Indiana inches toward 7 million

Indiana added 44,144 residents in 2024 to reach a total population of 6.92 million, the state’s largest annual increase since 2008.

While the size of Indiana’s growth in 2024 was similar to 2008, the drivers of change in these years were drastically different. Back in 2008, natural increase—or the difference between births and deaths—accounted for 77% of Indiana’s growth. In 2024, by contrast, a net international migration of 30,852 residents accounted for 70% of the state’s growth.

At the same time, there were nearly 9,160 more births than deaths in Indiana in 2024. This marks the state’s highest level of natural increase since 2020, although it remains well below the pre-pandemic norm, when Indiana had an average natural increase of roughly 21,140 residents per year from 2010 to 2019.

Indiana also had a positive net inflow of 4,268 domestic migrants last year (people moving into Indiana from other states). Overall, Indiana’s 0.64% growth rate in 2024 trailed neighboring Kentucky (0.83%), but outpaced Michigan (0.57%), Illinois (0.54%) and Ohio (0.5%). Indiana’s growth rate ranked 31st nationally.

Across the state

For the second consecutive year, Boone and Hancock counties in the Indianapolis metro area were the state’s fastest-growing communities. Boone County claimed the top spot in 2024 with a 3.4% growth rate while Hancock County posted a 3.1% gain, a striking change from trends of the past 20 years, when Hamilton, Hendricks and Johnson counties were among the fastest-growing areas of the state. Other Indy-area suburban counties Hamilton (1.9%) and Hendricks (1.9%) were next on the list, followed by southwest Indiana’s Clark County (1.4%) in the Louisville metro area (see Table 1).

Table 1: Top ten fastest-growing Indiana counties in 2024

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, annual population estimates

Looking at top gainers by numbers instead of percentages, Hamilton County led the way in 2024 by adding more than 7,000 new residents (see Figure 1). Marion County had the state’s second-largest increase, adding 5,974 residents last year. This is Marion County’s largest annual increase since 2018. The state’s most populous county was home to 981,628 residents in 2024, which ranks it as the 54th-largest county in the U.S.  

Other top gainers included Allen (4,164), Hendricks (3,488) and Hancock (2,634) counties. All told, 73 of Indiana’s 92 counties grew in 2024. Notably, this is the largest number of Indiana counties to show an annual population increase since 1997.

Interactive Figure 1: Indiana county population and components of change, 2023-2024

A rural rebound

The Hoosier counties that grew last year include 17 of Indiana’s 23 rural counties—counties that are not designated as being part of either a metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Considered as a group, the total population in Indiana’s rural counties climbed by 804 residents in 2024. This is the second year in a row these counties experienced growth rather than decline. Between 2010 and 2020, by contrast, rural Indiana declined by an average of 1,067 residents per year.  

Rural Indiana’s population growth in 2024 was driven by a combined net inflow of nearly 1,550 residents. This marks the fourth consecutive year these counties as a group posted a positive net in-migration. However, overall population growth for the state’s rural counties was dampened by a natural decrease of 716 residents last year.

The story is similar for the state’s 25 mid-sized counties—or micropolitan areas (between 10,000 and 50,000 in population). After declining by an average of 342 residents per year during the 2010s, Indiana’s mid-sized counties as a group have grown in each of the last four years, with the 2024 increase of 2,673 residents the largest gain over this stretch.

As in rural Indiana, growth in the state’s mid-sized counties is driven exclusively by a net in-migration of residents. In 2024, these counties combined for a net inflow of 3,289 residents, yet had a natural population decrease of 588.

In all, 75 of Indiana’s 92 counties saw net in-migration in 2024, but only 30 counties had a natural increase in population.

Metropolitan Indiana

The 44 Indiana counties that are part of a metropolitan area combined to add 40,667 residents in 2024, which accounted for 92% of the state’s growth last year. Metro Indiana had a net in-migration of 30,281 residents in 2024 and posted a natural population increase of 10,463.

The 11-county Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood metro area added 26,661 residents last year, accounting for 60% of Indiana’s net growth in 2024. The Indy metro area is home to more than 2.17 million people, which represents 31% of the state’s population and ranks as the nation’s 33rd-largest metro area out of 387.

Compared to large metro peers in neighboring states, the Indy area’s growth rate of 1.24% trailed that of Columbus, Ohio (1.38%), but outpaced Louisville (1.20%), Cincinnati (0.88%), Chicago (0.76%), Detroit (0.71%) and Cleveland (0.26%). 

Other Indiana metro areas to show relatively strong growth include Fort Wayne (1.0%), Lafayette-West Lafayette (0.6%) and Columbus (0.6%). At the other end of the spectrum, the Michigan City-LaPorte and Bloomington metro areas both had population declines of 0.2%.

Since the 1980s, the Indiana Business Research Center has been part of a national network of state data centers and serves as Indiana’s official representative to the U.S. Census Bureau on matters relating to the decennial census and population estimates.

More information about these estimates is available from STATS Indiana’s population data. The Indiana Business Research Center receives support from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development for its census work, including for the award-winning websites Hoosiers by the Numbers and STATS Indiana.