City · Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Lakewood, Ohio

Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, part of the Cleveland, OH metro area. It has 50,007 residents. Lakewood, Ohio has a quality-of-life score of 66 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,294 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Ohio it ranks #172 of 684 cities and towns. It ranks best on rent-burdened households (low), rent as share of income (low) and natural hazard risk (low). It ranks worst on child care cost burden (high), homicide rate (high) and effective property tax rate (high).

66High

Quality-of-life score: #5,294 of 15,651 cities and towns
Ohio: #172 of 684 in OH
Population: 50,007 (2020-2024)
Land area: 6 mi²
Density: 9,001.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 3941664

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety8#14,334/15,637
Economy53#7,295/15,631
Housing87#2,016/14,977
Health57#6,756/15,609
Healthcare81#3,027/15,650
Environment39#9,434/15,453
Education59#6,370/15,649
Infrastructure91#1,379/15,650
Community43#8,845/15,651
Leisure & amenities80#3,174/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Lakewood, Ohio ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Cuyahoga County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Rent-burdened households · low36.7%
99/100Ohio 45.9%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Rent as share of income · low25.1%
96/100Ohio 28.3%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Natural hazard risk · low3.5
95/100Ohio 14.52025Federal Emergency Management AgencyCuyahoga County value
High school diploma or higher · high95.7%
94/100Ohio 91.8%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Dentists · high111 /100k
94/100Ohio 66 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCuyahoga County value
Primary care physicians · high118 /100k
92/100Ohio 77 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCuyahoga County value

Weaknesses

Child care cost burden · high45.8%
2/100Ohio 31.7%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteCuyahoga County value
Homicide rate · high11.8 /100k
6/100Ohio 5.3 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCuyahoga County value
Effective property tax rate · high1.94%
8/100Ohio 1.36%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Violent crime rate · high510 /100k
10/100Ohio 276 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationCuyahoga County value
Median Air Quality Index · high53
10/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyCuyahoga County value
High ozone days · high5 days
15/100Ohio 3 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyCuyahoga County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

New homes permittedImproving
0.1 /1k (2021) → 11.6 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+19,488%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Child poverty rateImproving
18.9% (2015-2019) → 9.4% (2020-2024)
−9.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
46.5% (2015-2019) → 55.3% (2020-2024)
+8.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
85.3% (2015-2019) → 92.3% (2020-2024)
+7.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$53,290 (2015-2019) → $68,954 (2020-2024)
+29%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.0× (2015-2019) → 3.8× (2020-2024)
+28%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Lakewood, Ohio improved on 6 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 7 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved6

Property tax−0.5 points2.41% → 1.94%
Bachelor's++8.8 points46.5% → 55.3%
Child poverty−9.5 points18.9% → 9.4%
Poverty−3.7 points14.0% → 10.3%
Household income+29%$53,290 → $68,954

Declined2

Price / income+0.8×3.0× → 3.8×
Transit use−2.5 points4.1% → 1.6%

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Lakewood, Ohio between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	23.9 min2015-2019	22.8 min2020-2024	−1.1 min	Within the margin of error	62%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.5%2015-2019	55.3%2020-2024	+8.8 points	Improved	87%
Broadband subscriptions	85.3%2015-2019	92.3%2020-2024	+7.1 points	Improved	44%
Child poverty rate	18.9%2015-2019	9.4%2020-2024	−9.5 points	Improved	81%
Effective property tax rate	2.41%2015-2019	1.94%2020-2024	−0.5 points	Improved	89%
High school diploma or higher	94.0%2015-2019	95.7%2020-2024	+1.7 points	Within the margin of error	55%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	3.8×2020-2024	+0.8×	Declined	29%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4582015-2019	0.4662020-2024	+0.008	Within the margin of error	43%
Median household income	$53,2902015-2019	$68,9542020-2024	+29%	Improved	54%
Poverty rate	14.0%2015-2019	10.3%2020-2024	−3.7 points	Improved	74%
Public transit commuters	4.1%2015-2019	1.6%2020-2024	−2.5 points	Declined	12%
Rent as share of income	25.2%2015-2019	25.1%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Rent-burdened households	38.1%2015-2019	36.7%2020-2024	−1.4 points	Within the margin of error	61%
Unemployment rate	4.6%2015-2019	5.0%2020-2024	+0.5 points	Within the margin of error	39%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	8.2%2015-2019	7.2%2020-2024	−1 points	Within the margin of error	59%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Lakewood, Ohio five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Lakewood, Ohio in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Lakewood, Ohio itself moved +0.6 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

50,007 residents (±58)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

26,876 households (±558)

Lakewood, Ohio
Ohio share

Under $25k16%4,298
$25k–50k19%5,205
$50k–75k19%5,011

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

26,876 households (±558)

Lakewood, Ohio
Ohio share

Own44%11,927
Rent56%14,949

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

30,267 workers (±787)

Lakewood, Ohio
Ohio share

Drive alone67%20,273
Carpool5.6%1,690
Public transit1.6%†471

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Cleveland, OH

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Cuyahoga County, the county holding most of Lakewood's residents.

