Fort Wayne, IN

The affordability dashboard for Fort Wayne, IN aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 16 ZIP codes covering 305,409 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of B- (67/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $70,677, median home value of $201,365, median rent of $1,084 per month, and 30.5% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,113 per month (studio $892, 1BR $916, 3BR $1,381, 4BR $1,512).

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Strengths visible in the raw data for Fort Wayne, IN include rent. Unemployment currently reads 5.2% and poverty 14.2% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.