Do you remember what you were doing in 2019?
For me, 2019 feels like it was just yesterday, and also a lifetime ago. With the Census Bureau releasing their new 2024 five-year American Community Survey data last Thursday, we now have comprehensive new data to measure how much things have (or have not) changed since the last pre-pandemic year. The Census’ statistical testing tool also provides insights on whether the observed changes are significant or not.
Statewide trends
From 2019 to 2024, more Ohioans worked full time; households earned more income, and fewer people were living in poverty. But housing had gotten more expensive for homeowners and renters alike. The proportion of older adults in Ohio continued to grow, while the proportion of children under the age of 18 shrunk. More Ohioans had bachelor's degrees (or higher), and many more households throughout the state now had broadband internet.
All these changes were significant, but statewide data points hide more nuanced insights into how regions have changed in those five years.
County-level data
To better explore this data, we’ve mapped how ten key indicators changed from 2019 to 2024 across Ohio’s 88 counties, and if those changes were significant.
When looking at these ten maps, be sure to review the headings and legends of each map to assist with interpretation of the data, and hover over the counties for more information.
1. Percent of the population under the age of 18
2. Percent of the population 60 and older
3. Median income
4. Poverty
5. Full time employment
6. Percent of employed residents working from home
7. Median monthly mortgage costs
8. Median rent
9. Percent of residents with a bachelor's degree or higher
10. Broadband access
Census data can only tell us how things have changed; it offers no clear insights on why things have changed.
Percent of the population under the age of 18
The percent of Ohio’s population under the age of 18 has shrunk significantly in the five years between 2024 and 2019, going from 23.1 percent of the population to 22.4 percent. While this decrease in the percentage of children was seen in most counties throughout the state, a handful of counties went against this trend.
Percent of the population 60 and older
Ohio is getting older, with the proportion of adults 60 and older in the state climbing from 23.4 percent to 25.0 percent from 2019-2024, a significant increase. All counties in the state showed an increase in the proportion of this older adult population. Though it is important to note that this increase was significant for most but not all counties.
Median income
Households in Ohio are receiving significantly more income on average in 2024 ($69,768) than in 2019 ($55,767). Only two counties in Ohio did not see a significant increase in median household income.
Poverty
The percentage of Ohioans living in poverty significantly decreased statewide from 14.0 percent in 2019 to 13.3 percent in 2024. A closer look at the county poverty rates however tells a more nuanced story. While poverty significantly decreased in population centers like Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Hamilton Counties, other counties experienced significant increases in poverty. As with all these maps, it is important to note that this map is visualizing the change in poverty rates, not the overall rate, which isn’t typically how poverty is visualized and could lead to confusion. For example, in the southwestern corner of the state, Warren County has one of the lowest poverty rates in the region but is still highlighted in red because that rate grew significantly since 2019.
Employment
A greater proportion of Ohioans are working full time in 2024 than in 2019. The percentage of Ohioans between the ages of 16 to 64 who worked full-time for the full year significantly grew from 65.2 to 66.6 percent. The changes at the county level tell a more detailed story, however. Most of Ohio’s urban population centers experienced significant increases in the number of full-time workers, but so too did more rural areas, such as Harrison, Hocking, and Highland Counties. Only Logan County experienced a significant decrease in residents working full time.
Percent of employed residents working from home
How many Ohioans “work” has significantly changed since the pandemic? In 2019, only 4.2 percent of workers over the age of 16 worked full time from home. In 2024, this rate essentially tripled to 13.0 percent statewide. For most counties, the increase in workers working full time from home increased significantly. Hardin County stands as the one exception to this trend. This metric does not include workers on a hybrid schedule, or who work from home part time.
Median monthly mortgage costs
The median monthly costs of owning a home have increased significantly in Ohio, going from $1282 in 2019 to $1,517 in 2024. This metric is calculated using the Census’ Selected Monthly Owner Costs (SMOC) metric, which includes things like payment for mortgages, real estate taxes, various insurances, utilities, fuels, mobile home costs, and condominium fees. These median costs increased significantly in all but one county. It’s important to note that this map is only capturing households that have an active mortgage loan.
Owned households without an active mortgage loan are calculated separately in the census, but it’s worth noting that median monthly owner costs for households without a mortgage also increased significantly from $479 in 2019 to $588 in 2024.
Median rent
The median monthly rent Ohioans are paying has increased significantly since 2019, climbing from $808 to $1034 in 2024. All counties experienced an increase, and for all but two counties, this increase was significant. The counties including and surrounding Columbus and Cincinnati appeared to experience the greatest increases.
Percent of residents with a bachelor's degree or higher
The percent of Ohioans 25 and older with a bachelor's degree or higher has risen significantly from 28.3 percent in 2019 to 31.5 percent in 2024. While a handful of counties experienced a slight decrease in the percent of the population with bachelor’s degrees, none of these decreases were significant.
Broadband access
The number of households across Ohio that have broadband internet in their homes significantly increased by a staggering eight, climbing from 82.0 percent in 2019 to 90.1 percent in 2024! The increase at the county level was significant for every county, with some counties in the southern and southeastern parts experiencing increases of over fifteen percent!
Methods notes
Community Solutions typically prefers to rely on the American Community Survey’s five-year estimates, as opposed to the one-year estimates. This summary from the Census provides a clear overview of the strengths of five-year estimates compared to the one-year estimates.
Generally, five-year estimates rely on five years of data collection to build a larger sample size for making estimates within a region. This means that the 2024 five-year estimates are using sample data from 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020. Doing so makes these estimates the “most reliable”, according to the census. The primary downside to using five-year estimates is that they are “less current” than their one-year data releases, which rely on a much smaller (and therefore less precise), but more recent samples.
Statistical significance was determined using the Census’ statistical testing tool, which can be used to compare two non-overlapping time periods of data. The tool considers each estimate’s margin of error and provides feedback on whether the differences could have occurred by chance or are representative of meaningful change.
