Ohio Rural-Urban Interface Series: RU-1

 

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Section 4: Focus on Population Change in Counties and Metro Regions

At the county or regional level, Ohio’s population change has varied tremendously as well. In this section, some of the features of population change in Ohio’s three largest metropolitan areas are considered as well as population change in selected counties. Ohio’s three largest metropolitan regions are Cincinnati-Hamilton, Cleveland-Akron, and Columbus. The Ohio counties of the Cincinnati-Hamilton region are Brown, Clermont, Hamilton, Warren and Butler County. The Cleveland-Akron region is comprised of Portage, Summit, Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina counties. The Columbus metropolitan region is composed of Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, and Pickaway.

Change in the Three Largest Metropolitan Regions

Tables 4.1 and 4.2 provide some detail about population change in the three largest metropolitan regions.

• Ohio’s three largest metropolitan regions, comprised of 19 counties, were home to 49.3 percent of the state’s total population in 1950. By 1998, the proportion of the state’s population living in these three regions had risen to 52.8 percent.

• Cleveland-Akron is the largest metropolitan region in Ohio, with 2.2 million residents in 1950 and growing to over 2.9 million in 1998 (Table 4.1).

• The population of the Columbus metropolitan area has grown consistently since 1950, increasing 107.5 percent from 1950 to 1998. The Cleveland-Akron region grew rapidly from 1950 to 1970, but the population of this region has fallen from its 1970 peak. Cincinnati-Hamilton has experienced consistent growth, but at half the pace of Columbus during the 1950 to 1998 time period (58.2 percent versus 107.5 percent).

Change in Selected Ohio Counties

Table A.1 (in the appendix) contains three sets of population data for Ohio’s 88 counties. Counties are rank ordered by selected population attributes in each column of the table.

• The home counties of Cleveland (Cuyahoga), Columbus (Franklin), and Cincinnati (Hamilton) have the largest population of all Ohio counties.

• For the time period 1950 to 1998, 13 Ohio counties have grown over 100 percent, five have grown more than 200 percent, and one Ohio county (Clermont) has grown over 300 percent (see Map 3).

• Of the 10 fastest growing Ohio counties since 1950, nine of the 10 are associated with one of the three largest metro regions. Clermont County, part of the Cincinnati metro region, grew 317 percent between 1950 and 1998. Warren County, of the Cincinnati region has grown 279 percent. Medina and Geauga counties have grown 256 and 233 percent respectively, in the Cleveland metro region. Delaware County, in the Columbus metro region, has grown 204 percent during the 1950 to 1998 time period.

• Six Ohio counties lost population during the 1950 to 1998 time period. Belmont County, part of the Wheeling metro region, and Jefferson, part of the Steubenville metro region have declined over 20 percent since 1950 (22.7 and 21.2 percent respectively). Harrison County, a nonmetropolitan county adjacent to the Wheeling metro region has lost 15.5 percent of its population since 1950. Scioto, Mahoning, and Cuyahoga counties experienced declines of between 0 and 4 percent during this time period.

• Since 1990, 19 Ohio counties have grown an estimated 10 percent or more. Four counties have grown nearly 20 percent or more. Delaware County leads the list, with estimated growth of 37.8 percent since 1990. Warren County has grown an estimated 28.2 percent. Union County, a nonmetropolitan county adjacent to the Columbus metro region has grown 23.5 percent. Fairfield County, another county in the Columbus metro region has grown an estimated 19.8 percent in the 1990s.

Map 3: Population Change by County, 1950 to 1998

• Fourteen Ohio counties are estimated to have lost population during the 1990s. Eight of the nine counties declining two percent or more during the 1990s are metropolitan counties. Jefferson County is estimated to have declined 7.1 percent; Mahoning County, part of the Youngstown metro area, has declined 3.6 percent; and, Lucas, part of the Toledo metro area, has declined 3 percent.

Table A.2 (in the appendix) contains three sets of rural population data for Ohio’s 88 counties. Counties are rank ordered in each of the table’s columns.

• Eleven Ohio counties had 1990 rural populations greater than 50,000 (see Map 4). Nine of these 11 counties are parts of metropolitan areas. Stark County, part of the Canton metropolitan area, has the largest rural population, 80,773. Clermont County, part of the Cincinnati metro region has a rural population of 70,424. Geauga County, part of the Cleveland metro region, has the third largest rural population with 68,406 rural residents.

• Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is located, only has 2,443 rural residents. The next counties with the fewest rural residents are Vinton and Noble.

• Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Hamilton counties have the smallest percent of their total population defined as rural (.2, 3.2 and 3.2 percent rural respectively).

• Eight of the ten counties with the fastest growing rural population from 1950 to 1990 are metropolitan counties (Appendix Table A.2 and Map 5). Four of the ten are part of the Columbus metro area. Geauga County, in the Cleveland metro area, had the largest rural population increase during this time period, 158 percent. Delaware County’s rural population doubled during this forty-year period (increasing 100 percent). Medina County, in the Cleveland metro region, grew 90.8 percent.

• In addition to Delaware County, Fairfield, Pickaway, and Licking Counties of the Columbus metro area all experienced rural population growth of 74 percent or greater from 1950 to 1990.

• Metropolitan core counties have experienced the sharpest decline in rural population (Map 5). Cuyahoga county’s rural population has declined nearly 91 percent since 1950. Montgomery County, where Dayton is located, has had a 53.4 percent rural population decline. Franklin County (Columbus), Summit County (Akron), and Hamilton County (Cincinnati) have all had rural population declines of around 50 percent.

Map 4: Total Rural Population by County, 1990

Map 5: Rural Population Change, 1950 to 1990