Ironton, Ohio

Area Profile

10,768 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Ironton, in Lawrence County.

52out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 21% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1973rd of 3,904 cities measured56
Schools1733rd of 2,668 cities measured40
Growth1807th of 2,973 cities measured44
Housing affordabilityTop 17% of 4,223 cities measured96
ClimateTop 28% of 4,223 cities measured75
Physical resilience3605th of 4,182 cities measured21
Access4105th of 4,226 cities measured46
Economic stability4076th of 4,226 cities measured25
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.2% and median household income $47,648, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 20% of median household income and the median home is 2.2 times it.

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

At a glance

Population
10,768
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$47,648
Bottom 19% nationally
Density
2,409/sq mi
4.5 sq mi of land
Median age
40.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Lawrence County
Ohio
Metro area
Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH
Nearest major airport
ILN
86 mi · Wilmington Air Park
Median home value
$106,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2% is lower than 55% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

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

Median household income of $47,648 is below 81% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,611$47,648Bottom 19%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,112$27,467Bottom 28%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate23.7%Top 17%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.6 minBottom 33%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher18.8%Bottom 45%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment23,147Bottom 30%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.3%Top 19%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.6%Top 17%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force24,170Bottom 30%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation51.4%Bottom 24%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$56,110Bottom 6%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$44,600Bottom 5%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-1.4%Bottom 1%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.2%Bottom 45%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202448k39k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $47,648 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Lawrence County, OH, which contains this city.

52% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 53% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.1 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
52.5%
Bottom 42% in Ohio
Reading proficiency
52.6%
Bottom 36% 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%
Ironton High SchoolIronton City School District37718.0
Rock Hill Sr High SchoolRock Hill Local32518.1
Ironton Middle SchoolIronton City School District29915.762%52%
Rock Hill Middle SchoolRock Hill Local2849.847%37%
Dawson-Bryant High SchoolDawson-Bryant Local27214.3
Dawson-Bryant Middle SchoolDawson-Bryant Local26220.227%32%

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 20% 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
19.7%
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
$106,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.24Bottom 30%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate59.8%Bottom 20%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2485,243Top 11%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$91$782Bottom 26%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$13,122$106,700Bottom 22%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.7%Top 43%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate13.0%Top 40%of 32,0012024 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
44/ 100
Ranks 1807 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 3 consecutive years, 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 10,147 in 2024.

Permit activity has risen for 3 consecutive years.

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

At 1.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
16
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.5
Bottom 39% nationally
Year over year
0%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202411k10k
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
2022202320242025198.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+138%).

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, 13.4 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

21 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Inland floodingHigh

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. 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 · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
37.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
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 Ironton rather than Ironton 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 86 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Wilmington Air ParkILN86 mi10,701 ft
Rickenbacker IntlLCK90 mi11,902 ft
John Glenn Columbus IntlCMH102 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
52
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Other cities in Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
HuntingtonCabell County45,78746vs Ironton
AshlandBoyd County21,29551vs Ironton
Teays ValleyPutnam County14,151vs Ironton

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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.

ZIP codes in Ironton

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4563819,982$52,72853