Waterloo, Indiana.
Typical home $256,116 (+7.4% in a year). Auburn, IN metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$790 (+143%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $17,559 +7%
- $238,556$256,116 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $69,812 +37%
- $186,303$256,116 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Waterloo$1,344
- Indiana$1,350
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 11 years.
Typical home values in Waterloo, IN rose 7.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Waterloo, DeKalb County, Indiana
Waterloo is a town of 2,116 people in DeKalb County. Half its households earn more than $67,083 a year and half less, against $74,331 across DeKalb County; 12% of its people live below the poverty line. 81% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 19% are rented. Unemployment in DeKalb County was 3.2% in August 2026, and the county had 2.8% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Waterloo is a small town in DeKalb County, Indiana, where most homes are lived in by their owners. Household incomes run below the county's, and typical home values sit at a level that many longtime owners will recognize from nearby towns. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, and summers turn warm in July, with a fair amount of rain and melted snow through the year.
Work. Many residents work in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Among the largest workplaces in Waterloo are Nucor Building Systems, which makes prefabricated metal buildings, UPS, and Nucor Insulated Panel Group. Fewer adults here hold a four-year degree than in many places, and the typical commute is a moderate one, with only a small number of people working from home.
Things to do. The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum is a short drive away and a good fit for anyone who likes classic cars. A longer drive brings you to Chain O'Lakes State Park, a protected area with lakes and trails, and to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, a popular outing with grandchildren. The St. Joseph River is also within a longer drive for time on the water.
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- 773households
- 14%of adults have a degree
- 12%below the poverty line
- 24 mintypical commute
- 7%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. DeKalb County had 21,585 jobs in 2025, 2.8% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 32° and lows near 17°; warmest in July, with highs near 84° and lows near 62°. About 30 inches of snow and 38 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Garrett weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Waterloo
- Nucor Building SystemsBuildings, prefabricated metal, manufacturing546
- UPSCouriers and express delivery services94
- Nucor Insulated Panel Group - WaterlooPanels, prefabricated metal building, manufacturing75
- Charleston Metal ProductsPrecision turned product manufacturing61
- Gibson's Heating & PlumbingAir system balancing and testing60
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 5 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 836 people in all. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Strong windRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Waterloo’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on DeKalb County and the Auburn, IN metro.
Waterloo home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Waterloo$256,116
- Indiana$257,165
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Waterloo10
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Waterloo6
Zip codes with a Waterloo address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Waterloo — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.