Most Expensive and Least Expensive Cities to Own a Home in Ohio

Ohio has a diverse landscape, from the Great Lakes shoreline in the north to the Appalachian Mountains in the south. Over 11.6 million people live in the Buckeye State and many of them are homeowners. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 66% of all dwellings are owner-occupied. 

Below, we compare the least affordable and most affordable cities to own a home. It is interesting to note that none of Ohio’s metropolitan cities make either list. 

The Least Affordable Cities to Own a Home in Ohio 

The most striking aspect about the top five least affordable cities is that they are scattered around the outer edges of the state. These are all small cities, with populations under 32,000 people. 

With the exception of East Cleveland, all of these cities are college towns. A large student population may account for overall lower incomes, making homeownership seem more unaffordable than it really is. 

In these cities, between 44% and 62% of the median income goes towards home ownership costs. This is considerably more than the “28% rule” many financial experts recommend. 

The Most Affordable Cities to Own a Home in Ohio

The top five most affordable cities are all suburbs, with median household incomes between $90,953 and $128,638. As with the least affordable cities, these places have relatively low populations. Beavercreek is the most populous at 46,600.

All of these affordable cities are low density and feature plenty of green space, including Huntington Beach in Bay Village and E. Milo Beck Park in Springboro.

In these cities, between 18% and 22% of the median income goes towards housing expenses. Incomes in these cities are considerably more than the state’s median income of $54,533. This income gap may distort the affordability of these cities. Homeownership in any of these places may still be out of the grasp of most Ohio residents.

List of All Cities in Ohio

To see how every city with over 25,000 residents in Ohio stacks up, explore the table below.

