Elkhart County vs Lake County

A side-by-side comparison of Elkhart County and Lake County: population, income, housing, and more.

Elkhart County and Lake County are counties in Indiana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Lake County has the higher population (498,990 vs 206,868 in Elkhart County). Lake County has the higher median household income ($68,985 vs $65,617 in Elkhart County). Lake County has the higher median home value ($214,700 vs $194,400 in Elkhart County).

Population, income & housing

	Elkhart County	Lake County
Population	206,868	498,990
Median age	35.5 yrs	39.6 yrs
Median household income	$65,617	$68,985
Median home value	$194,400	$214,700
Median gross rent	$1,023	$1,094
Housing units	80,102	216,330
Homeownership rate	71.2%	70.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	24.9%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elkhart County	Lake County
Population	204,558 → 206,868 (+1.1%)	485,707 → 498,990 (+2.7%)
Median household income	$57,021 → $65,617 (+15.1%)	$56,128 → $68,985 (+22.9%)
Median home value	$144,300 → $194,400 (+34.7%)	$149,500 → $214,700 (+43.6%)
Median gross rent	$810 → $1,023 (+26.3%)	$886 → $1,094 (+23.5%)

Elkhart County

Population

204,558206,868

Median household income

$57,021$65,617

Median home value

$144,300$194,400

Median gross rent

$810$1,023

Lake County

Population

485,707498,990

Median household income

$56,128$68,985

Median home value

$149,500$214,700

Median gross rent

$886$1,094

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Elkhart County	Lake County
Under 5	7.3%	5.8%
5 to 17	20.4%	17.5%
18 to 24	9.1%	8.3%
25 to 34	12.7%	12.2%
35 to 44	12.1%	12.9%
45 to 54	11.7%	12.4%
55 to 64	11.6%	13.4%
65 to 74	8.8%	10.5%
75 and over	6.4%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elkhart County	Lake County
White (non-Hispanic)	70.7%	52.0%
Black or African American	4.8%	22.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.1%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.2%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	19.5%	20.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elkhart County	Lake County
No high school diploma	17.8%	9.8%
High school graduate	36.9%	34.7%
Some college or associate's	25.6%	30.7%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	16.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	8.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elkhart County	Lake County
Drove alone	75.1%	80.5%
Carpooled	15.5%	8.1%
Public transit	0.3%	1.5%
Walked	2.1%	1.1%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.1%
Worked from home	4.8%	7.2%
Other means	0.8%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elkhart County	Lake County
1-unit, detached	69.7%	71.5%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	7.5%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	6.2%
5 to 19 units	7.8%	8.8%
20 or more units	4.8%	4.5%
Mobile home & other	8.9%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Elkhart County	Lake County
Poverty rate	12.5%	14.6%
Average household size	2.84	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	19	29
Median year structure built	1977	1968