Affordable Elkhart Storage Units

Moving and storage go hand in hand. Whether traveling across town or the country, moving is an exciting and fresh start. While Storage Rentals of America is here to help you with all your storage needs, we also want to help you get familiar with the area. That's why we put together this resource guide for Elkhart, Indiana.

What You Should Know About Elkhart

Elkhart is one of the two cities comprising the Elkhart-Goshen metropolitan area. The city of Elkhart is the county seat of Elkhart County. It is about 23 miles east of South Bend via US-20 E. Elkhart is a small country town that makes up only 52,358 of the total metro population 206,341.

The area was first settled by immigration from New England during the 1830s. The downtown Main Street in Elkhart is reminiscent of decades past. The town has an attractive Riverwalk.

What to do in Elkhart

On the city's south side is the central shopping mall called the Concord Mall. The Lerner Theater offers concerts, tour performances of significant shows, special events, and local theatrical productions. It was built in 1924 and underwent an $18 million renovation in 2011.

Music: Each year, during June, the marvelous Elkhart Jazz Fest celebrates its third decade of performances.

Nature: There are nine bike trails throughout the city. The Woodlawn Nature Center has 10 acres of woods, an activity center, and a small natural history museum. The Wellfield Botanic Gardens can be found on North Main Street. It is a 36-acre spread with 20 individually-themed gardens. It offers many public events throughout the year. The Elkhart Environmental Center has the Edible Education Garden, a Reflection Grove, hiking trails, wetlands, a boat launch, and many outdoor activities.

Museums: There are up to 10 special exhibits per year shown at the Midwest Museum of American Art, which has a collection of over 6,000 works of art. The National New York Central Railroad Museum has on display the history of Amtrak, Conrail, New York Central, and Penn Central railroads. The Recreational Vehicle/Motor Home Hall of Fame & Museum is found outside of town on the Indiana Toll Road.

The Ruthmere Museum Campus has a mansion decorated to show how the home was kept during the 1920s when it was occupied by the Beardsleys, descendants of the city's founders. Also, a part of the Ruthmere Museum Campus is the Havilah Beardsley House, which was restored to match the styles of the 1870s.

The Time Was Museum shows early 20th-century life. The Hall of Heroes Superhero Museum has displays that cover over 80 years of the history of superheroes in comic books, television, and film.

Working in Elkhart

The two primary industries in Elkhart are recreational vehicles and musical instruments. Elkhart is known as the "RV Capital of the World" and "Band Instrument Capital of the World."

Manufacturers of musical instruments all became part of the Conn-Selmer conglomerate. Other industries include boat manufacturers, electronics, manufactured homes, mobile homes, pharmaceuticals, and van-conversion companies. Northern Indian Brass Company (NIBCO) has been making flow control products, such as fire-fighting equipment, for over 100 years.

In 2020, the city had an unemployment rate of 6.2%, 1.3% more than the statewide average. Unemployment peaked at nearly 20% in 2008 after manufacturers, like Bayer, left the area. However, the unemployment rate has been declining since, except for the slightly upward spike caused by the pandemic in 2020. The median household income in Elkhart is $38,971 per year, significantly lower than the state's median household income of $57,603 per year.

Elkhart Neighborhoods

The median price for a home in Elkhart is $106,600, about $50,000 less than the statewide average and $188,700. It is also less than the national median price for a single-family home of $295,300. Here are the best neighborhoods:

• Greenleaf Manor / East Lake Estates: Median home price is $218,744.
• 6 Span Road / County Road 14: Median home price is $208,165.
• Jamestown: Median home price is $188,890.
• West County Line Road / County Road 6: Median home price is $188,443.

Elkhart School District

Three school districts serve Elkhart: the Baugo Community Schools, the Concord Community Schools, and the Elkhart Community Schools.

The Baugo schools in the southwest include one elementary school, one intermediate school, one junior high school, and one high school. The Concord schools on the southeast side have four elementary schools, one intermediate, one junior high school, and one high school. The Elkhart schools on the northwest side include fourteen elementary schools, three middle schools, two high schools, one alternative school, and one career center for ongoing adult education.

There are four private religious schools and two private secular schools.

Higher education includes the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Beulah Bible College & Seminary, Indiana Institute of Technology, Indiana University South Bend (Elkhart Center), and the Ivy Tech Community College.

Moving to Elkhart Resource Guide

The City of Elkhart Public Works & Utilities provides water, sewer, trash pickup, and recycling.

Elkhart's parks and recreation department manages the NIBCO Water & Ice Park, which offers ice skating during winter and water fountains for kids to play in during summer. Public swimming pools and pavilions provide outdoor entertainment and the Riverview Park softball games to enjoy or play on a team.

Other activities include indoor pickleball, Tolson Center Gym, Jui Jitsu classes, the First LEGO League, youth basketball camp, Elkhart Youth STEM series, adult self-defense classes, bird hikes, summer day camp, and Walking on Sunshine expeditions.

Elkhart Housing

Housing costs are 45% lower than the national average. The median rent is $701, 26.1% lower than the national median rent of $949. The cost of living in Elkhart is 2% lower than the rest of the state and 13% lower than the national average.