Name: Kokomo, IN
Rating: 0.0

( 13 Ratings )

Living in Kokomo, IN

Ranks better than 68% of areas Follow

Population

58,066

Median Age

40.0 Years

Kokomo Area Facts

Kokomo has a Livability Score of 68_/100, which is considered good
Kokomo crime rates are 11% higher than the Indiana average
Cost of living in Kokomo is 7% lower than the Indiana average

What do the locals think about Kokomo?

30%

Family friendly

20%

Public transit is accessible

20%

Walkable to grocery stores

60%

Yards are well-kept

70%

Lots of parks

10%

Walkable to restaurants

Friendly neighbors

Safe at night

Pet friendly

Streets have sidewalks

40%

A quiet area

20%

Sense of community

Based on 10 votes from AreaVibes users. Take the poll

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Kokomo Reviews

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ALL About Kokomo, Probably More Than You Ever Wanted to Know 3 rating By Anonymous ( Sep 06, 2021) The prices in the stores are going noticeably UP for a lot of products which I don't think is reflected on this site yet. Since 2019, we've had an increase by about 20% in the stores' prices for a lot of common items. I'd say the prices here are closing in on the prices you see i ...Read More n Indianapolis now, unfortunately, even though there is not a lot of selection if you don't want BIG CORPORATE BRAND NAMES. Most stores carry the exact same products as the others, so there's little encouragement for them to compete. One raises prices, they all do. Milk is still holding at a pretty low price, though. So, I guess that's good!

Wages seem to be trending up since the pandemic, too, if I base my judgement on the hourly wages I see advertised for open lower-wage services jobs all over are true. That's probably why they are raising the prices. Makes sense, sadly.

Houses in Kokomo are in high-demand right now (it's fall of 2021). Most of the houses put up a for-sale sign, and then a sold sign within a month. If you want to buy one here, you probably should be aggressive. The prices of houses here are going up fast because of that demand, too, I think partly because all the sites are currently saying Kokomo housing is cheaper than other places.

Speaking of health problems, though, if you have a health problem, don't move to Kokomo. The two main healthcare providers here are not exactly great, especially if you have a complicated health condition(s). According to this site, they charge full price, but you can expect moderate to low quality care. It's like being in a partial-service country hospital where there's minimal training for anything rare or difficult or low-profit margin for the hospital. The doctors here, at least the ones I've met, are... okay. If I could afford it, I would drive to Indy for healthcare.

Upon being seen at one of Kokomo's St. Joe facilities... well... it's a long story that has little to do with Kokomo, but If you are forced to use St. Joe or their clinic MedOne in Kokomo, just RUN instead. All they accomplished for me was a bill for literally no service and a huge delay in care because I unknowingly came to them first instead of going somewhere else. It was all about the paperwork and -appearing- as politically correct as possible without doing any actual healthcare stuff. Patients are only important based on the ratio of work versus money they can squeeze out 'a you, and charging you full price to be examined while you fill out reams of paperwork about your gender and race (no questions about your health problem) is a great way for them to do this. They literally refused me service without an actual medical exam or any medical tests based on them (incorrectly!) deciding I didn't look like I could afford it. I quote, "YOU couldn't afford it." (I wasn't misbehaving or dressed like a homeless person or something, so ???? The next place I went, after being held up by St. Joe for literal months while I suffered symptoms and tried to work to pay my bill for nothing, was able to order tests based on my obvious symptoms, get me a diagnosis, and then into treatment.) With St. Joe, you're better off asking for healthcare out by the dumpster at McDonalds. At least THAT dumpster isn't actively on fire.

Community is... well... they TRY. If you're a diabetic, especially a type-1, avoid. They have a complete lack of a system for diabetic in-patient care in Community. I recommend from personal experience that if you are diabetic and you have to stay in that hospital, bring your own medications, tester and food and INSIST on doing all of that yourself.

Kokomo is called "Restaurant City" for a reason. The restaurants are EVERYWHERE. So, I guess that's good. We even have quite a few relatively edible Mexican, Italian, Asian and Indian places, We even have a Vietnamese place that serves bubble tea!!! We also have several very nice small pizza and sandwich shops, some fun coffee shops downtown, along with all the usual American corporate food joints. The bars are, well, I hear they're ok. I don't drink or party (health problems!), so I couldn't say for sure.

Grocery store wise, I feel like we are kind of lacking. We are OK if your diet consists of mostly packaged and processed foods and standard American style fresh foods like beef and potatoes, but not great if you have allergies or special food preferences like you are on a gluten free diet or you're a vegetarian. There is a farmer's market downtown on certain weekends, and even a few fresh veggie stands that sell produce during the summer and fall. You have to drive the hour-long trip to Indy for a lot of specialty or international foods, though, or order them on the internet. The "health food" store is small and sells mostly pills. The bigger grocery stores can't be depended upon to have specialty items in stock. There are several import stores, but again, they're pretty small and limited.

