Lakewood, Ohio

Area Profile

50,007 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Lakewood, in Cuyahoga County.

77out of 100
Area Score
Top 5% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 26% of 3,904 published cities68
SchoolsTop 25% of 2,668 published cities71
GrowthTop 30% of 2,973 published cities62
Housing affordabilityTop 33% of 4,223 published cities90
Climate2391st of 4,223 published cities68
Physical resilienceTop 2% of 4,182 published cities97
AccessTop 8% of 4,226 published cities99
Economic stabilityTop 34% of 4,226 published cities68
The quick read

Unemployment is 2.8% and median household income $68,954, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Lakewood in the top 2% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 6 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
50,007
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$68,954
Top 47% nationally
Density
9,022/sq mi
5.5 sq mi of land
Median age
35.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Cuyahoga County
Ohio
Metro area
Cleveland, OH
Nearest major airport
CLE
6 mi · Cleveland-Hopkins Intl
Median home value
$262,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 2.8% is lower than 97% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.7% over the past year, to 30,718 employed residents.

55% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 91% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,495$68,954Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,177$52,111Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate10.3%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.0 minBottom 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher55.3%Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment30,718Bottom 38%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.5%Top 41%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.7%Bottom 28%June 2026
Labor force31,591Bottom 38%June 2026
Labor force participation74.7%Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$66,310Bottom 35%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$50,140Bottom 43%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 9%June 2026
Unemployment rate2.8%Bottom 3%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.72.5
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 2.8% 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
202120222023202469k58k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $68,954 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 — Cleveland, OH
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
General and Operations Managers29,510$97,750
Registered Nurses28,240$83,940
Fast Food and Counter Workers28,010$28,750
Retail Salespersons24,650$31,000
Stockers and Order Fillers22,660$36,290
Home Health and Personal Care Aides19,400$34,520

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.

69% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 72% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
11
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
68.5%
Top 22% in Ohio
Reading proficiency
72.0%
Top 18% in Ohio
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Lakewood High SchoolLakewood City1,37217.1
Garfield Middle SchoolLakewood City45715.272%57%
Harding Middle SchoolLakewood City44616.572%77%
Grant Elementary SchoolLakewood City32316.175%84%
Emerson Elementary SchoolLakewood City32319.069%64%
Hayes Elementary SchoolLakewood City29220.975%82%
Lincoln Elementary SchoolLakewood City27018.073%86%
Horace Mann Elementary SchoolLakewood City26916.855%73%
Harrison Elementary SchoolLakewood City25514.251%57%
Roosevelt Elementary SchoolLakewood City23316.668%73%
Taft Center for InnovationLakewood City34

39.8% 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 $1,070 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,070
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$262,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.80Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate44.4%Bottom 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±58629,105Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$30$1,070Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,195$262,200Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.6%Top 50%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.7%Bottom 41%2024 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
62/ 100
Top 30% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 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 3% since 2020, reaching 49,517 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

100% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 2.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
130
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.6
Top 47% nationally
Year over year
+6400%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
100.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202451k50k
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
2020202120222023202420259.00.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−100%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 84°F and January a low of 22°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.0 inches, including 63.8 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 54, in the Moderate band, and about 6 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CLEVELAND, 5.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index77.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation41.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall63.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high84°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10062024 calendar year
Median air quality index54.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
54
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
77
90th percentile index
Days above 100
6
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

97 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado and winter weather.

TornadoModerate
Winter weatherModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, inland flooding, heat wave, strong wind, lightning, ice storm, earthquake, hurricane, wildfire, hail, landslide, coastal flooding.

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.

Cuyahoga County records 11.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 16.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 23.5 per 100,000 residents in Cuyahoga County.

Homicide
11.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
23.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.3
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 Cuyahoga 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 Lakewood rather than Lakewood 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. 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.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 6 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Cleveland-Hopkins IntlCLE6 mi9,953 ft
Akron-Canton RgnlCAK43 mi8,204 ft
Mansfield Lahm RgnlMFD59 mi9,001 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
77
Your Score

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

Other cities in Cleveland, OH

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
ClevelandCuyahoga County366,09759vs Lakewood
ParmaCuyahoga County79,87068vs Lakewood
LorainLorain County65,39557vs Lakewood
ElyriaLorain County53,03564vs Lakewood
EuclidCuyahoga County48,82358vs Lakewood
MentorLake County47,17174vs Lakewood
StrongsvilleCuyahoga County45,98380vs Lakewood
Cleveland HeightsCuyahoga County44,49768vs Lakewood
North RidgevilleLorain County36,62774vs Lakewood
BrunswickMedina County35,24674vs Lakewood
WestlakeCuyahoga County34,10477vs Lakewood
North OlmstedCuyahoga County31,92474vs Lakewood

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.

Compare

Put Lakewood side by side with a similar place.

Lakewood vs ParkvilleLakewood vs NorthbrookLakewood vs BereaLakewood vs Woodlawn

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 Lakewood

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4410750,018$68,97077