QoL Rank
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Ohio

Ohio has a quality of life score of 55/100 (B, good) and ranks #19 of 51 states. Its strongest category is cost of living (73) and its weakest is quality of life (42). Its top-rated larger counties are Mercer County, Union County, Medina County.

  • Safety: 56
  • Cost of living: 73
  • Education: 47
  • Quality of life: 42

Key figures: violent crime 288.3 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $1,034 a month; median home value $214,800; median household income $67,873; life expectancy 75.2 years.

Counties in Ohio, best first

  1. Mercer County 80
  2. Union County 78
  3. Medina County 78
  4. Auglaize County 78
  5. Delaware County 78
  6. Geauga County 74
  7. Warren County 74
  8. Lake County 72
  9. Wyandot County 72
  10. Putnam County 71
  11. Fulton County 70
  12. Hancock County 70
  13. Wood County 69
  14. Henry County 69
  15. Van Wert County 69
  16. Greene County 68
  17. Shelby County 67
  18. Defiance County 67
  19. Logan County 67
  20. Holmes County 67
  21. Seneca County 66
  22. Miami County 66
  23. Clermont County 66
  24. Wayne County 66
  25. Ottawa County 65
  26. Knox County 64
  27. Darke County 64
  28. Paulding County 63
  29. Ashland County 63
  30. Madison County 63
  31. Williams County 62
  32. Fairfield County 62
  33. Sandusky County 62
  34. Licking County 60
  35. Preble County 60
  36. Huron County 60
  37. Portage County 59
  38. Washington County 59
  39. Champaign County 58
  40. Lorain County 58
  41. Carroll County 58
  42. Allen County 57
  43. Fayette County 57
  44. Clinton County 57
  45. Hardin County 57
  46. Pickaway County 56
  47. Erie County 56
  48. Columbiana County 55
  49. Morrow County 55
  50. Butler County 55
  51. Highland County 55
  52. Crawford County 55
  53. Jefferson County 54
  54. Stark County 54
  55. Trumbull County 53
  56. Belmont County 53
  57. Tuscarawas County 53
  58. Noble County 53
  59. Harrison County 52
  60. Hocking County 52
  61. Summit County 52
  62. Perry County 51
  63. Coshocton County 51
  64. Muskingum County 50
  65. Guernsey County 50
  66. Athens County 49
  67. Richland County 49
  68. Monroe County 48
  69. Hamilton County 48
  70. Franklin County 48
  71. Mahoning County 47
  72. Ross County 47
  73. Brown County 47
  74. Vinton County 47
  75. Lawrence County 46
  76. Clark County 46
  77. Morgan County 45
  78. Scioto County 45
  79. Ashtabula County 45
  80. Jackson County 44
  81. Montgomery County 44
  82. Gallia County 43
  83. Marion County 43
  84. Cuyahoga County 42
  85. Lucas County 41
  86. Meigs County 37
  87. Adams County 35
  88. Pike County 34

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources