Gary, IN — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·Indiana·Gary

Lake County · Chicago-Naperville-Elgin · population 67,555

AffordabilityShrinking
Gary, IN
Image: Wikipedia · Gary, Indiana
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
View watchlist →
51
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Gary stands

Home values down 5.8% in the last year. population shrinking 0.6% per year.

Median home $92,113
1-year -5.8%
5-yr CAGR +4.8%
vs 5-yr peak -8.3%
Population -0.6%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2025-01$92k$34k$58k$81k$104k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
30/100
Very car-dependent
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
22/100
Transit limited
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
63/100
Workable for remote workers
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$1,337/mo$0$715$1,430202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent12715380100120140160202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 5.7
Buy

At a 5.7 price-to-rent ratio, buying generally beats renting in Gary on a long-enough horizon. The headline math is that one year of mortgage payments approximates 5.7 years of rent — well below the 15+ threshold where ownership starts to dominate.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
22 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
64 · w22%
Distance from peak
50 · w18%
Population growth
37 · w16%
Rent YoY
72 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
87 · w10%
Long thesis

Gary offers a $92,113 median home with +4.8% annualized 5-year appreciation. Affordability + positive trend is one of the better risk/reward setups in US residential — small downside, room to compound.

Short thesis

Gary is down 5.8% over the last 12 months and the trend isn't flattening. Falling knife rule applies: you don't catch one with your hands, you wait for it to hit the floor and stop moving.

About Gary

Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, with an estimated population of 67,555. It anchors the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area. The population has contracted 0.6% per year on average since 2020. The median home value in Gary is $92,113 as of 2026-04, down 5.8% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +4.8% annual growth (-8.3% from the 5-year peak). Rents in Gary average $1,337 per month, up 4.0% year-over-year. The composite momentum score is 51 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

▲ Bull case

●Cheap entry point: $92,113 median home is well below the US median of $355k — room to grow without overpaying.
○The data is the data: Gary has at least 5 years of Zillow tracking, full Census identification, and is included in the 2-criteria momentum score on this page.

▼ Bear case

●Prices actively falling: down 5.8% in the last 12 months — buyer sentiment has flipped. Sellers competing on price.
●Flat or shrinking population: -0.6% per year. Housing demand has to come from somewhere — verify the source.

About Gary (Wikipedia)

Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 69,093 at the 2020 census, making it Indiana's eleventh-most populous city. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the southern shore of Lake Michigan about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of downtown Chicago. The city is the western gateway to the Indiana Dunes National Park, and is within the Chicago metropolitan area.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

MayorEddie Melton
Area50.663 sq mi
Elevation597 ft
Established1906
Motto"We Are Doing Great Things" image_skyline = multiple image
Density1385.55/sq mi
Named forElbert Henry Gary unit_pref = Imperial

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Lake County right now.

NWS active alerts (IN)Indiana Emergency ManagementHow to prepare (NWS)

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Lake County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Neighborhoods of Gary

11 tracked · ranked by median home value
1Marquette Park$258,429+0.9%
2Tolleston$111,932+6.2%
3Black Oak$108,451-7.8%
4Aetna$97,895-11.1%
5University Park$85,575-6.4%
6Brunswick$84,650+7.2%
7Westside$84,563+1.8%
8Ambrige Mann$84,163-5.2%
9Pulaski$70,545-14.6%
10Downtown$70,391-0.3%
11Midtown$59,023-2.5%

Cities like Gary

East Chicago, IN56 · StableLogansport, IN58 · StableLake Station, IN60 · StableBeech Grove, IN63 · Rising

Run the numbers for Gary

ToolCan I afford Gary?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Gary rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Gary to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolGary cost-of-livingEquivalent income elsewhere

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
35° / 19°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
85° / 64°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
186
~51% of year
Annual precip
42″ rain
20″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
Very low
Tornado
High
Wildfire
Very low
Earthquake
Low
Flood
Moderate

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Gary listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
72%
Humid climate
Median household income
$67,200
Indiana state median
Top industries (state-level)
Manufacturing (auto)HealthcareLogistics

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

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