HANCOCK COUNTY — Over the past two decades, more than 20,000 people have moved into Hancock County. Many have built new homes. Families have enrolled their students in the county’s schools.
So why here? Location. Location. Location.
As the 2020 census approaches, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates Hancock County was the third fastest-growing county in Indiana from 2017 to 2018. The county’s population, which now stands at 76,351, increased by 1.9 percent year-over-year, bringing in nearly 1,400 people. Hamilton and Hendricks counties led the state in population gain, according to the Indiana Business Research Center.
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The 11-county Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson metro area — of which Hancock County is part — added nearly 22,000 residents last year — 69 percent of the state’s 2018 population growth, according to the research center’s analysis. The area’s population of nearly 2.05 million represents about a third of the state’s population.
Matt Kinghorn, senior demographic analyst at the Indiana Business Research Center at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, said in some suburban central Indiana counties, like Hancock County, population growth is driven by available residential construction and the perception of quality schools.
The Indiana Business Research Center’s analysis found that Hancock County has the second-highest rate of net in-migration, or people who move into a county. In 2018, there were 16.5 movers per 1,000 residents in the county. From 2012 to 2017, close to 1,500 movers came from Marion County, while 917 people left Hancock County to move to Marion County, according to the census bureau.
That analysis shows true in Hancock County’s uptick of new-home construction permits. Close to 600 single-family house permits were issued throughout the county in 2018. That pace is expected to remain steady in the coming years, areas planners have said, since more than 1,000 lots will open in new and existing subdivisions in Fortville and McCordsville, the fastest-growing areas in the county.
As more people — and families — move into the county, especially in the northern and western parts, that means schools will have to adjust. Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation could soon surpass Greenfield-Central — which has historically been the largest county district — in enrollment.
For the 2018-19 school year, 4,476 students were enrolled at Greenfield-Central, according to the Indiana Department of Education’s latest count. Mt. Vernon has 4,215 students enrolled as of last month, said Maria Bond, director of community relations for the corporation. That’s an increase of 19% from five years ago, when 3,545 students were enrolled, according to DOE data.
Mt. Vernon recently commissioned a demographic study to prepare for the upward trend of enrollment. The study shows the district could grow by 150 students each year for 10 years, resulting in 2,000 new students. That would push the district enrollment over 6,000, almost five times larger than the current enrollment of Eastern Hancock schools.
Most of that projected growth is expected to come from families moving into new homes in the district, said Jack Parker, superintendent of Mt. Vernon schools. He said the corporation can manage the growth if officials remain “conscientious and purposeful” in planning ahead. Parker said more students means the corporation will need to hire additional teachers and staff members at a time where the pool of workers is shrinking.
Mt. Vernon Middle School was renovated earlier this year to house all three school grades. For years, sixth- and seventh-graders had been at the middle school building, while eighth-graders had been at Mt. Vernon High School. The $12 million renovation added 17 new classrooms and a new gymnasium.
Parker said the corporation intends to study where most people are moving to in the district, so they can see the best places to build new school buildings in the next five to 10 years.
Mt. Vernon will also start a six-month “community conversation” in August with district residents about a 10-year-plus facilities and programs plan, Parker said. They’ll invite hundreds of people to two meetings, one in August and a second in January, to discuss the plan and to receive input from various members of the community. Parker said he anticipates presenting the plan to the school board by March 2020.
Similar to Mt. Vernon, Southern Hancock schools has also experienced incremental growth over the past few years. DOE data indicate the corporation had 3,770 students enrolled for the 2018-19 school year. That’s 15% more than five years earlier, when 3,283 students attended Southern Hancock schools.
At the beginning of the school year, Southern Hancock reopened the former Doe Creek Middle School as New Palestine Junior High School for seventh- and eighth-graders, while operating New Palestine Intermediate School for fifth- and sixth-graders. The changes come in response to student body growth.
Wes Anderson, public relations director for Southern Hancock schools, said the district is preparing for at least 10 new or expanding housing additions in the district that will result in close to 500 new homes. Southern Hancock is in the early stages of talks to expand the high school to add more classrooms and space.
“We haven’t reached a growth rate yet that would allow us to add a significant number of programs,” he said, “but as we grow, that’s certainly an option that we hope we can take advantage of.”
While some of the smaller communities in Hancock County get larger, the county seat of Greenfield has kept a steady rate of growth, Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell noted. He likes the moderate and consistent growth Greenfield has experienced over the past several years. The city’s population — estimated at 22,094 in 2017 — grew by about 2,000 residents since 2010, according to census estimates.
Fewell said the steady growth has allowed the city to expand its services at an even pace, adding that the city’s utilities and street department is focused to handle the level of growth Greenfield has been experiencing. The city also expects to draw in hundreds of new employees at BeijingWest Industries.
“Our goal is to have the people who come here and want to start a job may be from someplace else, but it looks nice enough here and it’s clean and it’s safe,” he said, “that they might want to reside here.”
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76,351: Population of Hancock County in 2018
55,702: Population in 2000
1,400: Estimated number of people who moved to Hancock County in 2017
20,756: Population of older adults (ages 45 to 64) in the county. It is the largest population by age group in the county.
27,576: Number of households in the county.
$73,294: Median household income
39,772: Size of the county’s labor force
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