Highland vs Merrillville

A side-by-side comparison of Highland and Merrillville: population, income, housing, and more.

Highland and Merrillville are places in Indiana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Merrillville has the higher population (36,343 vs 23,749 in Highland). Highland has the higher median household income ($76,219 vs $64,791 in Merrillville). Highland has the higher median home value ($219,500 vs $194,000 in Merrillville).

Population, income & housing

	Highland	Merrillville
Population	23,749	36,343
Median age	44.5 yrs	41.3 yrs
Median household income	$76,219	$64,791
Median home value	$219,500	$194,000
Median gross rent	$1,202	$1,304
Housing units	10,791	16,255
Homeownership rate	77.2%	68.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.1%	25.2%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	6.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Highland	Merrillville
Population	22,581 → 23,749 (+5.2%)	34,889 → 36,343 (+4.2%)
Median household income	$67,281 → $76,219 (+13.3%)	$60,803 → $64,791 (+6.6%)
Median home value	$161,100 → $219,500 (+36.3%)	$136,100 → $194,000 (+42.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,106 → $1,202 (+8.7%)	$1,082 → $1,304 (+20.5%)

Highland

Population

22,58123,749

Median household income

$67,281$76,219

Median home value

$161,100$219,500

Median gross rent

$1,106$1,202

Merrillville

Population

34,88936,343

Median household income

$60,803$64,791

Median home value

$136,100$194,000

Median gross rent

$1,082$1,304

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Highland	Merrillville
Under 5	6.1%	4.5%
5 to 17	12.7%	16.9%
18 to 24	6.9%	9.5%
25 to 34	13.1%	11.4%
35 to 44	11.9%	12.0%
45 to 54	13.4%	11.9%
55 to 64	15.1%	13.2%
65 to 74	11.4%	12.8%
75 and over	9.4%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Highland	Merrillville
White (non-Hispanic)	67.1%	34.3%
Black or African American	9.5%	44.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	2.1%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.9%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	18.4%	15.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Highland	Merrillville
No high school diploma	6.8%	7.8%
High school graduate	29.8%	36.1%
Some college or associate's	33.3%	30.9%
Bachelor's degree	19.5%	15.8%
Graduate or professional degree	10.6%	9.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Highland	Merrillville
Drove alone	83.7%	80.4%
Carpooled	4.2%	6.0%
Public transit	2.5%	1.4%
Walked	0.2%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.9%	8.3%
Other means	2.2%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Highland	Merrillville
1-unit, detached	70.2%	61.5%
1-unit, attached	5.7%	8.2%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	14.2%	14.5%
20 or more units	5.6%	10.5%
Mobile home & other	0.6%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Highland	Merrillville
Poverty rate	9.7%	13.7%
Average household size	2.30	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	26	32
Median year structure built	1966	1978