Fort Wayne is located in northeastern Indiana where the St. Joseph's River and St. Marys River join to form the Maumee River and is the county seat of Allen County

An estimated 248,341 people live within the city limits but Fort Wayne is a metropolitan statistical area consisting of a population of 502,141. It is nearly equidistant between Detroit, MI, Chicago, IL, and Cincinnati, OH. It has always been a transportation and communications center for the region, and an incubator for many products and companies, much more so than its size might suggest.

Fort Wayne is a very diverse community. There are 90,915 housing units in Fort Wayne with a racial makeup of 75.45% White, 17.38% Black or African American, 0.39% Native American, 1.56% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.91% from other races, and 2.26% from two or more races and 5.78% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Fort Wayne provides many of the amenities of a larger metropolitan area yet its small town flavor cannot be denied. It has a well-supported art and theatre scene. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art permanently features a 1,300-piece collection, as well as traveling exhibits.

The Fort Wayne area history is tied to the automotive industry. John Lambert built the first gasoline-powered automobile in Fort Wayne in 1891. In the mid twentieth century, the economy was primarily manufacturing much of which related to the automotive industry.

In the more recent decades growth has been based on a more diverse economy. Mid-Size businesses have shown growth throughout the Fort Wayne area. Insurance companies and the finance sector have grown in recent years. Accounting firms such as Baden Gage and Schroeder and the bank headquarters of Star Financial Group have helped fuel this growth.

The family orientation of Fort Wayne is evident. 31.5% of households have children under the age of 18 living with them. The median income for a household in the city is $36,518, and the median income for a family is $45,040. Males have a median income of $34,704 versus $25,062 for females. Families can afford to live in Fort Wayne where the median house value is $76,400.

Fort Wayne is the home of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), with an enrollment of 11,755 is the 5th-largest public university campus in Indiana. The city also holds the main campus of the Northeast Region of Ivy Tech Community College, the second-largest public community college campus in the state. Indiana University (IU) maintains the third public higher educational facility in the city with the Fort Wayne Center for Medical Education, a branch of the IU School of Medicine.