AreaProfile

Lorain, Ohio

Area Profile

65,395 residents. Jobs, income, climate, physical risk, development and airport access for Lorain, in Lorain County.

65
Area Score
Top 43% of 1,482 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1398th of 1,567 published cities36
Growth1082nd of 1,503 published cities38
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,876 published cities91
Climate1331st of 1,876 published cities63
Physical resilienceTop 3% of 1,849 published cities96
AccessTop 44% of 1,876 published cities95
Economic stability1734th of 1,876 published cities33
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.7% and the Opportunity signal places Lorain in the bottom 11%.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Lorain in the top 3% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 17 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
65,395
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$48,685
Bottom 21% nationally
Density
2,770/sq mi
23.6 sq mi of land
Median age
39.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Lorain County
Ohio
Metro area
Cleveland, OH
Nearest major airport
CLE
17 mi · Cleveland-Hopkins Intl
Median home value
$139,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 39% of the 1,567 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.7% over the past year, to 27,600 employed residents.

Median household income of $48,685 is below 79% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,757$48,685Bottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,354$27,589Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate25.2%Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute26.0 minBottom 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher14.8%Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment27,600Top 45%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.1%Top 36%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.7%Bottom 26%June 2026
Labor force28,970Top 45%June 2026
Labor force participation58.6%Bottom 43%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)-1.2%Bottom 3%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 39%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032026/012026/069.33.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.7% in June 2026.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202449k42k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $48,685 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.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $887 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.9 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
21.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$887
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$139,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.86Bottom 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate57.1%Bottom 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±63230,624Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$43$887Bottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,319$139,200Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.9%Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate10.3%Top 49%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
38/ 100
Ranks 1082 of 1,503 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 2 consecutive years, 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 grown 1% since 2020, reaching 65,751 in 2024.

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

At 0.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
45
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.7
Bottom 20% nationally
Year over year
−6%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202466k65k
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
20202021202220232024202513247
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−64%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 20°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 36.7 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ELYRIA LORAIN CO AP, 6.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation36.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low20°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing46°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

96 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Strong windModerate
Ice stormModerate
HailModerate
TornadoModerate
Winter weatherModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: inland flooding, cold wave, lightning, earthquake, hurricane, wildfire, 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.

Taxes

AreaProfile does not yet publish tax comparisons. No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, methodology transparency and update cadence, and the product rule is to omit a dimension rather than estimate it. The Area Score is calculated without a tax component and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Nothing on AreaProfile is individualized tax advice.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 17 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Cleveland-Hopkins IntlCLE17 mi9,953 ft
Mansfield Lahm RgnlMFD46 mi9,001 ft
Akron-Canton RgnlCAK53 mi8,204 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
65
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Other cities in Cleveland, OH

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
ClevelandCuyahoga County366,09768vs Lorain
ParmaCuyahoga County79,87075vs Lorain
ElyriaLorain County53,03572vs Lorain
LakewoodCuyahoga County50,00779vs Lorain
EuclidCuyahoga County48,82366vs Lorain
MentorLake County47,17176vs Lorain
StrongsvilleCuyahoga County45,98380vs Lorain
Cleveland HeightsCuyahoga County44,49775vs Lorain
North RidgevilleLorain County36,62780vs Lorain
BrunswickMedina County35,24676vs Lorain
WestlakeCuyahoga County34,10477vs Lorain
North OlmstedCuyahoga County31,92479vs Lorain

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 Lorain side by side with a similar place.

Lorain vs CantonLorain vs SpringfieldLorain vs MansfieldLorain vs Rochester

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)

Profile recalculated August 29, 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 Lorain

3 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4405228,282$45,02363
4405321,084$67,48468
4405520,043$40,63662