Getting a low-wage service job here is relatively easy here because of all the big corporate retail presence and restaurants. When it comes to mid-range semi-skilled labor, like office jobs, workshop type stuff, sales, etc, don't use the unemployment office or one of the temp agencies. Your best bet here is to walk in or visit the company's HR office and talk to them if you can, show them your skills and experience along with your face. Since Kokomo has a very high saturation of retail and restaurants, those are a large portion of the jobs available. We also have Chrysler and a few smaller companies which are periodically hiring for manufacturing, but in general, a lot of the really nice jobs have left Kokomo for greener pastures.

I attended Kokomo center schools about two decades ago. They've done a LOT of updating since then, and aren't even using the same buildings for the same purposes anymore. They even have specialty schools, like the "International School" downtown. I remember Kokomo schools to be old, a little out of date and battered, but clean and well-maintained. All the areas that were in need of an update in my time appear to have been remodeled and updated, so that's good. My child doesn't attend Kokomo Center, though, so I don't know from personal experience. I've heard other parents say it's acceptible education-wise, and heard a few complaints of bullying. I suppose most schools have a measure of that kind of stuff, though, so I couldn't tell you if it's a big problem there or not.

Safety wise, Kokomo is patchy. There are safe quiet neighborhoods, and areas where it's ill-advised to hang out at night if you don't live there. Oddly, the less-nice areas and the nice areas tend to be in random patches all over the place. The North End (close to downtown) is sometimes a neighborhood to avoid at night, but it's still way safer there than in some of the run-down parts of Downtown Indy.

When it comes to being boring, it's okay. I don't want it to be too exciting. I have to sleep here and work here and do all my serious grown-up things here, you know? There are tons of free music events, food events and fairs downtown in the summer. There are some really fun parks with nature trails, skating areas, playground stuff. The art scene is okay if you get to know the right people. There are small activities here galore: pottery making, gaming, tabletop gaming, various collecting, classic cars, events at the community center, volunteer stuff, model trains, robotics, art, comic books, toys, etc, if you don't like to drink. And, it's not such a big place that you can't get to nature if you want it. For drinkers, there are probably enough bars, though they tend to open and close down and move around all the time. Kokomo is a relatively nice, quiet midwestern town with enough stuff in it so that you can find something to do if you look. Sure, there are drunken idiots and occasionally criminals, but those types of people are scattered everywhere, even the supposedly 'exciting' city. At least here, things aren't so heavily populated that you are forced elbow to elbow with the bad guys and morons. You can avoid them relatively easily.

My personal experience is that the dating scene here stinks. Better to bring a romantic partner with you if you move here, or ... good luck. In the Kokomo dating scene, there seems to be an ultra-high concentration of complete morons, racist twits, married people looking to cheat, one-night-stand hunters/playas/mansluts/ladysluts, swingers who just want to add another body (anybody!) to the nekked dog-pile, barflies who just don't UNDERSTAND or CARE why they keep getting pregnant/getting people pregnant, and drunks/drug addicts. Add to that a lack of general places to meet people besides bars and churches, and you have a cocktail for dating disaster. I've lived elsewhere, and it wasn't nearly this bad, so I don't know what Kokomo's problem is. There seem to be literally no dating options in Kokomo for people who are intelligent/sober/calm enough not to try and hump everything that moves. Unfortunately this lack of options seems to be doubly true if you're non-white and/or educated. Date in Kokomo, and be prepared to meet some slobbish, slug-like, dull and sometimes seriously creepy humans. I stopped dating in Kokomo five or six years ago. There is literally zero point. Read Less

Dull, boring, unsafe town far away from big cities 1 rating By Anonymous ( Jul 08, 2020) Extremely boring town with hardly any social activities to partake in. Lots of parks. Markland mall, restaurants around SR31 around Alto and the YMCA in the so called "downtown" area are the only things saving myself from killing me from boredom. There are low income communities ...Read More here and the only reason keeping me from leaving is the short commute to Delphi/Aptiv and a few of my colleagues living here. As a highly educated and high earning immigrant, I have personally experienced a lot of racism, strange looks from a lot of people in Walmart, Kroger and an overall unwelcome feeling in this town. Dearth of options for entertainment and lack of educated young professionals. The roads here are good in some areas (Lincoln) however absolutely horrible near the Foster park, and Dixon Road among others. The local authorities here don't care much about the fact that roads here are on par with some of the worst third world countries.
On the positive side, there are good parks here, a bowling and a laser tag facility and most big grocery stores (Walmart, Target, Meijer). Also with a relatively smaller population density it is good to do social distancing during Covid-19 times.
This town is absolutely not for young, college educated people and especially for immigrants. There is extremely less diversity. The city council and the Mayor's office (both previous and current mayors) have let this city go to the dogs in terms of public infrastructure, diversity of economy, diversity of population, dearth of highly educated young professionals. No wonder a high paying company like Aptiv is moving to better places like Westfield/Noblesville; and Delphi might move to Noblesville after BorgWarner acquisition leaving only Delphi/GM (dead plant now making ventilators for COVID-19) and FCA (only low skilled and less educated technicians) as well paying employers.
One of the biggest problems of Kokomo is the location being far (1 hour) from Indianapolis and the fact that the current mayor of 2020, previous mayor until 2019 and Howard County commissioner not caring much about Kokomo will also lead to this town being the next no go town (read crumbling economy and dangerous) of Indiana like Gary. Good luck Kokomo, you really need it. And I am going to get the hell out of Kokomo once Aptiv moves to Noblesville.