Rank	Geographic Area Name	Ownership Costs	Median Household Income	Cost as Percent of Income
1	Springboro	$1,607	$105,458	18.3%
2	Bay Village	$1,739	$102,917	20.3%
3	Beavercreek	$1,572	$90,953	20.7%
4	Hudson	$2,236	$128,638	20.9%
5	Pickerington	$1,676	$92,783	21.7%
6	Mason	$1,745	$96,511	21.7%
7	Avon	$1,945	$104,125	22.4%
8	Dublin	$2,533	$135,514	22.4%
9	Perrysburg	$1,728	$91,281	22.7%
10	Solon	$1,989	$104,625	22.8%
11	Stow	$1,384	$72,782	22.8%
12	Aurora	$1,793	$94,141	22.9%
13	Strongsville	$1,663	$87,264	22.9%
14	Avon Lake	$1,680	$87,525	23.0%
15	Hilliard	$1,844	$95,831	23.1%
16	North Ridgeville	$1,434	$74,309	23.2%
17	Wadsworth	$1,341	$69,329	23.2%
18	Huber Heights	$1,151	$59,491	23.2%
19	Mentor	$1,340	$69,069	23.3%
20	Broadview Heights	$1,721	$88,404	23.4%
21	Westerville	$1,775	$90,443	23.6%
22	Brunswick	$1,348	$68,664	23.6%
23	White Oak CDP, Ohio	$1,246	$63,115	23.7%
24	Tallmadge	$1,388	$69,823	23.9%
25	Sidney	$1,002	$50,338	23.9%
26	Fairfield	$1,222	$61,042	24.0%
27	Gahanna	$1,700	$84,429	24.2%
28	Upper Arlington	$2,329	$115,093	24.3%
29	South Euclid	$1,195	$58,760	24.4%
30	Green	$1,509	$74,167	24.4%
31	Riverside	$991	$48,624	24.5%
32	Boardman CDP, Ohio	$1,111	$54,284	24.6%
33	Twinsburg	$1,582	$77,021	24.6%
34	Cuyahoga Falls	$1,117	$54,250	24.7%
35	Parma	$1,152	$55,536	24.9%
36	Niles	$880	$42,355	24.9%
37	Sylvania	$1,489	$71,563	25.0%
38	Pataskala	$1,520	$72,908	25.0%
39	Lebanon	$1,396	$66,754	25.1%
40	Kettering	$1,204	$56,893	25.4%
41	North Canton	$1,259	$59,389	25.4%
42	Westlake	$1,772	$83,434	25.5%
43	Troy	$1,099	$51,686	25.5%
44	Piqua	$925	$43,468	25.5%
45	Middleburg Heights	$1,316	$61,709	25.6%
46	Streetsboro	$1,356	$63,271	25.7%
47	Centerville	$1,539	$71,221	25.9%
48	Massillon	$1,001	$46,311	25.9%
49	Marysville	$1,535	$70,793	26.0%
50	Eastlake	$1,137	$52,255	26.1%
51	Reynoldsburg	$1,440	$66,037	26.2%
52	Brook Park	$1,136	$51,626	26.4%
53	Grove City	$1,534	$69,479	26.5%
54	Defiance	$1,070	$48,458	26.5%
55	Austintown CDP, Ohio	$977	$44,211	26.5%
56	Miamisburg	$1,340	$60,630	26.5%
57	North Olmsted	$1,410	$63,701	26.6%
58	Berea	$1,314	$59,229	26.6%
59	Medina	$1,420	$63,888	26.7%
60	Barberton	$942	$42,315	26.7%
61	Ashland	$1,002	$44,757	26.9%
62	Delaware	$1,484	$66,035	27.0%
63	Tiffin	$942	$41,778	27.1%
64	Whitehall	$929	$41,022	27.2%
65	North Royalton	$1,595	$70,429	27.2%
66	Findlay	$1,146	$50,480	27.2%
67	Willoughby	$1,322	$58,214	27.3%
68	Norwalk	$1,036	$45,565	27.3%
69	Vandalia	$1,239	$54,379	27.3%
70	Forest Park	$1,263	$54,974	27.6%
71	Oregon	$1,304	$56,599	27.6%
72	Parma Heights	$1,169	$49,326	28.4%
73	Springfield	$882	$37,059	28.6%
74	Chillicothe	$1,052	$44,027	28.7%
75	Marion	$893	$37,333	28.7%
76	Fairborn	$1,121	$46,757	28.8%
77	Xenia	$1,001	$41,611	28.9%
78	Painesville	$1,161	$48,222	28.9%
79	New Philadelphia	$1,054	$43,552	29.0%
80	Fairview Park	$1,401	$57,752	29.1%
81	Hamilton	$1,058	$43,280	29.3%
82	Elyria	$1,064	$43,360	29.4%
83	Rocky River	$1,756	$70,341	30.0%
84	Lima	$879	$35,172	30.0%
85	Mount Vernon	$1,029	$41,098	30.0%
86	Mansfield	$897	$35,697	30.2%
87	Mayfield Heights	$1,343	$53,373	30.2%
88	Maple Heights	$1,034	$41,019	30.2%
89	Newark	$1,067	$42,116	30.4%
90	Garfield Heights	$1,063	$41,841	30.5%
91	Fremont	$905	$35,535	30.6%
92	Columbus	$1,315	$51,612	30.6%
93	Alliance	$893	$35,020	30.6%
94	Sandusky	$932	$36,448	30.7%
95	Shaker Heights	$2,152	$83,420	31.0%
96	Cleveland Heights	$1,473	$56,993	31.0%
97	Wooster	$1,200	$46,384	31.0%
98	Akron	$987	$37,533	31.6%
99	Norwood	$1,205	$44,570	32.4%
100	Middletown	$1,075	$39,520	32.6%
101	Lakewood	$1,409	$51,323	32.9%
102	Lancaster	$1,158	$41,881	33.2%
103	Toledo	$1,026	$37,100	33.2%
104	Steubenville	$993	$35,559	33.5%
105	Canton	$888	$31,735	33.6%
106	Lorain	$1,044	$37,014	33.8%
107	Ashtabula	$847	$29,338	34.6%
108	Youngstown	$781	$26,951	34.8%
109	Euclid	$1,107	$37,662	35.3%
110	Portsmouth	$870	$29,016	36.0%
111	Trotwood	$1,051	$34,948	36.1%
112	Warren	$853	$28,173	36.3%
113	Dayton	$974	$31,395	37.2%
114	Zanesville	$900	$28,258	38.2%
115	Cincinnati	$1,300	$38,542	40.5%
116	Cleveland	$988	$29,008	40.9%
117	Kent	$1,339	$36,441	44.1%
118	Bowling Green	$1,398	$35,310	47.5%
119	Athens	$1,402	$27,435	61.3%
120	Oxford	$1,394	$27,238	61.4%
121	East Cleveland	$1,107	$21,439	62.0%

Methodology

To find the least and most affordable cities in Ohio we turned to the 2018 American Community Survey. We pulled data from the Housing survey as well as the Economic survey to get a fuller picture on home owner affordability in every CDP in Ohio. We then filtered for only CDPs with greater than 25,000 people. To get the affordability margin we took the median monthly housing costs which include mortgage, insurance and tax costs and multiplied by 12. We then divided that amount by the median income for each CDP.

Sources:

State population; Owner-occupied housing, & State median income

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/OH

The “28% Rule”

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/05/030905.asp

https://www.quickenloans.com/learn/percentage-income-mortgage