A once-thriving Midwestern city in the heart of Indiana has become a ghost town with more than one in three homes vacant.
Gary, Indiana, best known as the birthplace of Michael Jackson, is home to the highest rate of abandoned homes in the country at 31.41 percent, according to an analysis by 247WallSt.
Data shows the population has dropped by a staggering 18.2 percent between 2010 and 2020, down to just 5,800 residents.
While Gary was once a steel manufacturing center that brought jobs to the region, the loss of the city’s steel mill triggered a dramatic decline that began in the 1970s.
The city of Gary, Indiana, has the highest vacancy rate in the United States, with a staggering 31.41 percent of properties vacant.
Once a thriving steel center in the Midwest, Gary declined dramatically after the 1970s and saw its population drop 18.2 percent between 2010 and 2020, to just 5,800 residents.
According to the analysis, based on data from the real estate company ATTOM, the rate of vacant homes nationwide is around 1.3 percent.
But in Gary, Indiana, the rate 30 times higher is evidence of the city’s struggles over the years, with the median home value also at just $69,400.
And while Indiana ranks seventh in the nation for vacant homes, Gary ranks first in the United States, as it is filled with abandoned and dilapidated buildings.
However, the decaying city was not always a ghost town and by the mid-20th century Gary was a booming steel town driven by industrial demand.
Gary benefited from a marked increase in the number of steel mills across the country, which were concentrated especially around the Great Lakes for easier access to raw materials.
Primarily known as the center of the United States Steel Corporation, the city prospered when more than 16,000 steel workers flooded into the area, making it home to the largest plant in the country in the 1920s.
And although Chicago, just 30 miles away, is a world away from the current state of Gary, central Indiana was once known to rival the Windy City before its economy took a hit.
Gary, Indiana also has a median home value of just $69,400, one of the worst in the U.S.
While the run-down town is best known as the birthplace of Michael Jackson, the fact is barely noticeable as his former home sits on an abandoned street.
The main cause of Gary’s problems is due to the loss of its steel mill in the 1970s, which employed a significant percentage of the town’s residents.
Tens of thousands of workers lost their jobs in the decades that followed, while others fled to nearby cities in search of any form of opportunity to stay afloat.
“Gary just fell,” said longtime resident Alphonso Washington. ATI‘It used to be a beautiful place at some point, then it wasn’t anymore.’
The city’s problems were compounded by rising poverty, and at one point it held the unenviable title of “murder capital of the United States.”
Although Gary is best known as the birthplace of Michael Jackson, the link to the King of Pop is barely perceptible.
Jackson’s former home sits on an old, abandoned street, and local outlet IndyStar noted that “the home is boarded up and is in a residential neighborhood with many boarded-up buildings.”
As a sign of the lack of economic incentives in the area, there are no guided tours of Jackson’s home despite his millions of followers.