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PantryPath Research · Rural & Persistent Poverty Atlas

Rural poverty in Indiana

0 persistent-poverty counties

Indiana has 48 nonmetro counties and no counties flagged by USDA ERS for persistent poverty. The state's all-ages poverty rate is 12.2% and child poverty is 15.7%.

0

Persistent-poverty counties

48

Nonmetro counties (RUCC 4–9)

0

Residents in PPCs

92

Total counties

Toggle between the rural hunger risk score, all-ages poverty, child poverty, the Rural-Urban Continuum Code, and the binary persistent-poverty flag. Hover a county for its ERS typology and ACS poverty rate.

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Indiana at a glance

Poverty rate

12.2%

All ages, ACS S1701

Child poverty

15.7%

Under 18

PPC share

0.0%

Of counties in state

Nonmetro share

52.2%

RUCC 4–9

Pantries / 100K

2.79

PantryPath verified

Risk score (mean)

0.17

Composite 0–1

"Pantries / 100K" divides Indiana's 190 verified PantryPath pantries by the state population — a minimum-density indicator, not a saturated census. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 92 in Indiana.

Highest rural hunger risk

Composite 0–1 score

  1. 1 Martin 0.37
  2. 2 Crawford 0.36
  3. 3 Parke 0.33
  4. 4 Starke 0.32
  5. 5 Orange 0.32

Highest poverty rate

ACS all-ages

  1. 1 Crawford 23.8%
  2. 2 Monroe 20.2%
  3. 3 Vigo 20.0%
  4. 4 Delaware 19.9%
  5. 5 Tippecanoe 19.0%

Persistent-poverty counties

PPCs ranked by current poverty

Indiana has no persistent-poverty counties in the 2025 ERS typology.

Every county in Indiana

All 92 counties with RUCC, typology flags, and ACS poverty data.