There are much better towns around Kokomo and in the Indy metro suburbs like Carmel, Westfield, Fishers, Noblesville. Please do not come to Kokomo, especially if you are:
1) Young, highly educated professional like me
2) Asian or an immigrant. Diversity is less here. And I frequently see Confederate flag on people's license plate and homes.
3) Expect to live around educated, sophisticated and cultured neighbors
4) Want any sort of a nightlife or entertainment options.

There are many slovenly, uneducated people I see in Walmart, Target whenever I go. This town is going down the drain and Delphi moves it's jobs out of Kokomo to Noblesville (already happening as on July 2020). Delphi and Aptiv are the only high paying research and development companies in Kokomo and the current and past Mayor did nothing to stop the ongoing flight of jobs and capital out of Kokomo.

In Aptiv and Delphi, we all young engineers jokingly call Kokomo an extremely dry and boring town. Do not come here, you are better off in Westfield and Carmel if you get a job in Kokomo. Read Less

Living in Kokomo, Indiana is a Surprising Treat 4.5 rating By Anonymous ( Aug 22, 2012) Not many people know that Kokomo, Indiana got its name from Chief Kokomoco (at least this is what the locals say), but this is just one of the many quirky and fun things that you learn about this town once you have the pleasure of experiencing it. A largely industrial town with m ...Read More any American car lots, Kokomo is one of those little hole-in-the-wall towns that should be on the map. I have lived in Kokomo, Indiana nearly my whole life. My favorite place to go is the local park where Indian trails mark an exciting place for families to roam and explore. A growing town, Kokomo is a little treat of Indiana that most people wouldn't expect. Living there is really exciting and lowkey at the same time.

The main strip in Kokomo has a surprising amount of fast food restaurants, including the town favorite, Rally's. Their curly fries are the best, and no one in Indiana hasn't heard of this great drive-thru joint. If you just happen to pass through Kokomo, do yourself a favor and stop by this town favorite and get yourself a bite to eat. While there are many local restaurants available as well to choose from, Rally's is a sure stop when you pass through Kokomo- you won't regret taking on the calories you will find there.

You can't go through Indiana without hearing some kind of 'Hooser' story, and there is no exception here. How did the name Hooser come to be? My favorite legend claims that a drunken group of men in a bar got into a fight which ended with one man getting his ear cut off. As they scrambled to find it, another drunken patron picked the dismembered body part and shouted, 'Hooser? Hooser?" I guess you have to be from Indiana to appreciate the humor, but that's another great thing that makes Kokomo great. The people have a lot of Hooser pride, but they have a funny way of going about it. It's like a family of sorts. I give living in Kokomo, Indiana a pure solid 10. There's just nothing bad to say about this little town. Read Less

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Living in Kokomo, Indiana is a Surprising Treat 4.5 rating By Anonymous ( Aug 22, 2012) Not many people know that Kokomo, Indiana got its name from Chief Kokomoco (at least this is what the locals say), but this is just one of the many quirky and fun things that you learn about this town once you have the pleasure of experiencing it. A largely industrial town with m ...Read More any American car lots, Kokomo is one of those little hole-in-the-wall towns that should be on the map. I have lived in Kokomo, Indiana nearly my whole life. My favorite place to go is the local park where Indian trails mark an exciting place for families to roam and explore. A growing town, Kokomo is a little treat of Indiana that most people wouldn't expect. Living there is really exciting and lowkey at the same time.

The main strip in Kokomo has a surprising amount of fast food restaurants, including the town favorite, Rally's. Their curly fries are the best, and no one in Indiana hasn't heard of this great drive-thru joint. If you just happen to pass through Kokomo, do yourself a favor and stop by this town favorite and get yourself a bite to eat. While there are many local restaurants available as well to choose from, Rally's is a sure stop when you pass through Kokomo- you won't regret taking on the calories you will find there.

You can't go through Indiana without hearing some kind of 'Hooser' story, and there is no exception here. How did the name Hooser come to be? My favorite legend claims that a drunken group of men in a bar got into a fight which ended with one man getting his ear cut off. As they scrambled to find it, another drunken patron picked the dismembered body part and shouted, 'Hooser? Hooser?" I guess you have to be from Indiana to appreciate the humor, but that's another great thing that makes Kokomo great. The people have a lot of Hooser pride, but they have a funny way of going about it. It's like a family of sorts. I give living in Kokomo, Indiana a pure solid 10. There's just nothing bad to say about this little town. Read Less