George Vlahakis, IU Kelley School of Business
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana added 38,579 residents in 2025 to reach a total population of 6.97 million, according to analysis by the Indiana Business Research Center at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
The state’s population growth slowed compared to the previous year, yet Indiana’s gains in 2025 still rank as the state’s seventh-largest annual increase over the past two decades.
“Since 2023, Indiana has had an average annual growth of more than 43,900 residents per year, which is the state’s largest increase over a three-year stretch since adding roughly 48,700 residents a year from 2006 to 2008,” said Matt Kinghorn, senior demographer at the Indiana Business Research Center.
While the scale of growth is similar for these two periods, the drivers of change have shifted drastically. From 2006 to 2008, for instance, natural increase — or the difference between births and deaths — accounted for 70% of Indiana’s growth. Over the past three years, by contrast, migration is responsible for 81% of the state’s gains.
For the fourth consecutive year, net international migration was the largest source of Indiana’s growth, with a net inflow of 17,852 residents last year. While still the state’s leading source of growth, net international migration to Indiana declined by 53% from 2024 to 2025.
According to the Census Bureau, net international migration refers to any change of residence across U.S. borders. This includes those who are foreign born; those who are migrating between the U.S. and Puerto Rico; U.S. citizens migrating to and from the United States; and movement of Armed Forces personnel between the U.S. and overseas.
Net domestic migration to Indiana more than doubled last year, from a net inflow of 6,024 in 2024 to 12,197 in 2025.
Meanwhile, Indiana had 8,561 more births than deaths in 2025, a 7% drop compared to the previous year.
“This marks the first time in the last four years that Indiana’s natural increase has declined, which suggests that the state’s post-pandemic rebound in natural increase may have peaked in 2024,” Kinghorn said.
Indiana’s 0.56% growth rate in 2025 outpaced neighboring Kentucky (0.50%), Ohio (0.34%), Michigan (0.28%) and Illinois (0.13%). Indiana also grew slightly faster than the U.S. as a whole (0.52%). Indiana’s growth rate ranked 22nd nationally.
The Indiana Business Research Center is 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 census and population estimates.
Around Indiana
For the third consecutive year, Boone and Hancock counties in the Indianapolis metro area were the state’s fastest-growing communities. Boone County set the pace once again in 2025 with a 2.6% growth rate, while Hancock County posted a 2.4% gain.
Clark County in the Louisville metro area was next on the list with a 2.1% increase. Clark County’s numeric gain of 2,688 residents last year is its largest annual increase on record dating back to 1980, and marks only the third time over this stretch that the county has added more than 2,000 residents in a year.
Central Indiana’s Hamilton (1.9%), Johnson (1.9%), Hendricks (1.4%), Morgan (1.2%) and Madison (1.1%) counties claimed the next five spots.
“Another year of relatively hefty gains for Morgan and Madison counties shows that Indy-area suburban growth continues to expand to new frontiers,” Kinghorn said.
Madison County — home to locales such as Anderson and Pendleton — had experienced steady decline in recent decades, with its population falling by more than 3,200 from 2000 to 2020. However, since 2020, Madison County has added 4,933 residents. Meanwhile, largely driven by growth in the Monrovia and Mooresville areas, Morgan County is experiencing a level of growth in recent years not seen since the late 1990s.
Parke County in rural west-central Indiana and Owen County in the Bloomington metro area, each with 1.1% upticks, rounded out the state’s 10 fastest-growing communities in 2025.
In terms of the largest numeric gains, Hamilton County once again led the way in 2025 with a population increase of 7,351 residents, which was more than twice as large as runner-up Johnson County (3,239). Allen County (3,235) was the only other Hoosier county to add more than 3,000 residents last year.
Marion County grew by 1,983 residents last year, a 0.2% gain. This is Marion County’s smallest annual increase since 2021 and is far below its population growth of 9,886 the previous year. The state’s most populous county was home to 992,196 residents in 2025, which ranks as the 52nd-largest county in the U.S.
In all, 66 of Indiana’s 92 counties grew in 2025.
Rural resurgence begins to wane
One of Indiana’s most notable demographic shifts in recent years has been a population rebound in many rural areas. From 2010 to 2020, Indiana’s 23 rural counties — or 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 — declined by an average of 1,068 residents per year as a group.
In the wake of the pandemic, however, rural areas proved attractive to many people on the move. As a result, Indiana’s rural counties combined to grow by more than 1,500 residents per year in 2023 and 2024. This trend showed signs of weakening in 2025, with growth in the state’s rural counties as a group falling to roughly 400 residents last year.
The story is similar for the state’s 25 mid-sized counties, known as micropolitan areas. After declining by an average of 347 residents per year during the 2010s, Indiana’s mid-sized counties as a group grew by an average of more than 4,000 residents per year in 2023 and 2024, then fell to 1,625 last year. Meanwhile, the 44 Indiana counties that are part of a metropolitan area combined to add 36,553 residents in 2025, which accounted for 95% of the state’s growth last year.
For Indiana’s rural and mid-sized counties, slower growth in 2025 was caused by sharp drops in net migration. The net inflow of residents to rural Indiana declined by 58% last year, while net migration to the state’s mid-sized counties was down 66%.
“The difficulty for most of Indiana’s rural and mid-sized counties is that population growth or decline now rests solely on their ability to retain existing residents or attract new ones, as a natural decrease of the population has become the norm in many communities,” Kinghorn said.
All told, 67 of Indiana’s 92 counties saw net in-migration in 2025, but only 34 counties had a natural increase in population.
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. Its work is also published quarterly in the Indiana Business Review and the bimonthly IN Context.
U.S. Census Bureau population estimates represent the population as of July 1 of the year indicated. All estimates for the components of population change cover a period from July of the previous year through June of the year indicated.