According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates for 2006, the population of Indianapolis was 865,504 people. This ranked it as the largest city in Indiana and the 13th-largest in the United States. Marion County is the 55th-largest county in the country.

Some readers will ask how Indianapolis can rank 13th and Marion County only 55th when the two are virtually identical. The answer is that most other large cities in the nation are a portion of the county in which they are located. Chicago, for example, has a population of 2.7 million, which is 51 percent of the 5.2 million population of Cook County, Ill. With the exception of the incorporated towns of Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport and Speedway – which account for about 10 percent of the Marion County population – Indianapolis and Marion County are identical. Those incorporated towns are excluded for some governmental purposes, but for this demographic assessment, we assume that Marion County and Indianapolis are the same.

  

 
   
     
  Indianapolis is doing well in comparison with simlar cities in other statesNatural increaseIndianapolis' high birth rateNumber of births, 2003Indianapolis neighborhoods: birth rates varyEducational attainment of mothersMigration explains the growth of the suburbs  
  PopulationIndianapolis' population is growing slowlyThe Central Indiana region grew rapidlyNatural increase and migration: two ways the population growsIndianapolis is younger than the state or the nationIndianapolis is becoming more diverse  
  Most Central Indiana growth is in surburban areas rather than the urban coreIndianapolis will remain the hub of Central IndianaThe trend is toward more older peopleBlacks are the largest minority, while Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic groupThe suburbs remain whiteEthnic, racial and cultural groupsHispanic social integrationHistoric sidebar