Van Wert County, OH

County Profile

28,826 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Van Wert 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.

69out of 100
Area Score
Top 26% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity785th of 1,255 counties measured50
SchoolsTop 10% of 973 counties measured83
Growth866th of 1,226 counties measured39
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties measured100
Climate882nd of 1,254 counties measured62
Physical resilienceTop 13% of 1,255 counties measured86
Access1052nd of 1,255 counties measured60
Economic stabilityTop 23% of 1,255 counties measured80
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.2% and median household income $67,917, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

Rent takes 14% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.2 times that income.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published profiles, placing Van Wert County in the top 13% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
28,826
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$67,917
Top 42% nationally
Density
70/sq mi
409.1 sq mi of land
Median age
41.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Van Wert County
Ohio
Metro area
Van Wert, OH
Nearest major airport
TOL
65 mi · Eugene F Kranz Toledo Express
Median home value
$152,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 90% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 1.3% over the past year, to 13,632 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$3,470$67,917Top 42%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,152$34,583Bottom 49%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate9.0%Bottom 18%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute21.4 minBottom 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher17.1%Bottom 23%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment13,632Bottom 10%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-6.3%Bottom 3%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.3%Bottom 35%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force14,079Bottom 10%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation64.0%Top 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-1.2%Bottom 2%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 10%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.02.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.2% 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
202120222023202468k59k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $67,917 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.

66% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 64% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
14
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
66.0%
Top 17% in Ohio
Reading proficiency
64.2%
Top 20% in Ohio
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Van Wert Elementary SchoolVan Wert City69215.757%55%
Van Wert High SchoolVan Wert City50917.0
Vantage Career CenterVantage Career Center4895.8
Lincolnview Elementary SchoolLincolnview Local42616.472%71%
Van Wert Middle SchoolVan Wert City39913.832%42%
Van Wert Early Childhood CenterVan Wert City34321.4
Lincolnview Jr/Sr High SchoolLincolnview Local34313.782%67%
Crestview Elementary SchoolCrestview Local33710.288%83%
Jefferson High SchoolDelphos City26514.7
Crestview High SchoolCrestview Local2498.6
Jefferson Middle SchoolDelphos City24815.579%73%
Crestview Middle SchoolCrestview Local19512.272%77%

66.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

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 $782 takes 14% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.2 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
13.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$782
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$152,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.24Bottom 18%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate82.1%Top 11%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3412,573Top 50%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$64$782Bottom 30%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,904$152,000Bottom 31%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income13.8%Bottom 15%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.1%Bottom 19%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
39/ 100
Ranks 866 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, 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 been broadly flat since 2020, at 28,887 in 2024.

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

At 1.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
48
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.7
Bottom 29% nationally
Year over year
+41%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202429k29k
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
20222023202420254433
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−15%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 18°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 40.4 inches, including 17.1 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station VAN WERT 1 S, 0.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation40.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall17.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing49°F1991-2020 Normals

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.

Physical risk

86 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, earthquake and hail.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 80% of measured US locations.

EarthquakeElevated
HailModerate
TornadoElevated
Cold waveModerate
LightningModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, ice storm, inland flooding, hurricane, winter weather, landslide, wildfire.

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.

Van Wert County records 4.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 12.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 9.7 per 100,000 residents in Van Wert County.

Homicide
4.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
9.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.9
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 Van Wert 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 Van Wert County rather than Van Wert 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

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 65 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Eugene F Kranz Toledo ExpressTOL65 mi10,600 ft
James M Cox Dayton IntlDAY69 mi8,502 ft
Battle Creek Exec At Kellogg FldBTL106 mi10,004 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
69
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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

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 Van Wert County, OH