Madison County, Indiana

Madison County is a county in Indiana, United States, about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis via Interstate 69. It had a population of 130,129 at the 2020 census, an estimated 131,900 by 2024, and covers 451.92 square miles (1,170.5 km2) centred near 40°10′N 85°43′W.

Anderson is the county seat; its postal code is 46011. The county holds 3 cities, 12 incorporated towns and 22 smaller unincorporated communities across 14 townships, and it runs on the Eastern time zone. Its FIPS code is 18095.

Towns & Villages in Madison County

Madison County has 37 named places: 15 are incorporated (3 cities and 12 towns), each with its own government and boundaries, and 22 are unincorporated communities — crossroads, former rail stops and old mill sites with no town government of their own. CDPs (Census-designated places) do not exist in this county; every incorporated place below is either a city or a town.

Three place-name pairs are worth sorting out. Elwood sits mostly in Madison County but two half-blocks of its city limits fall inside Tipton County, so the address alone does not settle the county line. Chesterfield does the same in reverse, spilling east from Union Township into Salem Township in neighboring Delaware County. And Frankton and Lapel each straddle two townships — Frankton across Pipe Creek and Lafayette, Lapel across Stony Creek and Green — so a Frankton or Lapel mailing address does not tell you which township government actually serves that lot.

Townships

ZIP Codes

• 46011 — Anderson (also serves Edgewood, Country Club Heights, Woodlawn Heights and River Forest)
• 46012 — Anderson
• 46013 — Anderson
• 46016 — Anderson
• 46017 — Anderson (also serves Chesterfield)
• 46001 — Alexandria
• 46036 — Elwood
• 46044 — Frankton
• 46048 — Ingalls
• 46051 — Lapel
• 46056 — Markleville
• 46063 — Orestes
• 46064 — Pendleton
• 46070 — Summitville

Most of the county’s unincorporated communities — Hamilton, Perkinsville, Florida, Linwood, North Anderson, Prosperity, Fishersburg and the rest — never kept a standalone ZIP; their post offices closed decades ago and mail there is sorted under the nearest town’s code instead.

Geography

Madison County sits on the till plains of east-central Indiana, drained by the White River and its West Fork, which meet near Anderson and cut the county’s most visible relief along their banks. Fall Creek, a White River tributary, gives Fall Creek Township its name and its long reservoir-fed corridor through Pendleton. The terrain is otherwise flat to gently rolling farmland, almost entirely land — the county carries only 0.99 square miles (2.6 km2) of water against 451.92 square miles (1,170.5 km2) of land.

Six counties border Madison: Grant to the north, Delaware to the east, Henry to the southeast, Hancock to the south, Hamilton to the west, and Tipton to the northwest. Grant County and Delaware County do not yet have a dedicated page on this site. Southeastern neighbor Henry County, southern neighbor Hancock County, western neighbor Hamilton County and northwestern neighbor Tipton County all do.

Demographics

Madison County had a population of 130,129 at the 2020 census, edging up to an estimated 131,900 by 2024. Anderson, the county seat, is by far the largest community at 54,788 residents; Elwood is the second-largest at 8,410. Median household income runs about $62,600 (2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-year estimate), roughly 11 percent below the statewide median. With 130,129 people spread across 451.92 square miles of land, the county’s overall density works out to about 288 people per square mile, concentrated heavily in and around Anderson.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector with about 9,810 workers, followed by manufacturing at roughly 9,076 and retail trade at about 7,243, out of a total workforce near 60,600. Community Hospital Anderson and Ascension St. Vincent Anderson Regional Hospital anchor health care in the county seat. Nestlé runs an Anderson plant that packages Nesquik and Coffee-mate, NTN Driveshaft keeps a foothold in the county’s old automotive trade, and Remy International — descended from the Delco-Remy electrical works that once employed thousands of Andersonites — is now headquartered in Pendleton. Hoosier Park Racing & Casino, on Anderson’s north side, is the county’s other major private employer. Anderson University, a Church of God-affiliated school founded in 1917, anchors higher education. The county’s biggest annual event is the Pay Less Little 500, a 500-lap sprint car race run every May at Anderson Speedway, a half-mile paved oval that has hosted it since 1949.

History

Indiana’s legislature authorized Madison County on January 4, 1823, and named it for James Madison, the fourth U.S. president and a co-author of the Federalist Papers. The area’s oldest documented history predates the county by more than a thousand years: the Adena and Hopewell peoples built ceremonial earthworks on Fall Creek near present-day Anderson, now preserved at Mounds State Park.

Natural gas struck near Anderson on March 31, 1887, touching off the Indiana Gas Boom. Cheap fuel drew glass, rubber and carriage factories into the county, and by the 1900s Anderson counted roughly two dozen small automakers among its industries, including the Lambert Motor Car Company and the Rider-Lewis Motor Car Company. The gas fields ran dry by 1912 and many of those firms folded or left, but the skilled workforce, rail lines and factory buildings they left behind drew General Motors into the county in the mid-1920s. GM’s Delco-Remy and Guide Lamp divisions eventually ran seven plants employing roughly 8,000 people at their 1930s peak, and GM-affiliated manufacturing anchored the county’s economy for nearly 70 years, from 1939 until the last plants closed in 2007.

Getting There

Interstate 69 clips the county’s southwest corner through Fall Creek Township near Pendleton, the only interstate to reach Madison County directly. U.S. Route 36 and State Roads 9, 13, 28, 32, 37, 38, 67, 109, 128, 232 and 236 carry most of the remaining traffic between the county’s towns.

• Indianapolis — 40 miles southwest
• Muncie — 20 miles east
• Marion — 25 miles north
• Fort Wayne — 75 miles northeast

The nearest commercial airport is Indianapolis International Airport, about 45 miles southwest of Anderson. The closest Amtrak service is Indianapolis Union Station, roughly 40 miles away on the thrice-weekly Cardinal line; Madison County itself has no passenger rail.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Madison County, Indiana?
It is in east-central Indiana, about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis, centred near 40°10′N 85°43′W.

What is the population of Madison County?
130,129 at the 2020 census, estimated at 131,900 by 2024.

How big is Madison County?
451.92 square miles (1,170.5 km2) of land, plus 0.99 square miles (2.6 km2) of water.

What is the county seat of Madison County?
Anderson is the county seat and the largest city, with a 2020 population of 54,788.

How many towns and villages are in Madison County?
15 incorporated places — 3 cities and 12 towns — plus 22 smaller unincorporated communities, across 14 townships.

Which ZIP codes cover Madison County?
Fourteen, from 46001 (Alexandria) to 46070 (Summitville); Anderson alone uses five, 46011 through 46017.

Is Elwood in Madison County or Tipton County?
Mostly Madison. Elwood’s city limits sit almost entirely in Pipe Creek and Duck Creek townships in Madison County, with only two half-blocks crossing into Madison Township, Tipton County.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Indiana.