Marion County, Indiana

For counties with a similar name, see Marion County (disambiguation).

Marion County
County
City-County Building
Location within the U.S. state of Indiana
Indiana's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 39°47′N86°08′W / 39.78°N 86.14°W / 39.78; -86.14
Country	United States
State	Indiana
Founded	April 1, 1822
Named for	Francis Marion
Seat	Indianapolis
Largest city	Indianapolis
Area
• Total	403.01 sq mi (1,043.8 km2)
• Land	396.30 sq mi (1,026.4 km2)
• Water	6.71 sq mi (17.4 km2)
Population  (2020)
• Total	977,203
• Estimate  (2023)	968,460
• Density	2,400/sq mi (940/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional districts	6th, 7th
Website	www.indy.gov/eGov/County
Indiana county number 49 Most populous county in Indiana Currently only Unigov county in Indiana

Marion County is located in the U.S. state of Indiana. The 2020 United States census reported a population of 977,203, ^[1] making it the most populous county in the state and the 54th-most populous county in the U.S. Indianapolis is the county seat, the state capital, and most populous city. ^[2] Marion County is consolidated with Indianapolis through an arrangement known as Unigov. Marion County is the central county of the Indianapolis–Carmel–Anderson MSA in Central Indiana.

Geography

The low rolling hills of Marion County have been cleared of trees, and the area is completely devoted to municipal development or to agriculture, except for wooded drainages. ^[3] The highest point (920 feet/280 meters ASL) is a small ridge at the county's northwest corner. ^[4]

According to the 2010 census, the county has an area of 403.01 square miles (1,043.8 km²), of which 396.30 square miles (1,026.4 km²) (or 98.34%) is land and 6.71 square miles (17.4 km²) (or 1.66%) is water. ^[5]

The White River flows southwestward through the central part of the county; it is joined by Eagle Creek and Fall Creek, both of which have dams in the county forming Eagle Creek Reservoir and Geist Reservoir, respectively.

Marion County has two Indiana State Parks, Fort Harrison State Park and White River State Park, as well as many municipal parks.

Adjacent counties

• Hamilton County - north
• Hancock County - east
• Shelby County - southeast
• Johnson County - south
• Morgan County - southwest
• Hendricks County - west
• Boone County - northwest

Transportation

Major highways

• I-65
• I-69*
• I-70
• I-74
• I-465
• US 31
• US 36
• US 40
• US 52
• US 136
• US 421
• SR 37
• SR 67
• SR 134
• SR 135

* I-69 currently ends in Indianapolis at the I-465 interchange in the northeast section of the county. The extension connecting Indianapolis and Evansville is expected to be completed in 2024.

Transit

• IndyGo Red Line
• Indianapolis Union Station
• Amtrak Cardinal
• Barons Bus Lines
• Burlington Trailways
• Flixbus
• Greyhound Lines
• Miller Transportation

Airports

Control tower at Indianapolis International Airport

• KIND - Indianapolis International Airport
• KEYE - Eagle Creek Airpark ^[6]
• Post-Air Airport ^[7]

History

Marion County was created on April 1, 1822, from part of the "New Purchase" lands that had been obtained from its inhabitants, the Lenape, by the Treaty of St. Mary's. ^[8] It is named for Francis Marion, a brigadier general from South Carolina in the American Revolutionary War. ^[9]

The state capital was moved to Indianapolis in Marion County from Corydon on January 10, 1825. This began a period of rapid growth in population. ^[10]

Climate and weather

Indianapolis, Indiana
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     3.1     36 21     2.4     41 24     3.7     52 34     4.3     64 43     4.8     73 54     5     82 63     4.4     86 66     3.2     84 65     3.1     78 57     3.2     66 46     3.5     52 35     2.9     40 26 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches Source: The Weather Channel [11]
Metric conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     79     2 −6     62     5 −4     94     11 1     110     18 6     121     23 12     126     28 17     112     30 19     81     29 18     80     26 14     82     19 8     88     11 2     74     4 −3 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm

In recent years, average temperatures in Indianapolis have ranged from a low of 20 °F (−7 °C) in January to a high of 86 °F (30 °C) in July, although a record low of −22 °F (−30 °C) was recorded in January 1985 and a record high of 104 °F (40 °C) was recorded in June 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 2.05 inches (52 mm) in January to 4.78 inches (121 mm) in July. ^[11]

Demographics

Age and gender distribution in Marion County

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1830	7,192		—
1840	16,080		123.6%
1850	24,103		49.9%
1860	39,855		65.4%
1870	71,939		80.5%
1880	102,782		42.9%
1890	141,156		37.3%
1900	197,227		39.7%
1910	263,661		33.7%
1920	348,061		32.0%
1930	422,666		21.4%
1940	460,926		9.1%
1950	551,777		19.7%
1960	697,567		26.4%
1970	792,299		13.6%
1980	765,233		−3.4%
1990	797,159		4.2%
2000	860,454		7.9%
2010	903,393		5.0%
2020	977,203		8.2%
2023 (est.)	968,460	[12]	−0.9%
US Decennial Census [13] 1790-1960 [14] 1900-1990 [15] 1990-2000 [16] 2010-2019 [1]

2010 census

As of the 2010 U.S. census, there were 903,393 people, 366,176 households, and 218,338 families in the county. ^[17] The population density was 2,279.6 inhabitants per square mile (880.2/km²). There were 417,862 housing units at an average density of 1,054.4 per square mile (407.1/km²). ^[5] The racial makeup of the county was 62.7% white, 26.7% black or African American, 2.0% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 5.4% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 9.3% of the population. ^[17] In terms of ancestry, 18.9% were German, 11.8% were Irish, 8.4% were English, 6.6% were American, and 5.2% were Subsaharan African. ^[18]

Of the 366,176 households, 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.9% were married couples living together, 17.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 40.4% were non-families, and 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.08. The median age was 33.9 years. ^[17]

The median income for a household in the county was $47,697 and the median income for a family was $54,142. Males had a median income of $42,215 versus $34,169 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,498. About 13.5% of families and 17.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.7% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over. ^[19]

Cities and towns

Marion County has a consolidated city-county government, known as Unigov, in which only four municipalities retain full government autonomy (including a mayor and city council) as "excluded cities". The remaining municipalities within the county are "included towns" and exercise very limited authority, mainly in zoning and appointing their own police departments and maintaining some of their own municipal services and town identities. They retain the ability to levy taxes for these purposes.

Municipalities

• Indianapolis

Excluded cities and town

• Beech Grove
• Lawrence
• Southport
• Speedway

Included towns

• Clermont
• Crows Nest
• Cumberland (western portion)
• Homecroft
• Meridian Hills
• North Crows Nest
• Rocky Ripple
• Spring Hill
• Warren Park
• Williams Creek
• Wynnedale

Townships

Marion County has nine townships roughly organized into a grid-like, three-by-three pattern. This arrangement can be seen below, with the top being north.

Pike	Washington	Lawrence
Wayne	Center	Warren
Decatur	Perry	Franklin

Politics

The northern two-thirds of Marion County is in Indiana's 7th congressional district, which is held by Democrat André Carson. Indiana's 6th congressional district, which runs along the southern third of the county, is held by Republican Greg Pence. The county is represented by 15 seats in the Indiana House of Representatives, 86th through 100th districts, with ten seats held by Democrats and five by Republicans. In the State Senate Marion County is divided among nine districts, which are held by two Democrats and seven Republicans. The Senate districts are numbered 28 through 36.

The Indianapolis City-County Council is the combined legislative body of Indianapolis and Marion County. The consolidated government, known as Unigov, was formally established in 1970 upon the merger of the city government with the county government. The council passes ordinances for the city and county, and makes appointments to certain boards and commissions.

County elected officials

Marion County Sheriff's Office
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Marion County, Indiana, United States
Legal jurisdiction	As per operations jurisdiction
General nature	Local civilian police
Operational structure
Agency executive	Kerry J. Forestal, Sheriff

• Mayor (County Executive): Joe Hogsett (D)
• Auditor: Myla A. Eldrige (D)
• Clerk: Kate Sweeney Bell (D)
• Coroner: Dr. Lee Sloan (D)
• Assessor: Joseph P. O'Connor (D)
• Prosecutor: Ryan Mears (D)
• Recorder: Faith Kimbrough (D)
• Sheriff: Kerry J. Forestal (D)
• Surveyor: Debra S. Jenkins (D)
• Treasurer: Barbara A. Lawrence (D)

The Auditor, Assessor, and Treasurer form the county's Board of Commissioners.

For most of the 20th century, Marion County was considered one of the most conservative urban counties in the nation. Between 1896 and 2000, it went Democratic only four times, in the national landslides of 1932, 1936 and 1964 as well as 1912 when Woodrow Wilson won a plurality in the county. The Republican edge began to lessen considerably in the 1990s, and in 2004 John Kerry became the first Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 to carry the county. The trend continued in 2008 and 2012 with Barack Obama showing strongly in Marion County, winning 63% and 60% of the vote respectively. Hillary Clinton won it with 58 percent in 2016, and Joe Biden took 63 percent in 2020. Biden's 247,772 votes is the highest number of votes a candidate has ever received in the county. It is now one of the few Democratic bastions in traditionally heavily Republican central Indiana.

