Ivy Tech and Hamilton County — The 62% Factor

By Mike Thibideau, President & CEO of Invest Hamilton County

I want to talk about a number that should change how every employer, elected official, and community leader in Hamilton County thinks about workforce: 62%.

Ivy Tech Community College produces 62% of all graduates and certificate holders in the entire Indianapolis metro area. More than IU Indianapolis. More than the University of Indianapolis. More than all other schools combined. When Ivy Tech grows a program, our local workforce grows with it. When a program is absent or undersized, employers feel the gap directly.

Over the past several months, the Invest Hamilton County team has been doing something we believe is genuinely new for our community. We took our library of over 1400 labor market data files and compared it against Ivy Tech Hamilton County’s enrollment numbers and growth projections for 45 programs. The question was simple: Is Ivy Tech training people for the jobs that actually exist here? And where are the biggest gaps?

What we found was encouraging… and clarifying.

The good news first: several of Ivy Tech Hamilton County’s programs are extraordinarily well-aligned with local demand. Nursing enrollment has grown from 59 to 98 students in just two years, and the market says “keep going”… registered nurses are the #1 most-posted job in Hamilton County with 2,649 positions and a median salary of $82,000. Cybersecurity has exploded (+153% job growth locally) and enrollment is already outpacing projections. Data Analytics, with a median advertised salary of $133,000, is one of the highest-value programs in the region. Accounting is thriving because our Finance and Insurance sector operates at 2.4 times the national concentration.

Healthcare support roles — CNAs, home health aides — represent Ivy Tech’s largest program and for good reason. Home health and personal care aides represent the single largest absolute job growth of any occupation in Hamilton County, adding over 1,500 positions. The CDL truck driving program is a standout too… with 28% of current drivers nearing retirement and a 379-worker outcommuting gap, every CDL graduate has a career waiting.

But the data also revealed significant untapped opportunity.

Engineering is the #1 unmet need in Hamilton County. We are undersupplied by 541 engineering positions. Salaries range from $96,000 to $142,000. Nearly 380 current engineers are approaching retirement. Major local employers like Trane Technologies, HNTB, Belden, and Allegion are actively recruiting. Yet Ivy Tech Hamilton County has no students enrolled and no projections for an engineering technology program. This is the clearest gap we identified.

Hospitality, our third-largest growth sector adding 2,587 new jobs by 2030, has no active program.

We also found programs with strong demand signals but puzzlingly low enrollment. Human services (mental health and substance abuse counselors) is growing 66% locally with over 1,500 combined jobs, but only 33 students are enrolled. Supply chain management has seen 91% growth in logistician positions with salaries of $77,000 to $106,000… seven students.

I want to be clear about why we did this work. This isn’t a report card. It’s a partnership tool. Chancellor Kartz and the Ivy Tech Hamilton County team have demonstrated the kind of visionary leadership that makes this collaborative work possible. They welcomed our data, asked hard questions alongside us, and are genuinely committed to aligning programs with community needs. We share the same goal: ensuring that every Hamilton County resident has access to education and training that leads to a meaningful career.

When 62% of the region’s trained workforce comes from one institution, getting this alignment right isn’t just an academic exercise… it’s an economic development strategy.