West Lafayette, IN

West Lafayette is the Tippecanoe County college town across the Wabash River from Lafayette and home to Purdue University’s main campus. The city recorded 44,595 residents in 2020. Its present form dates to 1888, when the adjacent communities of Chauncey, Oakwood, and Kingston merged on the bluff opposite Lafayette. Purdue’s growth helped transform what had been a small suburban settlement. Purdue Research Park, established in 1961 and owned by the Purdue Research Foundation, extends that institutional presence through research facilities, business incubation, and technology licensing.