Indiana Business Review
100 years of economic insights for Indiana

The IBR is a publication of the Indiana Business Research Center at IU's Kelley School of Business

Executive Editor, Carol O. Rogers
Managing Editor, Brittany L. Hotchkiss

Graphic cartoon that looks like superhero text saying Indianapolis vs. Boston.

Naptown and Beantown: A graphic companion

From the editors

Indiana Business Research Center, Indiana University Kelley School of Business

To provide more context to the comparison between Indianapolis and Boston, we have curated some metrics that shed some light on the two metros.

Below, you will find a few notable comparisons between Indianapolis and Boston and a snapshot of various metrics that paint a more vivid picture of the two capital cities.

Graphic card with a background of walking people that says the word people and shows that Indianapolis has experienced 51% population growth and Boston has experienced 19% population growth between 1990 and 2023. Graphic card with a background of houses along a street that says the word housing and shows that single-family housing makes up 77% of occupied housing in Indianapolis and 54% of occupied housing in Boston. Graphic card with a background of four workers in a warehouse that says the word workers and shows that both Indianapolis and Boston have 28% of their population in the prime working age of 25 to 44.
Snapshot header
Key metrics Indianapolis  Boston
Asian 3.7% 8.4%
Black 15.3% 7.7%
Hispanic 7.3% 11.8%
Multi-racial 5.2% 7.8%
White alone 72.7% 70.9%
Prime working age (25 to 44) 27.8% 27.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher (pop. 25+) 36.7% 50.5%
Median family income $93,688 $134,646
Child poverty rate 14.3% 9.9%
Owner-occupied housing units 66.3% 61.5%
Median home value $223,300 $570,000
Renter-occupied housing units 33.7% 38.5%
Median gross rent $1,081 $1,827
Single-family occupied housing units 77.8% 54.5%
Multi-family occupied housing units 21.2% 45.5%

Source: American Community Survey, 2022 5-year estimates, from the U.S. Census Bureau and StatsAmerica

If you would like to do some comparisons of your own, we recommend exploring the Anywhere USA profiles on StatsAmerica. This tool allows users to compare states, counties, metros, micros, cities, school districts or tribal areas across several data points, including population, educational attainment, household details, commuting and occupations.