Indiana

Buying Land in Hancock County, Indiana

Seat Greenfield, immediately east of Indianapolis. Hancock County posted Indiana's second-highest 2025 growth rate, driven in real part by a major logistics boom -- Walmart's 2.2-million-square-foot McCordsville fulfillment center and two Amazon facilities -- that's translated directly into a documented residential subdivision surge, with nearly 1,160 new home permits filed countywide in 2025 alone.

County Zoning Excludes Greenfield and Four Towns

Case-by-case / verify locally

The Hancock County Area Plan Commission covers the county except for the City of Greenfield and the towns of McCordsville, Cumberland, New Palestine, and Wilkinson, each of which zones independently. Confirm which authority governs a specific parcel.

A Brand-New Unified Development Ordinance Just Took Effect

Case-by-case / verify locally

Hancock County Commissioners approved a new Unified Development Ordinance in early September 2026, combining the former zoning and subdivision-control ordinances. Confirm current provisions directly given how recently it was adopted.

A Real, Quantified Subdivision Boom Tied to Regional Logistics Growth

Case-by-case / verify locally

Nearly 1,160 new single-family home permits were filed countywide in 2025 (up 26% from 2024), driven substantially by jobs at Walmart's and Amazon's Hancock County fulfillment centers. See our dedicated subdivision-development page for specifics.

Zoning: the county covers most of Hancock County, but not Greenfield or four towns

The Hancock County Area Plan Commission, based at 111 American Legion Place in Greenfield, administers land-use, permitting, and zoning services for property throughout Hancock County -- except for the City of Greenfield (the county seat) and the towns of McCordsville, Cumberland, New Palestine, and Wilkinson, each of which maintains its own separate, independent zoning authority. That's a meaningful split to keep straight given how much of the county's recent growth (discussed below) has concentrated specifically in and around Greenfield and McCordsville -- exactly the jurisdictions the county Area Plan Commission does NOT cover.

The county's zoning framework is also unusually fresh right now: Hancock County Commissioners unanimously approved a brand-new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) in early September 2026, following the Area Plan Commission's own favorable recommendation on August 25, 2026. The new UDO combines what had been separate zoning and subdivision-control ordinances into a single document, and applies to unincorporated Hancock County plus the towns of Spring Lake and Shirley (both of which still needed to separately approve it as of this review). The county worked on this rewrite with planning consultant Taylor Siefker Williams starting in early 2025, so this is a genuinely new document -- confirm you're working from the current UDO rather than an older, superseded ordinance when researching a specific parcel.

A logistics boom, and a documented residential subdivision surge to match

Hancock County has become one of the Indianapolis region's most active logistics and e-commerce corridors. Walmart opened its 2.2-million-square-foot fulfillment center -- one of the company's largest -- in McCordsville in March 2023, and Amazon operates a roughly 660,000-square-foot fulfillment center northwest of Greenfield with an announced additional roughly 1-million-square-foot facility in Greenfield itself as of September 2025. Together, these represent a real, ongoing source of thousands of warehouse and logistics jobs concentrated in a fairly compact stretch of the county.

That employment growth has translated directly into a quantified residential building boom: countywide, builders filed permits for nearly 1,160 new single-family homes in 2025, a 26% jump from the year before. McCordsville alone saw 518 new single-family homes built in 2024, with the town's own manager telling local reporters the population could plausibly double within a decade given how many permits the town has approved -- attributing much of the pull to Fishers and Lawrence reaching the practical limits of their own available land. See our dedicated subdivision-development page for Hancock County for specific named projects and what this means whether you're buying into new construction or evaluating land nearby.

Septic permitting and other departments to know

For land outside a municipal sewer service area, the Hancock County Health Department's Environmental Health division ((317) 477-1174 by the department's general listing) issues septic permits, and it's a required step before a building permit will be issued. The process requires hiring both a Licensed Soil Scientist to evaluate how the soil will handle the proposed system and a Licensed Septic Contractor to complete and submit the application and eventually install the approved system.

The Hancock County Assessor ((317) 477-1103), Auditor ((317) 477-1105), and Recorder ((317) 477-1142) all sit in the county's main office at 9 East Main Street in Greenfield, and the county's GIS is accessible through the Beacon platform. Given the current pace of both zoning-ordinance change and subdivision approvals in the county, a buyer looking at land anywhere near Greenfield or McCordsville specifically should confirm current zoning status and any pending development plan directly rather than relying on an older listing description.

What we could and couldn't confirm

Hancock County's zoning-jurisdiction split (Area Plan Commission covering the county except Greenfield, McCordsville, Cumberland, New Palestine, and Wilkinson) is confirmed via the county's own posted planning page and county code. The new Unified Development Ordinance's timeline (August 25, 2026 Area Plan Commission recommendation; early September 2026 Commissioners' approval; applicability to unincorporated county plus Spring Lake and Shirley pending their own approval) is confirmed via The Daily Reporter, Greenfield's local paper of record, though this research pass could not confirm whether Spring Lake and Shirley have since formally adopted it. The Walmart and Amazon fulfillment-center facts are confirmed via Walmart's own corporate newsroom and Greenfield Daily Reporter/WTHR coverage respectively. The 2025 housing-permit figures (nearly 1,160 countywide, up 26%; 171 in Greenfield; 518 single-family homes in McCordsville in 2024) are drawn from Daily Reporter coverage and were not independently cross-checked against a single county-issued annual permit report. Direct WebFetch access to hancockin.gov and greenfieldreporter.com was not attempted in this pass, so current department contact details and the UDO's precise adopted text should be confirmed directly.

Verify directly with: the Hancock County Area Plan Commission for current zoning status and the new Unified Development Ordinance's provisions on a specific parcel, and the Hancock County Health Department for septic permitting

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Hancock County

Direct WebFetch access to hancockin.gov and greenfieldreporter.com was not attempted in this research pass, so several department details reflect search-indexed content rather than a full verbatim site read -- confirm current staff, hours, fees, and the newly adopted Unified Development Ordinance's exact provisions directly before relying on this page for a specific parcel.

Planning & Zoning

Hancock County Area Plan Commission

Zoning verification for Hancock County outside Greenfield, McCordsville, Cumberland, New Palestine, and Wilkinson, including the new Unified Development Ordinance.

Official website →

Building & Permitting