Ohio Rural-Urban Interface Series: RU-1

 

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Section 3: Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Growth, 1950 to 1998

In addition to distinguishing between rural and urban, the census also identifies counties as metropolitan or nonmetropolitan. A county containing a central city with a population greater than 50,000 or a county closely tied to the large central city is designated a metropolitan county. Counties that are not part of a metropolitan area are designated as nonmetropolitan. Map 1 identifies the 15 metropolitan areas in Ohio. Due to the interconnections between the Cincinnati and Hamilton metropolitan areas and the Cleveland and Akron metropolitan areas, they have been designated consolidated metropolitan statistical areas.

• The U.S. Census identified 15 metropolitan areas or parts of metropolitan areas within Ohio in 1993. These 15 metropolitan areas encompass 39 counties and 44.8 percent of the state’s land area. There are 49 nonmetropolitan counties in the state covering 55.6 percent of the land area (Map 1).

Map 1: Ohio’s Metropolitan Areas

• In 1950, there were nearly 8 million total residents in the state, 80 percent living in one of the 39 metropolitan counties (Table 3.1). The 1998 Census estimates indicate 81 percent of Ohio’s 11.2 million residents live in a metropolitan county while 19 percent of the population resides in one of the nonmetropolitan counties.

Table 3.1: Ohio Population by County Metro Character (1950 to 1998)

• For the time period 1950 to 1998, Ohio’s population has grown 41 percent. The population change in metropolitan counties for this time period is 42.4 percent and 35.5 percent in nonmetropolitan counties (Figure 3.1).

• Looking at growth by decades, population change in metropolitan counties exceeded nonmetropolitan population change during the 1950s and 1960s. Metro counties grew about 25 percent during the 1950s while nonmetro counties grew just over 11 percent. Growth in metro counties during the 1960s slowed to about 11 percent, but still exceeded the 4.4 percent population growth in nonmetropolitan counties.

• In the 1970s, Ohio’s metropolitan counties experienced modest population loss (.3 percent loss) while nonmetropolitan counties grew 9.6 percent. Nonmetropolitan growth during the 1970s was documented nationwide and has been referred to as the nonmetropolitan turnaround, since it represented a reversal of historic national patterns of nonmetropolitan population decline.

• Population change in Ohio during the 1980s was modest, with increases of less than one percent in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties.

• Population change in the 1990s, according to U.S. Census estimates, show percent population growth in nonmetropolitan counties is double the increase in metropolitan counties (5.6 percent versus 2.8 percent).

Figure 3.1: Population Change of Metro and Nonmetro Ohio, 1950-98

Breakdown by Metropolitan Character

A metropolitan county can be further distinguished as either a central county or an outlying county. A central county contains the metropolitan areas largest city or 50 percent of the county’s population is part of the central city’s urbanized area. Outlying metropolitan counties have smaller urban populations but are closely tied to the central counties, such as through commuting patterns. In Ohio there are 21 central metropolitan counties and 18 outlying metro. For this analysis, three counties (Clermont, Licking, and Portage) are treated as outlying metro counties rather than central metro counties due to several factors. These three counties just met several of the criteria for achieving "central" status with the 1990 census (for example, each just met the 50 percent urban criteria). These three counties are comparatively more like outlying metropolitan counties than central metro counties in demographic characteristics and as a matter of practical reality (locals would see the county as more like the outlying than the core metro county). For this analysis, 21 counties are grouped as outlying metro counties (labeled as "fringe" metro counties in this report), 18 are central metropolitan counties (labeled as "core" metro counties). The remaining 49 counties are nonmetropolitan. Map 2 identifies the core and fringe designation for Ohio’s metropolitan counties. The further distinction is made between Ohio’s largest metro regions, which are Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus each with metro populations greater than 1 million, and the smaller metro areas of the state.

Map 2: Metropolitan Character of Ohio Counties

• Population growth in Ohio’s metropolitan counties has not been uniform. The population of Ohio’s large and small core metropolitan counties peaked in 1970, while the populations of the fringe counties of the largest metropolitan areas have steadily grown every decade since 1950.

• 42.8 percent of Ohio’s 1950 population was located in one of the seven core counties of the three largest metro regions. In 1998, an estimated 41.2 percent of Ohioans lived in one of these seven counties. Twenty-five percent of Ohio’s 1950 population lived in one of the small core metropolitan counties falling to 22.5 percent in 1998 (computed from Table 3.2).

• In 1950, the 12 fringe counties of the largest metro areas contained 6.5 percent of Ohio’s total population. By 1998, these 12 counties contained 11.6 percent of the state’s total population. Between 1950 and 1998, these 12 fringe metro counties grew from just over a half million to nearly 1.3 million, a net increase of 800,000 (Table 3.2) or about 151 percent (Table 3.3).

• Population change in both large and small core metropolitan counties during the 1950s was over 22 percent, moderating to around 10 percent during the 1960s, and declining or remaining relatively stable since 1970.

• Fringe counties of smaller metro regions have tended to experience population change similar to nonmetropolitan counties, having grown 34.6 percent since 1950 similar to the 35.5 percent growth in nonmetro counties.