Pataskala, Ohio

Area Profile

18,223 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Pataskala, in Licking County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 11% of 3,904 published cities77
Schools1838th of 2,668 published cities37
Housing affordabilityTop 19% of 4,223 published cities95
Climate2440th of 4,223 published cities68
Physical resilienceTop 24% of 4,182 published cities80
AccessTop 8% of 4,226 published cities99
Economic stabilityTop 23% of 4,226 published cities72
The quick read

Pataskala ranks in the top 11% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.4% and median household income of $92,033.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 18% of median household income and the median home is 3.4 times it.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Pataskala in the top 24% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
18,223
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$92,033
Top 23% nationally
Density
629/sq mi
29.0 sq mi of land
Median age
37.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Licking County
Ohio
Metro area
Columbus, OH
Nearest major airport
CMH
9 mi · John Glenn Columbus Intl
Median home value
$314,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.4% is lower than 87% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.1% over the past year, to 89,710 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,379$92,033Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,341$44,093Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate6.5%Bottom 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.7 minTop 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher29.2%Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment89,710Top 40%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.8%Top 24%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.1%Top 30%June 2026
Labor force92,872Top 40%June 2026
Labor force participation66.5%Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$67,270Bottom 45%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$51,340Top 49%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-1.2%Bottom 4%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.4%Bottom 13%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202492k80k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $92,033 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 — Columbus, OH
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers31,590$28,670
Registered Nurses30,510$83,900
Stockers and Order Fillers30,130$39,040
General and Operations Managers29,070$102,590
Home Health and Personal Care Aides27,580$34,880
Retail Salespersons26,850$33,780

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 Licking County, OH, which contains this city.

51% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 56% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 19.7 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
19.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
51.0%
Bottom 38% in Ohio
Reading proficiency
56.2%
Bottom 46% in Ohio
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Licking Heights High SchoolLicking Heights Local1,42821.3
Watkins Memorial High SchoolSouthwest Licking Local1,39722.2
Watkins Middle SchoolSouthwest Licking Local1,14719.852%52%
Summit Station IntermediateLicking Heights Local83617.827%62%
Licking Heights Middle SchoolLicking Heights Local82019.552%53%
Watkins Intermediate SchoolSouthwest Licking Local80121.169%68%
Lima Ridge ElementaryLicking Heights Local74517.3
Broad Peak ElementaryLicking Heights Local55018.339%39%
Etna ElementarySouthwest Licking Local51116.5
Pataskala Elementary SchoolSouthwest Licking Local45716.973%63%
Pathfinders PreschoolLicking Heights Local17128.5
Southwest Licking Early Learning CenterSouthwest Licking Local16824.0

47.8% 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 $1,387 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.4 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,387
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$314,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.42Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.1%Bottom 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3047,165Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$148$1,387Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$15,203$314,500Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.1%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.4%Bottom 21%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 →

Population has grown 3% since 2020, reaching 18,493 in 2024.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202418k18k
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.

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

6 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 22°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.6 inches, including 28.2 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 42, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station COLUMBUS PORT COLUMBUS INTL AP, 8.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index58.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation41.6"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall28.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index42.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing46°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
42
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

80 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HailElevated
Winter weatherModerate
Strong windModerate
Ice stormModerate
DroughtModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, inland flooding, lightning, heat wave, earthquake, tornado, wildfire, hurricane.

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.

Licking County records 1.7 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 13.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.1 per 100,000 residents in Licking County.

Homicide
1.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
19.7
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 Licking 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 Pataskala rather than Pataskala 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 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
John Glenn Columbus IntlCMH9 mi10,114 ft
Rickenbacker IntlLCK18 mi11,902 ft
Mansfield Lahm RgnlMFD56 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.

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Other cities in Columbus, OH

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
ColumbusFranklin County914,80266vs Pataskala
NewarkLicking County50,783vs Pataskala
DublinFranklin County49,29479vs Pataskala
DelawareDelaware County44,58976vs Pataskala
Grove CityFranklin County42,51773vs Pataskala
LancasterFairfield County41,24966vs Pataskala
ReynoldsburgFranklin County41,22472vs Pataskala
WestervilleFranklin County38,64574vs Pataskala
HilliardFranklin County38,03378vs Pataskala
Upper ArlingtonFranklin County36,29375vs Pataskala
GahannaFranklin County35,48678vs Pataskala
MarysvilleUnion County27,518vs Pataskala

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)
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 Pataskala

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
4306232,037$105,968