Attractive Community

Welcome to Lafayette - West Lafayette, Indiana - a city recognized nationally as a top place to live, work, and raise a family, We offer excellent educational facilities, from top-notch public and private schools to a world-class university.

There are sprawling parks, museums and theatres, exciting sports action, great health facilities, many leisure activities and a quality that is most important of all - community spirit!

The Lafayette - West Lafayette area enjoys a rich and diverse cultural atmosphere - from world famous performing artists to Indiana's passion - basketball.

Lafayette - West Lafayette is home to over 300 manufacturing firms, which include such fields as robotics, biotechnology, food processing, microelectronics, instrumentation and office/clerical industries. And though Lafayette - West Lafayette's unemployment rate is typically 3 percent, there is an ample labor pool. All levels of skilled workers are available, largely due to the area's excellent educational and job-training institutions. Lafayette - West Lafayette is strategically located for business as well, with 80 percent of the top U.S. markets within a day's delivery time.

Lafayette - West Lafayette's residents enjoy an excellent standard of living. This, coupled with low food prices, property taxes, and insurance costs, creates an upwardly mobile population.

Lafayette - West Lafayette was named the top city in Indiana to reside in and was also named Community of the Year by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce in 2001. Money magazine ranked Lafayette - West Lafayette number two on its June 1998 listing of the top Midwest small cities in the United States in which to live. This poll, examined health care facilities, crime rates, the economy, housing, education, transit, weather, leisure and the arts, proves once again that Lafayette - West Lafayette is a great place to live. Lafayette - West Lafayette was also listed 21st out of 300 in the ranking of industry friendly communities in Industry Week's April 98' issue.

Source: Lafayette-West Lafayette Chamber of Commerce

Downtown Lafayette

Downtown Lafayette continues to grow in its role as the county's center of finance, county government, legal insurance, professional service and economic development activities. Professional services, attorneys, banking and government make up about 75% of downtown's commerce. The remaining 25 percent are restaurants, antiques stores, boutiques and specialty stores.

In recent years, more building renovations along Main Street have produced new storefronts and upper-level apartments. A major renovation of the entire block housing the historic Lahr Hotel is now completed, offering commercial space and 70 apartments.

Purdue University

About 12,500 people work for Purdue University, the county's largest employer and seventh-largest employer in the state for its total Indiana employment. Some 37,000 students attend the West Lafayette campus, one of the largest U.S. universities.
Purdue's economic impact extends to service providers and retailers throughout the community. Statewide, the university estimates its economic impact at $2.2 billion, half for direct expenditures in salaries and expenses, and half in spending by businesses that supply Purdue.