County RUCC PPC Flags Poverty Child poverty Population Risk
Adams 6 12.4% 16.1% 35,995 0.24
Allen 2 12.2% 16.7% 388,791 0.09
Bartholomew 3 12.0% 15.1% 82,881 0.12
Benton 3 Pop. loss 12.1% 18.1% 8,708 0.12
Blackford 6 Pop. loss 17.5% 18.4% 12,007 0.26
Boone 1 5.1% 4.2% 72,827 0.02
Brown 1 8.6% 9.3% 15,543 0.03
Carroll 3 8.4% 11.5% 20,443 0.11
Cass 4 Pop. loss 12.7% 14.7% 37,703 0.16
Clark 1 9.3% 10.7% 122,800 0.04
Clay 3 10.7% 9.8% 26,431 0.12
Clinton 6 Pop. loss 8.5% 10.7% 32,967 0.22
Crawford 8 Low ed., Pop. loss 23.8% 35.6% 10,494 0.36
Daviess 7 10.4% 12.4% 33,442 0.27
Dearborn 1 8.1% 9.7% 50,828 0.03
Decatur 6 9.3% 10.3% 26,411 0.22
DeKalb 4 10.1% 14.9% 43,584 0.15
Delaware 3 Pop. loss 19.9% 20.2% 112,109 0.15
Dubois 5 9.5% 13.9% 43,563 0.19
Elkhart 3 12.5% 18.8% 206,868 0.13
Fayette 6 Pop. loss 16.7% 18.0% 23,390 0.25
Floyd 1 10.0% 15.2% 80,512 0.04
Fountain 8 Pop. loss 12.4% 13.9% 16,546 0.31
Franklin 1 8.5% 10.9% 22,929 0.03
Fulton 7 12.6% 17.0% 20,411 0.28
Gibson 6 10.2% 11.0% 32,986 0.23
Grant 4 Pop. loss 18.8% 26.4% 66,377 0.19
Greene 6 13.3% 19.6% 30,954 0.24
Hamilton 1 4.3% 4.4% 357,176 0.02
Hancock 1 4.5% 4.3% 82,013 0.02
Harrison 1 7.5% 9.1% 39,785 0.03
Hendricks 1 5.0% 5.3% 179,379 0.02
Henry 6 13.0% 17.0% 48,896 0.24
Howard 3 12.5% 18.1% 83,610 0.13
Huntington 6 Pop. loss 10.1% 12.2% 36,757 0.23
Jackson 4 11.2% 15.3% 46,319 0.16
Jasper 1 6.9% 6.8% 33,198 0.03
Jay 6 Pop. loss 13.2% 19.2% 20,281 0.24
Jefferson 6 11.2% 13.6% 33,074 0.23
Jennings 6 12.5% 14.7% 27,584 0.24
Johnson 1 7.2% 8.0% 163,983 0.03
Knox 7 Pop. loss 13.4% 15.3% 36,108 0.28
Kosciusko 4 9.7% 12.0% 80,357 0.15
LaGrange 8 Low ed. 5.7% 4.0% 40,596 0.29
Lake 1 14.6% 21.8% 498,990 0.06
LaPorte 3 14.0% 23.7% 112,141 0.13
Lawrence 6 11.3% 12.1% 45,077 0.23
Madison 1 Pop. loss 12.9% 18.1% 130,949 0.05
Marion 1 Housing 15.1% 20.3% 971,822 0.06
Marshall 6 10.9% 14.3% 46,225 0.23
Martin 9 Pop. loss 16.4% 31.6% 9,854 0.37
Miami 6 15.2% 24.9% 35,772 0.25
Monroe 3 Housing 20.2% 14.9% 139,822 0.16
Montgomery 6 11.9% 15.9% 38,155 0.24
Morgan 1 8.5% 12.2% 72,202 0.03
Newton 1 Low ed., Pop. loss 13.5% 18.5% 13,859 0.05
Noble 6 8.5% 8.8% 47,417 0.22
Ohio 1 8.9% 15.6% 5,993 0.04
Orange 8 13.3% 19.0% 19,746 0.32
Owen 3 Pop. loss 11.9% 19.7% 21,434 0.12
Parke 8 17.2% 25.3% 16,346 0.33
Perry 7 12.8% 13.0% 19,218 0.28
Pike 8 12.2% 21.8% 12,187 0.31
Porter 1 9.2% 11.2% 174,150 0.04
Posey 2 Pop. loss 9.9% 11.7% 25,163 0.08
Pulaski 8 Pop. loss 11.8% 10.4% 12,441 0.31
Putnam 6 8.1% 10.6% 37,091 0.22
Randolph 6 Pop. loss 15.0% 22.4% 24,425 0.25
Ripley 6 9.6% 10.6% 29,039 0.23
Rush 6 Pop. loss 13.0% 15.0% 16,734 0.24
Scott 6 Low ed. 14.7% 17.5% 24,468 0.25
Shelby 1 11.5% 17.8% 45,104 0.05
Spencer 8 6.6% 6.7% 19,871 0.29
St. Joseph 2 14.6% 20.6% 272,574 0.10
Starke 8 14.8% 18.4% 23,300 0.32
Steuben 7 8.8% 10.7% 34,648 0.26
Sullivan 3 Pop. loss 13.5% 21.1% 20,766 0.13
Switzerland 8 Low ed. 11.1% 12.1% 9,914 0.31
Tippecanoe 3 Housing 19.0% 16.6% 187,399 0.15
Tipton 1 Pop. loss 11.5% 20.7% 15,329 0.05
Union 8 6.4% 10.6% 7,028 0.29
Vanderburgh 2 14.4% 19.9% 179,908 0.10
Vermillion 3 Pop. loss 13.3% 15.0% 15,452 0.13
Vigo 3 Housing 20.0% 25.6% 106,201 0.15
Wabash 6 Pop. loss 10.7% 13.8% 30,901 0.23
Warren 3 12.7% 19.0% 8,469 0.13
Warrick 2 6.4% 8.3% 64,650 0.06
Washington 1 13.5% 16.8% 28,167 0.05
Wayne 5 Pop. loss 16.9% 23.6% 66,377 0.22
Wells 2 7.2% 6.9% 28,261 0.07
White 6 10.0% 10.9% 24,709 0.23
Whitley 2 10.7% 17.7% 34,388 0.08

Find a food pantry in Indiana

Search Indiana's 190 verified pantries, food banks, and meal programs — filtered by city, open-now status, and service type.

Indiana pantry directory

Indiana SNAP

Income limits, application steps, and EBT card details for residents of persistent-poverty counties and beyond.

Indiana SNAP guide

Emergency food help

National hotlines, 211 referrals, and same-day food options — critical in rural counties where the nearest pantry may be 30+ miles away.

Emergency food

Food deserts atlas

Rural poverty and low food access often overlap. Compare persistent-poverty counties to USDA's low-income / low-access food desert designations.

Indiana food deserts

Methodology

How we combined USDA ERS typology codes, the Rural-Urban Continuum, ACS poverty data, and PantryPath's own pantry directory — plus the risk-score formula.

Full methodology