Cuyahoga County has 31,496 employer establishments, 255 for every 10,000 residents (1.03× the US rate of 248; 1.18× Ohio's), with 681,543 paid employees at an average annual pay of $70,297. The Census Bureau also counts 115,350 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 31,496; 115,350 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 255; US 248 · Ohio 216
Paid employees: 681,543
Average annual pay: $70,297; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Cuyahoga County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	2,553	20.7	1.13×About typical	46,635	$22,955	643
Ambulatory health care services	2,366	19.2	0.92×About typical	42,132	$63,005	6,775
Lessors of real estate	1,403	11.4	0.92×About typical	10,238	$71,798	11,000
Specialty trade contractors	1,313	10.6	0.69×Fewer than typical	18,205	$83,879	6,162
Limited-service restaurants	1,266	10.3	1.28×More than typical	19,867	$19,511	312
Full-service restaurants	983	8	1.04×About typical	22,804	$26,588	242
Legal services	825	6.7	1.24×About typical	8,177	$109,423	1,502
Management, scientific and technical consulting	809	6.6	0.98×About typical	9,215	$97,468	4,503
Services to buildings and dwellings	766	6.2	0.92×About typical	7,730	$37,865	6,900
Offices of physicians	695	5.6	0.87×About typical	16,094	$86,709	1,214
Personal care services	689	5.6	1.17×About typical	4,012	$29,536	6,633
Insurance agencies and brokerages	608	4.9	1.12×About typical	5,948	$82,847	1,459

Rank places for an industry Open Cuyahoga County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 1,234,796 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $184.8K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Lakewood, Ohio: $3.69 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $184.8K; −24% vs FY2025
Per resident: $3.69; US $1,994
Sole-source: 28%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.3%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

U.S. Coast Guard$53.9K29%
Federal Prison Industries / Unicor$36.7K20%
Department of the Air Force$34.1K18%
Department of the Army$29.2K16%
Department of Veterans Affairs$27.3K15%
Defense Logistics Agency$4,6072.5%

Top recipients

KRUEGER INTERNATIONAL, INC.$36.4K20%
4S MEDICAL, LLC$34.1K18%
GEO GRADEL CO$28.8K16%
PRO2HEALTH, INC.$27.3K15%
J. G. EWING SEWER CONTRACTORS, INC.$24.7K13%

Spending by fiscal year

8.8MFY2017
3.3MFY2018
904.4KFY2019
1.2MFY2020
672.5KFY2021
715.9KFY2022
298.9KFY2023
443.3K

Top industries (NAICS)

Building finishing contractors · 2383$36.4K20%
Scientific research and development services · 5417$34.1K18%
Other heavy and civil engineering construction · 2379$28.8K16%
Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing · 3391$26.7K14%
Utility system construction · 2371$24.7K13%
Other specialty trade contractors · 2389

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Lakewood, Ohio

NON-CONTACTING FULL-FIELD REAL-TIME STRAIN MEASUREMENT -$1.2M
MCGAW TECHNOLOGY INC· Cuyahoga County, OH· Research & development· Jun 10, 2022 – Dec 16, 2025· FA865022C2404
OFFICE FURNITURE INSTALLATION$36.7K
KRUEGER INTERNATIONAL, INC.· Cuyahoga County, OH· Equipment maintenance· Sep 10, 2026 – Sep 10, 2026· 15UC0C26F00002297
PRO2-LED-W - IMST PRO2 DEVICE WITH WIRELESS CHARGING AND CHARGING PAD$27.5K
PRO2HEALTH, INC.· Cuyahoga County, OH· Health & medical· Sep 21, 2026 – Sep 21, 2026· 36C24226P1003
REPFAC- REPAIR SEWER LINE

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Lakewood, Ohio, so they do not add up across cities.

Lakewood, Ohio's figures are part of those of Cuyahoga County, OH ($603.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Lakewood is mostly in Cuyahoga County.

See federal money in Cuyahoga County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Lakewood, Ohio is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Cuyahoga County53100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Cleveland, OH64

Other cities and towns in Cuyahoga County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/3941664

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends