226,805 people live in Lafayette, IN, which places it 209th of the 387 metropolitan areas. People, homes, work, and the shape of the local business landscape, drawn from public data.
Officially the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN metropolitan statistical area, it takes in Lafayette and West Lafayette.
On income, Lafayette, IN sits at $62,011 per household, 23 percent below the national figure. Home values tell their own story; here the median is $226,100, 32 percent below the national figure.
The unemployment rate stands at 3.3%, 2 points below the US share. Among adults 25 and over, 36% have at least a bachelor's degree, about the same as the US share. Homeownership is 58% here, 7 points below the US share; that is the pool of people who hire roofers, plumbers and landscapers rather than calling a landlord. The median resident is 30.8 years old, 8.1 years below the national median.
Relative to Indiana, household income in Lafayette, IN is 14 percent lower than the Indiana figure, home values are 4 percent higher than the Indiana figure, and businesses per 1,000 residents are 11 percent thinner than the Indiana figure.
County Business Patterns counts 4,577 employer establishments in Lafayette, IN. Set against the population that is 20.2 per 1,000 residents, 19 percent below the national figure, against 25 nationally. Of those, 223 are home-services contractors (plumbing and HVAC, electrical, roofing, concrete, specialty trades and landscaping), a 4.9% share of the business base, about the same as the US share.
| Trade (NAICS) | Count | Per 100,000 | Index vs US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 394 | 173.7 | 1.16× |
| Physicians' offices | 123 | 54.2 | 1.03× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 95 | 41.9 | 1.27× |
| Personal care services (all) | 91 | 40.1 | 1.03× |
| General freight trucking | 82 | 36.2 | 1.28× |
| Dentists | 72 | 31.7 | 0.97× |
| Landscaping services | 67 | 29.5 | 1.04× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 65 | 28.7 | 1.07× |
| Legal services | 64 | 28.2 | 0.65× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 57 | 25.1 | 1.04× |
| General automotive repair | 52 | 22.9 | 1.12× |
| Beauty salons | 47 | 20.7 | 1.02× |
| Automobile dealers | 42 | 18.5 | 1.63× |
| Child day care services | 41 | 18.1 | 0.91× |
| Electrical contractors | 35 | 15.4 | 0.77× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 23 | 10.1 | 0.98× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 17 | 7.5 | 1.33× |
| Roofing contractors | 16 | 7.1 | 1.15× |
| Self-storage facilities | 14 | 6.2 | 1.38× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 4 | 1.8 | 0.79× |
The last column divides the local share of establishments by the national share (1.00 = the same mix as the US).
Crowded categories in Lafayette, IN: automobile dealers, self-storage operators, concrete contractors and general freight trucking. The sharpest example is automobile dealers: 42 establishments, 1.6 times the share seen nationally. Thinner than the national mix are legal services, electrical contractors and road and paving contractors. Legal services number just 64, about 65% of the US share, which is room for a well-run operator to be the obvious choice. Neither crowded nor thin: plumbing and HVAC contractors, specialty trade contractors and landscaping services.
On a per-capita basis restaurants come first at 173.7 per 100,000, ahead of physicians' offices and real estate lessors. Restaurants (394), physicians' offices (123) and real estate lessors (95) are the biggest categories by establishment count. Across the groups, automotive businesses run 1.3 times the US share and legal services about 65% of.
automobile dealers, self-storage operators and concrete contractors face a full field here. Each new review, each answered call and each page that matches a specific search is a small edge, and the edges add up. Thin categories such as legal services, electrical contractors and road and paving contractors are where the market has room. The searches still happen; there are simply fewer businesses answering them, so the first well-presented operator tends to collect the calls. Income 23 percent below the national figure puts price front and center; ads that state the offer plainly and make calling easy do best. Homeownership of 58% is below the national share, so a larger part of the housing stock is managed by landlords and property managers; for home-services trades that argues for a commercial and property-management pitch alongside the consumer one. A median age 8.1 years below the national median tilts the audience toward people who find businesses through maps, social feeds and AI assistants as much as through classic search.
A short list of services chosen for this market; the full range is on the services page.
Pages that answer the specific services-plus-place searches people in Lafayette, IN use, built to be found.
A site built to convert a local search into a phone call or a form.
A site assistant that answers questions and captures the lead at any hour.
Paid social that reaches people before they search.
Campaigns on Google fenced to the service area and judged on booked work.
Keeping the Business Profile complete, current and answered so it earns the map placement.
Lafayette, IN has 226,805 residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 209th of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Lafayette, IN is $62,011 (ACS 2024 5-year), below the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 4,577 employer establishments in Lafayette, IN (County Business Patterns 2023), or 20.2 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Lafayette, IN is $226,100, and 58% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), automobile dealers, self-storage operators and concrete contractors have more establishments per resident than the US average; legal services, electrical contractors and road and paving contractors have fewer in Lafayette, IN.
Bring the trade and the towns you serve; we bring the numbers and a plan.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023. Updated 2026-09-29.