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January 2006
Vol. 7, No. 1
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A Closer Look at Indiana's College Counties
Mention Bloomington, Indiana, and what's the first thing
that pops into your head? More likely than not, it will have something
to do with Indiana University. West Lafayette? Why, Purdue, of course.
As students flock back to these quintessential college
towns to begin the spring semester, we will examine a handful of Indiana's
university communities and the demographic and economic characteristics
that set college towns apart nationwide. (1)
While 37 of Indiana's 92 counties possess at least one
higher education institution (see Figure 1), the university
shapes the regional character in only some. A quick way to quantify a
college's influence is to look at the ratio between enrollment and population.
For example, over 30 percent of Monroe County's population is enrolled
at IU (see Table 1). This article focuses on Monroe,
Tippecanoe, Delaware, Knox and Vigo counties, which have the five highest
enrollment-to-population ratios statewide.
Figure 1: Indiana’s College Counties
Table 1: Enrollment to Population Ratios by County
Demographic Characteristics
One doesn't need a college degree to realize that places
with a university will have a younger population. More than 20 percent
of Monroe County's population is between the ages of 18 and 24 (twice
the state proportion), according to 2004 population estimates. Thus, the
median age is 28.9 years old, or about 7 years younger than the Indiana
median. However, Tippecanoe is the youngest county in the state, with
a median age of 28.1 years. Knox County is the only one of the five whose
median age (37.7 years) exceeds the state average.
Well Educated
In Indiana, 19 percent of those age 25 and older have
a bachelor's degree or higher; nationwide, the figure raises to 24 percent,
according to Census 2000. Over 25,000 people in both Monroe and Tippecanoe
counties have a bachelor's degree or higher, which equates to 40 percent
and 33 percent of the populations, respectively. Vigo and Delaware counties
both top 20 percent. Knox County falls below the others (14 percent),
primarily because Vincennes University is a two-year institution, so a
disproportionate chunk of the Knox County population (11 percent) hold
associate's degrees.
Diverse
Together with some of the larger metro areas, these
counties are more diverse than other areas of the state, with particularly
large concentrations of Asians (includes only those classifying their
race as Asian alone). For example, Monroe and Tippecanoe counties account
for 4.4 percent of the total Indiana population, according to 2004 estimates;
however, with nearly 13,000 Asian residents, they account for almost 18
percent of the state’s Asian population.
Throughout the state, roughly one out of 100 people
are Asian. Tippecanoe, Monroe and Vigo counties all exceed that ratio,
with Tippecanoe (5.2 percent) and Monroe (4.2 percent) ranking first and
second among all Indiana counties. The sheer number of Asians in Tippecanoe
County (7,842) ranks third in the state on a numeric basis (behind Marion
and Hamilton counties), and is a far cry from the mere three Asians living
in neighboring Carroll County (ranked last).
Purdue University and Indiana University, in particular,
draw students and faculty internationally. Census 2000 tells us that 8.2
percent of the Tippecanoe population and 5.4 percent of the Monroe County
population are foreign-born. Only 20 percent of Tippecanoe's foreign-born
population are naturalized citizens; that number is 27.2 percent in Monroe
County, indicating that international students and faculty are perhaps
more likely to stick around Bloomington than they are West Lafayette.
However, all five college counties have lower percentages of naturalized
citizens with respect to the foreign-born population than Indiana as a
whole.
Where in the world are these international migrants
coming from? Asia, mostly (see Figure 2). All five counties
have a much higher proportion of Asians and a significantly smaller proportion
of Latin American natives as compared to the state.
Figure 2: Origin of the Foreign-Born Population in Indiana
and Select College Counties
On the Move
One researcher described students and professors as
“relative gypsies” due to the frequency of their relocations.
Census 2000 looked at where people lived in 2000 compared to where they
lived five years earlier. Nearly 15 percent of the Monroe County population
age 5 and older lived in a different state in 1995; that figure was about
13 percent for Tippecanoe County. In comparison, Indiana came in at 8
percent. Moreover, the percentage of the population 5 and over who lived
in Indiana, but in a different county five years earlier was 19 percent
in Tippecanoe County, approached 21 percent in Monroe County, and was
just over 10 percent for Indiana as a whole. While these two counties
have the most transient populations, all five college counties in this
analysis exceed (or equal, in the case of Knox County) the state average
in the total proportion of its population who lived in a different county
or state in 1995 as compared to 2000.
