What is the average salary in Indiana?

1 min read by Charlie Barton Last updated October 4, 2024

Learn about the average salaries and highest paying counties in Indiana.

Summary

  • The Hoosier State is known for its affordable cost of living, with a ranking of 9th lowest in the United States according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.  

  • The earning potential available in Indiana is an incentive for many to explore what the state has to offer.

  • City living is often more expensive than living in more rural areas, but it’s also where the money is. Indiana’s own cities can vary massively in average salary.

  • A financial advisor can help you stay on top of your finances and make confident financial decisions.

What is a good salary in Indiana?

The median income in Indiana is $57,603. Defining ‘good’ relies on all sorts of variable factors, and these should be taken into account. For example, $100,000 is a higher salary than the state average but may be relatively low in some areas with a higher cost of living or in certain high-skilled occupations. 

What is the average salary in Indiana by age? 

Alongside location and occupation, salaries in Indiana are also dependent on age since more senior workers will be paid more. Then, when they retire, their income will dip again as they will rely on pensions and other forms of set income. You can also check out the complete guide to retirement in Indiana here. 

The Census Bureau data finds that householders under 25 have a median household income of $41,741; householders aged 24 to 44 years old have a median income of $67,507; those aged 45 to 64 years old have a median income of $75,505; and those 65 and older have a median income of $49,783. 

What is the average salary in Indiana by hour? 

If Americans work an average of 1,801 hours per year—at 37.5 hours a week—then the average hourly salary in Indiana is $31.97.  

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What is the average salary by city in Indiana?

City living is often more expensive than living in more rural areas, but it’s also where the money is. Indiana’s own cities can vary massively in average salary; cities like Carmel and Fishers command well into six figures, while Gary’s average sits below $30,000.  

Average earnings by city — or any other geographical metric — is just one way of calculating wealth and certainly shouldn’t be the only way you look at your own earning potential in a given place. It doesn’t take into account the type of jobs that people do to earn above or below this average bracket and omits any consideration for the number of people living in a household. However, it’s certainly one way of establishing which place offers good earning opportunities.  

The US Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey has calculated the average earnings for the 10 largest cities in Indiana, which you can find ranked by size below.

CityAverage household income
CityAverage household income
Indianapolis$53,169
Fort Wayne$53,280
Evansville$46,569
South Bend$45,219
Carmel$116,852
Fishers$120,406
Bloomington$47,389
Hammond$46,670
Gary$27,766
Muncie$36,755

What is the average salary by county in Indiana?

Reviewing average salaries in Indiana by city is not necessarily an adequate metric for average salaries across the state, since it’s entirely urban-focused. A good idea is to weigh these figures up against the average salary in Indiana by county, as this will take areas outside the main cities into account and offer a broader idea of salary ranges.  

The same survey from the US Census Bureau gives further insight this way, with the average household income calculated for each county.

CountyIncome
CountyIncome
Adams County$62,152
Allen County$61,903
Bartholomew County$63,452
Benton County$57,005
Blackford County$50,889
Boone County$97,620
Brown County$57,237
Carroll County$60,188
Cass County$50,851
Clark County$62,580
Clay County$56,797
Clinton County$58,111
Crawford County$50,244
Daviess County$57,566
DeKalb County$63,110
Dearborn County$73,237
Decatur County$57,330
Delaware County$49,891
Dubois County$68,128
Elkhart County$60,172
Fayette County$50,010
Floyd County$75,794
Fountain County$58,822
Franklin County$60,096
Fulton County$53,275
Gibson County$62,016
Grant County$51,454
Greene County$52,270
Hamilton County$103,330
Hancock County$85,190
Harrison County$64,057
Hendricks County$85,347
Henry County$52,033
Howard County$53,384
Huntington County$57,707
Jackson County$58,072
Jasper County$71,446
Jay County$56,439
Jefferson County$55,108
Jennings County$57,307
Johnson County$83,682
Knox County$52,184
Kosciusko County$62,555
LaGrange County$63,579
Lake County$64,680
LaPorte County$60,010
Lawrence County$54,855
Madison County$51,819
Marion County$63,150
Marshall County$60,550
Martin County$53,357
Miami County$53,820
Monroe County$55,223
Montgomery County$57,465
Morgan County$68,104
Newton County$64,023
Noble County$60,040
Ohio County$57,382
Orange County$51,464
Owen County$54,697
Parke County$56,280
Perry County$58,543
Pike County$52,778
Porter County$72,821
Posey County$61,126
Pulaski County$50,217
Putnam County$59,077
Randolph County$48,617
Ripley County$64,029
Rush County$60,546
St. Joseph County$59,047
Scott County$52,114
Shelby County$62,704
Spencer County$61,227
Starke County$51,620
Steuben County$62,343
Sullivan County$50,697
Switzerland County$57,200
Tippecanoe County$61,468
Tipton County$65,983
Union County$65,572
Vanderburgh County$54,044
Vermillion County$53,396
Vigo County$48,552
Wabash County$59,611
Warren County$68,136
Warrick County$62,723
Washington County$53,932
Wayne County$62,723
Wells County$66,102
White County$60,237
Whitley County$64,146

What are the highest-paying jobs in Indiana?

There’s another weighty factor that will influence how much you earn if you live in Indiana: your job type. Average salaries for various sectors and job roles can vary massively across the state, so it’s absolutely something to consider when looking at salaries by location.  

SoFi Learn has calculated a comprehensive list of annual salaries by occupation area, which you can also find below.

OccupationAnnual mean wage
OccupationAnnual mean wage
Management$138,148
Business & Financial Operations$84,198
Computer & Mathematical$119,872
Architecture & Engineering$105,770
Life, Physical, & Social Science$91,100
Community & Social Service$58,272
Legal$117,935
Education, Training, & Library$64,168
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, & Media$69,625
Healthcare Practitioners & Technical$105,245
Healthcare Support$33,159
Protective Service$52,280
Food Preparation & Serving Related$31,993
Building & Grounds Cleaning & Maintenance$37,461
Personal Care & Service$34,047
Sales & Related$38,049
Office & Administrative Support$46,994
Farming, Fishing, & Forestry$31,169
Construction & Extraction$62,681
Installation, Maintenance, & Repair$58,497
Production$40,168
Transportation & Material Moving$37,578

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Writer

Charlie Barton

Charlie Barton is a writer at Unbiased. He has been writing about personal finance and investing since 2017, with extensive knowledge of platforms and products. Charlie has a first-class degree from the London School of Economics.