18.2×
6/100Indiana 15.4×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education Statistics
Average commute time · high32.9 min
7/100Indiana 24.1 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Social associations · low4.0 /10k
7/100Indiana 11.8 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute

Trends

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

Firearm deathsImproving
13.8 /100k (2021) → 0.0 /100k (May 2025–Apr 2026)
−100%5 yearsUS 14.7 /100k → 12.1 /100k
Mental health providersImproving
28 /100k (2021) → 50 /100k (2025)
+79%4 yearsUS 282 /100k → 348 /100k
Flu vaccinationsWorsening
55.0% (2019) → 40.0% (2023)
−15 pts4 yearsUS 48.0% → 44.0%
Access to exercise opportunitiesImproving
38.7% (2010 & 2021) → 51.2% (2022 & 2024)
+12 pts3 yearsUS 79.8% → 84.5%
Drug overdose deathsImproving
43.0 /100k (2021) → 18.4 /100k (Mar 2025–Feb 2026)
−57%5 yearsUS 30.8 /100k → 18.4 /100k
Preventable hospital staysImproving
6,133 /100k (2019) → 2,811 /100k (2023)
−54%4 yearsUS 3,767 /100k → 2,769 /100k

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, Switzerland County, Indiana improved on 5 of 29 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 21 moved within the margin of error and 2 barely changed.

Earlier period
Latest period
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among counties: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts. Periods differ by measure (most compare 2015-2019 with 2020-2024); each row names its own in its tooltip and in the table.

Improved5

Unemployment−5 points9.2% → 4.2%
Weekly wage+25%$658 → $822
Broadband+9.6 points71.7% → 81.3%
Household income+22%$52,482 → $63,858
Real income+28%$39,700 → $50,800

Declined1

Students / teacher+2.2×16.0× → 18.2×

All 29 measures

Change of every measure of Switzerland County, Indiana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Arts, entertainment and recreation	3.1 /10k2020	2.0 /10k2025	−35%	Within the margin of error	6%
Average commute time	36.2 min2015-2019	32.9 min2020-2024	−3.2 min	Within the margin of error	95%
Average weekly wage	$6582020	$8222025	+25%	Improved	57%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.9%2015-2019	8.9%2020-2024	−2 points	Within the margin of error	4%
Broadband subscriptions	71.7%2015-2019	81.3%2020-2024	+9.6 points	Improved	47%
Child poverty rate	23.7%2019	22.6%2024	−1.1 points	Within the margin of error	42%
Distance to an airport	25 mi2020	25 mi2025	0 mi	Little change	50%
Drug overdose deaths	37.0 /100k2020	18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026	−50%	Within the margin of error	77%
Effective property tax rate	0.45%2015-2019	0.45%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Firearm deaths	13.4 /100k2020	0.0 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026	−100%	Within the margin of error	98%
Grocery stores	4.1 /10k2020	5.0 /10k2025	+21%	Within the margin of error	87%
High school diploma or higher	83.9%2015-2019	80.2%2020-2024	−3.6 points	Within the margin of error	1%
Home price to income ratio	2.4×2015-2019	2.7×2020-2024	+0.3×	Within the margin of error	57%
Income adjusted for local prices	$39,7002019	$50,8002024	+28%	Improved	26%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4332015-2019	0.3892020-2024	−0.044	Within the margin of error	94%
Median household income	$52,4822019	$63,8582024	+22%	Improved	32%
New business applications	8.4 /1k2020	8.1 /1k2025	−4.1%	Little change	7%
Pharmacies	2.1 /10k2020	2.0 /10k2025	−3%	Within the margin of error	55%
Poverty rate	14.5%2019	14.3%2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	49%
Public libraries	0.9 /10k2019	1.0 /10k2024	+7.8%	Within the margin of error	87%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Rent as share of income	23.9%2015-2019	22.8%2020-2024	−1.1 points	Within the margin of error	68%
Rent-burdened households	31.6%2015-2019	35.6%2020-2024	+4 points	Within the margin of error	31%
Restaurants and bars	7.2 /10k2020	6.0 /10k2025	−17%	Within the margin of error	16%
Students per teacher	16.0×2019	18.2×2024	+2.2×	Declined	3%
Suicide rate	15.3 /100k2020	16.6 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026	+8.5%	Within the margin of error	38%
Traffic deaths	28.0 /100k2015-2019	14.1 /100k2020-2024	−50%	Within the margin of error	95%
Unemployment rate	9.2%2020	4.2%2025	−5 points	Improved	93%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	12.5%2019	10.7%2024	−1.8 points	Within the margin of error	66%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 2431 counties that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: Regional Economic Accounts; Local Area Unemployment Statistics; Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages; Mapping Injury, Overdose, and Violence; American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates; Business Formation Statistics; Small Area Health Insurance Estimates; Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates; Public Libraries Survey; Common Core of Data; Fatality Analysis Reporting System; Distance to airports and intercity rail. 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 3144 counties 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.

Counties like Switzerland County, Indiana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Switzerland County, 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, Switzerland County, Indiana itself moved +0.5 points in standing on average over the same 29 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).

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Income

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

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Homes

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

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Getting to work

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

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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.