On Their Feet
College counties heavily utilize alternate transportation,
according to Census 2000. For example, in Monroe County, 8.6 percent of
workers age 16 and older walk to work, which ranks first among the 92
counties and far exceeds Indiana's 2.4 percent. Meanwhile, another 1.8
percent take public transportation, which is roughly twice the state percentage.
(Granted, that leaves over 50,700 people either driving alone or carpooling,
but that's beside the point.)
Only 4.3 percent of Hoosiers walk, use public transportation
or employ other means, such as biking, to get to their job. Monroe (12.6
percent), Tippecanoe (9.9 percent) and Delaware (6.7 percent) counties
rank first, second and fourth among counties on that measure. Meanwhile,
Vigo and Knox counties rank 10th and 11th at 5.3 percent and 5.1 percent,
respectively.
Economic Characteristics
A certain degree of economic security comes from life
in a college town since educational institutions are less likely to shut
down and move away than a manufacturing plant. Using data for the first
quarter of 2005, the number of people employed in the education sector
ranges from over 14,000 in Tippecanoe County to nearly 2,000 in Knox County.
The data for Monroe County is nondisclosable, but considering that Indiana
University alone employs roughly 6,900 area residents, it is safe to say
that education is one of the leading industries. Education is the second
largest employer in Delaware County (behind health care) and Tippecanoe
County (behind manufacturing). It is the third largest sector in Knox
County and fourth in Vigo County.
Low Unemployment
College communities nationwide tend to have low unemployment
rates on average, and Indiana's record is mixed. Looking at the 2004
averages, Monroe County had the lowest unemployment rate among the chosen
college communities at 4.1 percent. Knox and Tippecanoe counties both
had rates of 4.5 percent. However, Delaware and Vigo counties both exceeded
the state rate at 6 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Over the past
two years (2003:1 to 2005:1), Delaware, Knox and Vigo counties have
lost job—with Delaware County's loss of over 3,200 jobs being the worst
by far. Monroe and Tippecanoe counties, on the other hand, saw job increases
of 4,158 and 1,124, respectively.
Rent and Group Housing
With a highly mobile population, it makes sense to have
above average rental rates. Indeed, all five counties exceed the state
average of 28.6 percent, according to Census 2000. Not surprisingly, Monroe
and Tippecanoe counties have the most renter occupied housing as a percentage
of all occupied housing (46 percent and 44 percent, respectively), while
the remaining three counties are between 31 percent and 33 percent.
Median gross rent exceeds the state average in just
Monroe and Tippecanoe counties, where the median rent is between $560
and $565. However, all five counties exceed the state in the percent of
renter-occupied units where the gross rent is 35 percent of household
income or more, and they rank first through fifth among all 92 counties
on this measure. The range within the counties themselves is rather large;
in Vigo County, 29 percent of its renter-occupied units have renters spending
35 percent or more of their income on rent, whereas that category encompasses
45 percent of Monroe County rentals (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Median Cost of Rent in College Counties
Census 2000 also provides information on the number of students living
in college dormitories. This number ranges from 1,591 in Knox County to
13,288 in Tippecanoe County. Men outnumber women in dorms except in Delaware
and Monroe counties. Combined, the five counties house over 37,000 people
in dormitories, or about 29 percent of all students.
Conclusion
The perpetual rivalry between IU and Purdue is well-known
to many a Hoosier. What may not be as recognized are the similarities
between those two communities. While Delaware, Vigo and Knox counties
exhibit the characteristics of college communities to varying degrees,
it is Monroe and Tippecanoe counties, with their flagship state universities,
who have the most in common.
Notes
- Blake Gumprecht, "The American College Town," Geographical
Review (January 2003): 51-80.
Rachel Justis, Managing Editor
Indiana Business Research Center, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
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