Indiana Ham Radio Licensing Trends

As of October 25, 2026, 14,929 Indiana residents hold a current amateur radio license, about 21.8 for every 10,000 people. That is up 7.5% from the end of 2000, and 1,007 below the high of 15,936 at the end of 2021. The figures below come from the FCC’s license database and count people, not club stations.

14,929licensed operators, Oct 25 2026
21.8per 10,000 residents
15,936high, end of 2021
466new licenses in 2025

Licensed operators since 2000

Individuals holding a current license on December 31 of each year, and on October 25, 2026 for 2026. Club stations and licenses in the FCC’s two-year renewal grace period are not included; 1,491 more Indiana licenses are in that grace period now. The vertical axis does not start at zero.

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Licensed amateur radio operators in Indiana, by year
Year	Licensed operators
2000	13,888
2001	14,061
2002	14,222
2003	14,354
2004	14,792
2005	14,665
2006	14,510
2007	14,403
2008	14,460
2009	14,645
2010	14,839
2011	14,843
2012	14,878
2013	15,016
2014	15,177
2015	15,199
2016	15,246
2017	15,190
2018	15,294
2019	15,480
2020	15,729
2021	15,936
2022	15,702
2023	15,611
2024	15,294
2025	15,157
2026 (through Oct 25)	14,929

New licenses each year

Licenses issued to an individual for the first time on their record. A new record opened only because someone changed callsigns is not counted; someone licensed again after letting a license lapse is, because the FCC issued a new license. The 2026 bar is lighter because the year is not over.

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New amateur radio licenses issued to Indiana residents, by year
Year	New licenses
2000	364
2001	447
2002	493
2003	434
2004	359
2005	364
2006	399
2007	422
2008	470
2009	431
2010	432
2011	348
2012	434
2013	538
2014	640
2015	525
2016	556
2017	477
2018	521
2019	516
2020	600
2021	637
2022	442
2023	521
2024	671
2025	466
2026 (through Oct 25)	417

Upgrades

Tech → General
General → Extra
Tech → Extra

The jump in 2007 is the FCC dropping the Morse code requirement that February: 328 Technician-to-General upgrades that year against 40 the year before. The FCC keeps only a license’s most recent class change, so someone who went Technician to General to Extra shows only the last step. Read these as a floor, firmest for recent years. The 2026 point covers only part of the year.

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License class upgrades by Indiana operators, by year
Year	Tech → General	General → Extra	Tech → Extra
2000	83	67	9
2001	71	50	2
2002	57	96	4
2003	55	34	5
2004	38	39	2
2005	46	39	2
2006	40	47	2
2007	328	82	22
2008	138	83	2
2009	117	74	6
2010	137	84	5
2011	166	83	7
2012	103	80	6
2013	115	82	6
2014	140	94	8
2015	116	79	8
2016	120	98	8
2017	134	65	5
2018	102	75	5
2019	132	77	10
2020	122	76	10
2021	136	87	5
2022	135	61	3
2023	157	82	5
2024	169	98	3
2025	164	72	3
2026 (through Oct 25)	123	68	5

Hams per 10,000 residents

Martin County has the most licensed operators for its size, 65.7 per 10,000 residents; LaGrange County has the fewest, at 8.8. The statewide figure is 21.8. Counties are shaded as a whole; this page shows nothing finer than a county.

30.6–65.7
25.8–30.6
21.7–25.8
19.1–21.7
8.8–19.1

Licensed operators per 10,000 residents, lighter is higher. Each shade holds about a fifth of the counties.

