Lawrence County, OH

County Profile

56,819 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Lawrence County, OH.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

52out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 13% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity711th of 1,255 counties measured53
Schools580th of 973 counties measured43
Growth931st of 1,226 counties measured36
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties measured100
ClimateTop 22% of 1,254 counties measured75
Physical resilience1163rd of 1,255 counties measured19
Access1147th of 1,255 counties measured48
Economic stability1133rd of 1,255 counties measured31
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.2% and median household income $58,325, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

In the public schools here, 53% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.3 students for every teacher.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding and lightning.

At a glance

Population
56,819
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$58,325
Bottom 31% nationally
Density
125/sq mi
453.4 sq mi of land
Median age
41.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Lawrence County
Ohio
Metro area
Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH
Nearest major airport
LCK
86 mi · Rickenbacker Intl
Median home value
$144,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2% is lower than 50% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment grew 0.6% over the past year, to 23,147 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,853$58,325Bottom 31%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,135$30,812Bottom 29%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate17.7%Top 25%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.0 minBottom 45%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher18.5%Bottom 30%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment23,147Bottom 30%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.3%Top 26%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.6%Top 20%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force24,170Bottom 29%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation53.4%Bottom 25%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-1.4%Bottom 1%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate4.2%Top 50%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.83.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.2% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202458k49k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $58,325 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Registered Nurses5,580$81,010
Retail Salespersons4,290$28,220
Home Health and Personal Care Aides3,620$28,740
Cashiers3,510$27,080
General and Operations Managers3,310$77,350
Cooks, Fast Food3,070$22,610

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

53% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 56% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.3 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
24
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
53.1%
Bottom 31% in Ohio
Reading proficiency
56.0%
Bottom 39% in Ohio
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Rock Hill Elementary SchoolRock Hill Local73615.050%55%
Ironton Elementary SchoolIronton City School District60018.260%64%
Dawson-Bryant Elementary SchoolDawson-Bryant Local57018.457%55%
Lawrence CountyLawrence County5696.1
Symmes Valley Elementary SchoolSymmes Valley Local54614.459%54%
Chesapeake Elementary SchoolChesapeake Union Exempted Village49717.177%62%
Chesapeake High SchoolChesapeake Union Exempted Village38020.0
Ironton High SchoolIronton City School District37718.0
Burlington Elementary SchoolSouth Point Local36420.236%46%
Fairland High SchoolFairland Local35910.6
South Point Elementary SchoolSouth Point Local35517.847%55%
Chesapeake Middle SchoolChesapeake Union Exempted Village34215.529%60%

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Ohio’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $848 takes 17% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.5 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
17.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$848
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$144,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.47Bottom 27%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.3%Bottom 39%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4826,536Top 29%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$33$848Bottom 45%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$8,939$144,000Bottom 28%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.4%Top 45%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate14.6%Top 48%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
36/ 100
Ranks 931 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 4% since 2020, reaching 55,829 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
18
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.3
Bottom 4% nationally
Year over year
+13%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202458k56k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420251910
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+90%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 26°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.1 inches, including 19.8 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 43, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station HUNTINGTON TRI STATE AP, 16.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index58.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation45.1"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall19.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low26°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index43.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing42°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
58
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

19 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding and lightning.

Inland floodingHigh
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, landslide, ice storm, winter weather, wildfire, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, strong wind, hail, cold wave, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Lawrence County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 12.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 37.4 per 100,000 residents in Lawrence County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
37.4
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
14.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Lawrence County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Lawrence County rather than Lawrence County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 86 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rickenbacker IntlLCK86 mi11,902 ft
Wilmington Air ParkILN89 mi10,701 ft
John Glenn Columbus IntlCMH98 mi10,114 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
52
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Lawrence County, OH