Dayton vs Lafayette

A side-by-side comparison of Dayton and Lafayette: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lafayette has the higher population (70,650 vs 1,049 in Dayton). Dayton has the higher median household income ($74,417 vs $52,946 in Lafayette). Dayton has the higher median home value ($169,500 vs $157,600 in Lafayette).

Population, income & housing

	Dayton	Lafayette
Population	1,049	70,650
Median age	33.9 yrs	33.7 yrs
Median household income	$74,417	$52,946
Median home value	$169,500	$157,600
Median gross rent	$956	$1,039
Housing units	512	33,911
Homeownership rate	78.3%	47.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.4%	28.1%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dayton	Lafayette
Population	1,578 → 1,049 (-33.5%)	72,581 → 70,650 (-2.7%)
Median household income	$53,929 → $74,417 (+38.0%)	$46,374 → $52,946 (+14.2%)
Median home value	$127,400 → $169,500 (+33.0%)	$114,800 → $157,600 (+37.3%)
Median gross rent	$865 → $956 (+10.5%)	$817 → $1,039 (+27.2%)

Dayton

Population

1,5781,049

Median household income

$53,929$74,417

Median home value

$127,400$169,500

Median gross rent

$865$956

Lafayette

Population

72,58170,650

Median household income

$46,374$52,946

Median home value

$114,800$157,600

Median gross rent

$817$1,039

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dayton	Lafayette
Under 5	4.5%	6.9%
5 to 17	20.8%	16.4%
18 to 24	6.8%	11.1%
25 to 34	20.5%	17.8%
35 to 44	11.5%	13.8%
45 to 54	7.5%	10.0%
55 to 64	14.0%	10.0%
65 to 74	7.6%	8.8%
75 and over	6.8%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dayton	Lafayette
White (non-Hispanic)	91.6%	71.3%
Black or African American	1.5%	8.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.5%
Two or more races	1.2%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	5.6%	13.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dayton	Lafayette
No high school diploma	5.6%	11.1%
High school graduate	32.5%	33.8%
Some college or associate's	38.4%	26.9%
Bachelor's degree	15.0%	18.2%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	9.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dayton	Lafayette
Drove alone	86.4%	79.9%
Carpooled	2.6%	7.3%
Public transit	0.0%	2.5%
Walked	1.1%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	8.1%	7.5%
Other means	1.8%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dayton	Lafayette
1-unit, detached	85.2%	57.5%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	12.5%	15.0%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	16.9%
20 or more units	0.0%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.4%

Poverty & households

	Dayton	Lafayette
Poverty rate	10.5%	17.1%
Average household size	2.16	2.16
Mean commute (minutes)	18	16
Median year structure built	1982	1970