Switzerland County has 132 employer establishments, 132 for every 10,000 residents (0.53× the US rate of 248; 0.59× Indiana's), with 1,406 paid employees at an average annual pay of $33,870. The Census Bureau also counts 579 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 132; 579 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 132; US 248 · Indiana 226
Paid employees: 1,406
Average annual pay: $33,870; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	8	8	0.44×Too few to compare	53	$16,434	—
Ambulatory health care services	7	7	0.34×Too few to compare	43	$55,093	10
Specialty trade contractors	6	6	0.39×Too few to compare	37	$70,757	101
Construction of buildings	5	5	0.66×Too few to compare	8	$30,625	51
Full-service restaurants	5	5	0.65×Too few to compare	37	$17,757	—
Gasoline stations	5	5	1.55×Too few to compare	36	$26,056	—
Grocery and convenience stores	5	5	1.69×Too few to compare	73	$10,753	—
Truck transportation	5	5	0.99×Too few to compare	5	$43,400	18
Amusement, gambling and recreation industries	4	4	1.51×Too few to compare	44	$13,159	—
Other amusement and recreation industries	4	4	1.66×Too few to compare	44	$13,159	—
Religious organizations	4	4	0.72×Too few to compare	11	$24,636	—
Accounting, tax preparation and payroll services	3	3	0.74×Too few to compare	8	$19,875	—

Rank places for an industry

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 9,964 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 contract spending

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Federal grants & assistance

Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.

In FY2026, federal agencies obligated $58.2M in grants, loans, direct payments and insurance for Switzerland County, Indiana: $5,799 per resident (US $12,975).

Assistance · FY2026: $58.2M; −16% vs FY2025
Per resident: $5,799; US $12,975
Loan face value: $3.1M; lent or guaranteed
To individuals: 0.8%; counted, never named

Top programs

96.002 · Social Security Retirement Insurance$34.7M60%
96.001 · Social Security Disability Insurance$8M14%
64.109 · Veterans Compensation for Service-Connected Disability$4.3M7.4%
96.004 · Social Security Survivors Insurance$3.9M6.8%
20.287 · Surface Transportation Block Grant Program$2.3M3.9%
96.006 · Supplemental Security Income$1.6M2.8%
20.205 · Highway Planning and Construction$1.2M2.1%
93.224 · Health Center Program$650K1.1%

Top recipients (organizations)

INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION$3.7M6.3%
INDIANAPOLIS, IN
COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER INC$650K1.1%
LAWRENCEBURG, IN
VALLEY APT. L.P.$114.4K0.2%
FORT WAYNE, IN
TORRENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.$28.5K0.0%
KALISPELL, MT
SWEETWATER HOLLOW BUILDING SUPPLY, L.L.C.$0

Organizations only: awards to individuals and county aggregate records count in the totals but are never listed. Grants to state governments recorded at the agency's own address are counted statewide, not in the capital's county.

Top agencies

Social Security Administration$48.2M83%
Under Secretary for Benefits/Veterans Benefits Administration$4.9M8.4%
Department of Veterans Affairs
Federal Highway Administration$3.7M6.3%
Department of Transportation
Health Resources and Services Administration$750K1.3%
Department of Health and Human Services
Farm Service Agency

Assistance by fiscal year

45.3MFY2021
55.2MFY2022
58.1MFY2023
52.2MFY2024
69MFY2025
58.2MFY2026

County aggregates

92%

Share of obligations reported only as county totals of many small awards (for example Social Security or Medicare payments), with no recipient named.

Source: Federal financial assistance transactions (Financial Assistance Broker Submission) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 8, 2026, loaded Oct 8, 2026 · FY2021–FY2026.

Explore grants in Switzerland County, Indiana

Public money & outcomes

Federal money per resident by fiscal year next to how the place changed, and, when its money jumped, how it compares with similar counties. A comparison, not cause and effect.

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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.

Congress data is unavailable right now.

Cities and towns in Switzerland County

Places whose residents live mostly in Switzerland County, largest first.

Neighboring counties

Places that share a border, best score first.

Similar counties

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.

Mapping Injury, Overdose, and ViolenceCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2026-10-01
PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Daily county PM2.5 and ozone (EPA downscaler model)Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · release 2022
Care Compare: Hospital General Information and Timely and Effective CareCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services · release 2026-07-22
Distance to airports and intercity railFederal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census Bureau · release 2025+amtrak-2026-04-23
National Risk IndexFederal Emergency Management Agency · release v1.20.0
Health Professional Shortage AreasHealth Resources and Services Administration · release 2026-10-09
Public Libraries SurveyInstitute of Museum and Library Services · release FY2024
Common Core of DataNational Center for Education Statistics · release 2024
U.S. Drought Monitor county statisticsNational Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAA · release 2026-10-06
Fatality Analysis Reporting SystemNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration · release 2024
nClimGrid-Daily county averagesNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · release 2025
Regional Economic AccountsU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis · release 2024
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
Quarterly Census of Employment and WagesU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2026 Q1
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Business Formation StatisticsU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-10-01
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
Alternative Fuels Data Center station locatorU.S. Department of Energy · release 2026-10
Election Administration and Voting SurveyU.S. Election Assistance Commission · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement
Zillow Home Value Index, Observed Rent Index and affordabilityZillow Research · release 2026-08

JSON · /api/v1/places/18155

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends

What changed in five years

Improved5

Declined1

Counties like Switzerland County, Indiana five years ago that improved

Who lives here

Income

Homes

Getting to work

Local businesses

Federal contract spending

Federal grants & assistance

Top programs

Top recipients (organizations)

Top agencies

Assistance by fiscal year

County aggregates

Public money & outcomes

Representation in Congress

Cities and towns in Switzerland County

Neighboring counties

Similar counties

Data and sources

Improved5

Declined1

Top programs

Top recipients (organizations)

Top agencies

Assistance by fiscal year

County aggregates

By type