Dayton vs West Lafayette

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

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

West Lafayette has the higher population (44,802 vs 1,049 in Dayton). Dayton has the higher median household income ($74,417 vs $33,497 in West Lafayette). West Lafayette has the higher median home value ($318,100 vs $169,500 in Dayton).

Population, income & housing

	Dayton	West Lafayette
Population	1,049	44,802
Median age	33.9 yrs	21.4 yrs
Median household income	$74,417	$33,497
Median home value	$169,500	$318,100
Median gross rent	$956	$1,152
Housing units	512	16,309
Homeownership rate	78.3%	30.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.4%	71.2%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dayton	West Lafayette
Population	1,578 → 1,049 (-33.5%)	48,551 → 44,802 (-7.7%)
Median household income	$53,929 → $74,417 (+38.0%)	$34,650 → $33,497 (-3.3%)
Median home value	$127,400 → $169,500 (+33.0%)	$224,000 → $318,100 (+42.0%)
Median gross rent	$865 → $956 (+10.5%)	$912 → $1,152 (+26.3%)

Dayton

Population

1,5781,049

Median household income

$53,929$74,417

Median home value

$127,400$169,500

Median gross rent

$865$956

West Lafayette

Population

48,55144,802

Median household income

$34,650$33,497

Median home value

$224,000$318,100

Median gross rent

$912$1,152

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dayton	West Lafayette
Under 5	4.5%	1.9%
5 to 17	20.8%	6.5%
18 to 24	6.8%	61.1%
25 to 34	20.5%	9.2%
35 to 44	11.5%	4.8%
45 to 54	7.5%	4.8%
55 to 64	14.0%	4.4%
65 to 74	7.6%	3.6%
75 and over	6.8%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dayton	West Lafayette
White (non-Hispanic)	91.6%	66.4%
Black or African American	1.5%	3.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.0%	20.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.2%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	5.6%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dayton	West Lafayette
No high school diploma	5.6%	2.6%
High school graduate	32.5%	10.1%
Some college or associate's	38.4%	16.1%
Bachelor's degree	15.0%	28.0%
Graduate or professional degree	8.4%	43.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dayton	West Lafayette
Drove alone	86.4%	49.0%
Carpooled	2.6%	3.8%
Public transit	0.0%	5.6%
Walked	1.1%	24.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	3.4%
Worked from home	8.1%	12.5%
Other means	1.8%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dayton	West Lafayette
1-unit, detached	85.2%	32.6%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	12.5%	6.5%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	31.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	27.7%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Dayton	West Lafayette
Poverty rate	10.5%	37.4%
Average household size	2.16	2.10
Mean commute (minutes)	18	15
Median year structure built	1982	1990