All 92 counties

Indiana counties ranked by licensed amateur radio operators per 10,000 residents
Rank	County	Licensed operators	Residents	Per 10,000
1	Martin	65	9,897	65.7
2	Brown	77	15,653	49.2
3	Miami	160	35,402	45.2
4	Owen	88	21,532	40.9
5	Lawrence	178	45,084	39.5
6	Crawford	41	10,438	39.3
7	DeKalb	172	44,198	38.9
8	Tipton	58	15,256	38.0
9	Whitley	130	34,742	37.4
10	Howard	303	83,831	36.1
11	Steuben	124	34,917	35.5
12	Greene	109	31,196	34.9
13	Clay	91	26,460	34.4
14	Huntington	123	36,781	33.4
15	Pike	40	12,106	33.0
16	Morgan	239	73,227	32.6
17	Hancock	276	86,166	32.0
18	Orange	62	19,638	31.6
19	Kosciusko	246	80,364	30.6
20	Vigo	324	106,153	30.5
21	Starke	70	23,206	30.2
22	Hendricks	554	186,387	29.7
22	Boone	226	76,120	29.7
24	Wells	84	28,555	29.4
25	Shelby	132	45,231	29.2
26	Bartholomew	238	84,003	28.3
27	Randolph	68	24,216	28.1
28	Jay	56	20,032	28.0
29	Monroe	388	139,342	27.8
30	Marshall	127	46,352	27.4
30	Ripley	80	29,227	27.4
32	Harrison	109	40,006	27.2
32	Henry	133	48,929	27.2
34	Madison	357	132,504	26.9
34	Putnam	101	37,567	26.9
36	Jefferson	86	33,056	26.0
37	Warren	22	8,518	25.8
37	Newton	36	13,960	25.8
39	Posey	64	25,040	25.6
40	Warrick	168	65,867	25.5
41	Blackford	30	11,893	25.2
42	Knox	90	36,070	25.0
43	Grant	164	66,200	24.8
44	Dearborn	126	51,215	24.6
44	Tippecanoe	464	188,792	24.6
46	Rush	41	16,847	24.3
47	Wayne	160	66,127	24.2
48	Sullivan	48	20,757	23.1
49	Washington	65	28,205	23.0
50	Dubois	99	43,546	22.7
50	Hamilton	844	371,645	22.7
52	Fulton	46	20,358	22.6
53	Jasper	75	33,535	22.4
54	Wabash	67	30,670	21.8
54	LaPorte	244	111,706	21.8
56	Clinton	71	32,730	21.7
57	Decatur	57	26,399	21.6
58	Porter	373	175,335	21.3
59	Gibson	69	32,904	21.0
60	Noble	99	47,430	20.9
61	Allen	814	394,545	20.6
61	Benton	18	8,729	20.6
63	Johnson	340	167,819	20.3
64	Cass	76	37,666	20.2
65	Fayette	47	23,362	20.1
65	Vermillion	31	15,417	20.1
67	Parke	33	16,484	20.0
68	Clark	248	125,467	19.8
69	Floyd	157	80,809	19.4
70	White	48	24,917	19.3
71	Montgomery	74	38,573	19.2
72	Spencer	38	19,910	19.1
72	Scott	47	24,657	19.1
72	Delaware	214	112,321	19.1
75	St. Joseph	511	272,848	18.7
75	Elkhart	386	206,409	18.7
77	Carroll	38	20,525	18.5
78	Adams	65	36,288	17.9
78	Vanderburgh	321	179,810	17.9
80	Pulaski	22	12,385	17.8
81	Jennings	49	27,622	17.7
82	Jackson	82	46,460	17.6
83	Fountain	29	16,731	17.3
84	Union	12	6,973	17.2
85	Switzerland	17	10,019	17.0
86	Perry	29	19,209	15.1
87	Daviess	49	33,656	14.6
88	Marion	1,234	968,460	12.7
89	Lake	595	500,598	11.9
90	Ohio	7	6,004	11.7
91	Franklin	25	23,096	10.8
92	LaGrange	36	40,907	8.8

Residents are the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 county estimates.

How these numbers are made

The FCC publishes its entire amateur license database every week. Current counts come straight from it: each licensee’s ZIP code is matched to the county it mostly lies in, and only current, individual licenses are counted. The FCC keeps no count from past years, but it does keep dates: when each license was granted, renewed, upgraded, expired or canceled, logged since September 1999. The yearly figures are rebuilt from those dates.

Rebuilding today’s date from the same records reproduces the published county counts exactly, and that has to hold before any update is published. When the method was checked in September 2026 by rebuilding earlier weeks and comparing with what was published at the time, the statewide count was within 23 of 14,973 five weeks back, and within 14 of 16,832 three months back.

What to keep in mind

Everyone is counted where they live now. The FCC keeps only a current address, so a ham who moved to Indiana in 2015 is counted here for 2005 too, and one who moved away is missing from Indiana’s past. About 8.95% of today’s operators hold a callsign first issued outside Indiana’s call district. More hams appear to have left than arrived, so the early years likely read about 2% low statewide. County figures carry more error, since moves within Indiana are invisible.
The series starts in 2000. Licenses that ended before the FCC moved amateur records to its current system are not in the database at all, so earlier years would show a climb that never happened.
A callsign change opens a new license record. In nearly every case the old one is closed by the time the new one opens; the few that overlap add about 20 people, roughly 0.1%, on a typical day.
Upgrades are a floor, as noted above: only the most recent class change is on record.

Source: FCC Universal Licensing System, amateur radio service, release of October 25, 2026. Weekly counts have been recorded as published since August 2, 2026, and future years will add to that record rather than rely only on rebuilding.