INDIANAPOLIS (WOWO) — LaPorte County has been ranked as the loneliest county in Indiana, with 37.8% of adults saying they feel lonely, according to a new analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.
LaPorte County ranked 44th among nearly 2,000 counties included in the national analysis, making it the highest-ranked Indiana county in the study.
The analysis, conducted by CBD company Mood.com, examined CDC estimates for 1,996 counties across 39 states, representing about 184.2 million adults. Counties were ranked according to the percentage of adults who reported feeling lonely always, usually or sometimes.
Indiana ranked 22nd among the 39 states included in the CDC data, with 33.4% of adults across the state’s 91 ranked counties reporting loneliness.
That statewide figure is 1.5 percentage points below the national average of 34.9%.
LaPorte County’s 37.8% rate was 8.8 percentage points higher than Hamilton County, which had Indiana’s lowest reported rate at 29%.
Hamilton County ranked 132nd nationally.
No Indiana county made the national top 25 for loneliness. Indiana’s counties appearing in the study ranged from 44th nationally for LaPorte County to 132nd for Hamilton County.
Among the counties with the highest reported loneliness rates in Indiana, LaPorte County was followed closely by LaGrange County, where 37.3% of adults reported feeling lonely. LaGrange ranked 49th nationally.
Daviess County ranked third in Indiana at 36.6%, followed by Floyd County at 35.6% and Marion County at 35.5%.
Henry County reported a 35.4% loneliness rate, while Monroe and Elkhart counties each came in at 35.1%.
Clay and Switzerland counties each recorded a rate of 35%. St. Joseph and Grant counties each reported 34.9%, followed by Wayne County at 34.7%.
The study also looked at the percentage of adults who said they lacked social support, providing another measure of social connection.
In LaPorte County, 25.1% of adults were classified as lacking social support. In LaGrange County, the figure was 26.9%.
Daviess County reported 25.5% without social support, while Floyd County was at 23.6%. Marion County was at 25.1%.
Elkhart County had one of the higher percentages among the state’s most-lonely counties, with 25.7% of adults reporting they lacked social support.
At the opposite end of the ranking, Hamilton County had the lowest reported loneliness rate in Indiana at 29%. Only 18.4% of adults there were reported as lacking social support.
Boone County was the next-lowest Indiana county at 29.1%, followed by Hancock County at 30.1% and Hendricks County at 30.4%.
Warrick County reported a 31.5% loneliness rate, while Johnson County was at 31.7%. Howard County came in at 31.8%, and Dearborn County at 31.9%.
Vanderburgh and Clinton counties each reported a rate of 32%. Tippecanoe and Porter counties each came in at 32.1%.
The results show considerable variation among Indiana counties, although the analysis does not establish why loneliness rates are higher in some communities than others.
The figures are estimates based on CDC data rather than a direct survey conducted by Mood.com, and the national comparison is limited to the 39 states for which the CDC estimates used in the analysis were available.
Nationally, 34.9% of adults in the counties included in the analysis reported feeling lonely.
Indiana’s statewide county-level rate of 33.4% therefore falls below the national figure, despite significant differences from one Indiana county to another.
The findings offer a snapshot of how adults perceive their social connectedness, with nearly one in three Indiana adults represented in the analysis reporting some level of loneliness.
For LaPorte County, the study places the community near the top of the national ranking, while Hamilton County sits near the other end of the spectrum.
The analysis does not suggest that residents of any particular county are necessarily more isolated than residents elsewhere, but it does show significant differences in the percentage of adults who report experiencing loneliness.