The six northern and central townships lean more Democratic, especially Center Township containing Downtown Indianapolis, and Pike Township in the northwestern corner with an African-American majority. In contrast, the three less populated southern townships with a higher Caucasian population (Decatur, Perry and Franklin) lean more Republican. ^[20]

United States presidential election results for Marion County, Indiana ^[21]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	134,175	34.30%	247,772	63.35%	9,187	2.35%
2016	130,360	35.53%	212,899	58.03%	23,620	6.44%
2012	136,509	37.92%	216,336	60.10%	7,127	1.98%
2008	134,313	35.34%	241,987	63.67%	3,790	1.00%
2004	156,072	48.65%	162,249	50.57%	2,517	0.78%
2000	137,810	49.23%	134,189	47.94%	7,904	2.82%
1996	133,329	47.24%	124,448	44.10%	24,437	8.66%
1992	141,369	43.66%	122,234	37.75%	60,187	18.59%
1988	184,519	58.56%	128,627	40.82%	1,949	0.62%
1984	184,880	58.29%	130,185	41.05%	2,083	0.66%
1980	168,680	53.67%	126,103	40.13%	19,486	6.20%
1976	177,767	54.60%	145,274	44.62%	2,535	0.78%
1972	206,065	66.52%	102,166	32.98%	1,535	0.50%
1968	162,503	52.26%	115,715	37.22%	32,704	10.52%
1964	143,015	48.25%	152,418	51.43%	948	0.32%
1960	166,202	57.67%	121,336	42.10%	668	0.23%
1956	162,566	61.97%	99,102	37.78%	679	0.26%
1952	164,466	60.48%	106,387	39.12%	1,086	0.40%
1948	103,603	50.78%	97,915	47.99%	2,495	1.22%
1944	116,421	52.01%	106,382	47.53%	1,034	0.46%
1940	124,845	50.43%	121,907	49.25%	787	0.32%
1936	87,798	40.54%	124,961	57.71%	3,791	1.75%
1932	98,256	46.20%	106,661	50.15%	7,747	3.64%
1928	109,630	59.55%	73,309	39.82%	1,161	0.63%
1924	95,135	59.13%	59,498	36.98%	6,247	3.88%
1920	79,957	54.93%	61,460	42.22%	4,154	2.85%
1916	40,699	51.50%	35,043	44.34%	3,288	4.16%
1912	12,280	18.22%	29,805	44.22%	25,323	37.57%
1908	34,351	48.67%	34,078	48.28%	2,151	3.05%
1904	35,103	58.54%	22,336	37.25%	2,524	4.21%
1900	29,272	54.24%	23,660	43.84%	1,034	1.92%
1896	27,353	55.98%	20,654	42.27%	853	1.75%
1892	19,551	47.77%	20,426	49.91%	949	2.32%
1888	17,139	48.82%	17,515	49.89%	456	1.30%

Education

School districts include: ^[22]

• Beech Grove City Schools
• Decatur Township Metropolitan School District
• Franklin Township Community School Corporation
• Indianapolis Public Schools
• Lawrence Township Metropolitan School District
• Perry Township Metropolitan School District
• Pike Township Metropolitan School District
• Speedway School Town
• Warren Township Metropolitan School District
• Washington Township Metropolitan School District
• Wayne Township Metropolitan School District

It also has the following state-operated schools:

• Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
• Indiana School for the Deaf

See also

• Indiana portal

• Marion County Fair (Indiana)
• List of counties in Indiana
• List of places named for Francis Marion

References

1. "Marion County QuickFacts". US Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
2. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
3. Marion County IN (Google Maps, accessed 31 August 2020)
4. Marion County High Point, Indiana (PeakBagger.com, accessed 31 August 2020)
5. "Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2010 - County". US Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
6. Eagle Creek Airpark (Google Maps, accessed 31 August 2020)
7. Post Air Airport (Google Maps, accessed 31 August 2020)
8. Divita, James J. (1994). "Demography and Ethnicity". In Bodenhamer, David J.; Barrows, Robert G. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. pp. 51–52. ISBN   0-253-31222-1 . Retrieved July 30, 2013.
9. Baker, Ronald L.; Marvin Carmony (1995). Indiana Place Names. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 98. ISBN   0-253-28340-X.
10. De Witt Clinton Goodrich & Charles Richard Tuttle (1875). An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana. Indiana: R. S. Peale & co. p.  566.
11. "Monthly Averages for Indianapolis IN". The Weather Channel. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
12. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
13. "US Decennial Census". US Census Bureau. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
14. "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
15. "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". US Census Bureau. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
16. "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). US Census Bureau. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
17. "Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data". US Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
18. "Selected Social Characteristics in the US – 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". US Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 14, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
19. "Selected Economic Characteristics – 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". US Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 14, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
20. Park, Alice; Smart, Charlie; Taylor, Rumsey; Watkins, Miles (February 2, 2021). "An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2020 Election". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 23, 2022.
21. Leip, David. "Atlas of US Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org.
22. "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Marion County, IN" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau . Retrieved July 20, 2022. - Text list

External links

• Indianapolis and Marion County Official Website
• Marion County Sheriff's Office Official Website
• Marion County InDepth Profile: STATS Indiana
• County Highlights: Marion County: Hoosiers by the Numbers

39°47′N86°08′W / 39.78°N 86.14°W / 39.78; -86.14