Lafayette is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located 63 miles northwest of Indianapolis and 125 miles southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, which contributes significantly to both communities. Together, Lafayette and West Lafayette form the core of the Lafayette metropolitan area, which had a population of 224,709 in the 2021 US Census Bureau estimates.