City · Belmont County, Ohio

St. Clairsville, Ohio

St. Clairsville is a city in Belmont County, Ohio, part of the Wheeling, WV-OH metro area. It has 5,003 residents. St. Clairsville, Ohio has a quality-of-life score of 43 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #8,992 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Ohio it ranks #401 of 684 cities and towns. It ranks best on property crime rate (low), gyms and fitness centers (high) and time spent in the emergency room (low). It ranks worst on child care cost burden (high), preventable hospital stays (high) and job growth (low).

43Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #8,992 of 15,651 cities and towns
Ohio: #401 of 684 in OH
Population: 5,003 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 2,065.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 3969526

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.

Safety64#5,625/15,637
Economy36#10,005/15,631
Housing74#3,859/14,977
Health34#10,342/15,609
Healthcare20#12,575/15,650
Environment21#12,277/15,453
Education78#3,461/15,649
Infrastructure47#8,238/15,650
Community26#11,622/15,651
Leisure & amenities65#5,442/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where St. Clairsville, Ohio ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Belmont 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

Property crime rate · low370 /100k
94/100Ohio 1,429 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationCovers part of the area: some reporting agencies or member counties have no figureBelmont County value
Gyms and fitness centers · high2.0 /10k
91/100Ohio 1.2 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsBelmont County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low117 min
89/100Ohio 161 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBelmont County value
Unemployment rate · low1.4%
88/100Ohio 4.7%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Public libraries · high1.5 /10k
87/100Ohio 0.7 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesBelmont County value
Drought exposure · low5%
86/100Ohio 11%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAABelmont County value

Weaknesses

Child care cost burden · high50.0%
1/100Ohio 31.7%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBelmont County value
Preventable hospital stays · high5,122 /100k
1/100Ohio 3,269 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBelmont County value
Job growth · low-4.6%
2/100Ohio -0.2%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataBelmont County value
Firearm deaths · high26.2 /100k
5/100Ohio 13.9 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBelmont County value
Suicide rate · high27.7 /100k
5/100Ohio 15.5 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBelmont County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Ohio 3.6United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBelmont County value

Trends

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

New homes permittedImproving
0.2 /1k (2021) → 0.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+105%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
28.7% (2015-2019) → 48.9% (2020-2024)
+20 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateWorsening
5.5% (2015-2019) → 18.9% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
21.3% (2015-2019) → 29.3% (2020-2024)
+8 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
82.3% (2015-2019) → 89.2% (2020-2024)
+6.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Poverty rateWorsening
6.3% (2015-2019) → 11.6% (2020-2024)
+5.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

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, St. Clairsville, Ohio improved on 1 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 10 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.

Improved1

Broadband+6.9 points82.3% → 89.2%

Declined1

Rent / income+8 points21.3% → 29.3%

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of St. Clairsville, Ohio between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.5 min2015-2019	20.5 min2020-2024	+3.1 min	Within the margin of error	19%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.9%2015-2019	37.2%2020-2024	+5.3 points	Within the margin of error	70%
Broadband subscriptions	82.3%2015-2019	89.2%2020-2024	+6.9 points	Improved	43%
Effective property tax rate	1.25%2015-2019	1.05%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	59%
High school diploma or higher	96.4%2015-2019	93.2%2020-2024	−3.2 points	Within the margin of error	10%
Home price to income ratio	2.6×2015-2019	2.6×2020-2024	+0.0×	Within the margin of error	77%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3912015-2019	0.4502020-2024	+0.059	Within the margin of error	13%
Median household income	$70,6882015-2019	$76,4802020-2024	+8.2%	Within the margin of error	15%
Poverty rate	6.3%2015-2019	11.6%2020-2024	+5.4 points	Within the margin of error	12%
Rent as share of income	21.3%2015-2019	29.3%2020-2024	+8 points	Declined	13%
Rent-burdened households	28.7%2015-2019	48.9%2020-2024	+20 points	Within the margin of error	8%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	7.9%2015-2019	8.6%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	39%

“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 St. Clairsville, Ohio five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of St. Clairsville, 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, St. Clairsville, Ohio itself moved −17.7 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

5,003 residents (±34)

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

2,101 households (±226)

St. Clairsville, Ohio
Ohio share

Under $25k12%†249
$25k–50k26%†536
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,101 households (±226)

St. Clairsville, Ohio
Ohio share

Own68%1,429
Rent32%672

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

2,409 workers (±263)

St. Clairsville, Ohio
Ohio share

Drive alone82%1,964
Carpool6.5%†156
Public transit0.0%0

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 Wheeling, WV-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 Belmont County, the county holding most of St. Clairsville's residents.

Belmont County has 1,379 employer establishments, 212 for every 10,000 residents (0.85× the US rate of 248; 0.98× Ohio's), with 18,121 paid employees at an average annual pay of $47,998. The Census Bureau also counts 3,331 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,379; 3,331 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 212; US 248 · Ohio 216
Paid employees: 18,121
Average annual pay: $47,998; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	107	16.5	0.90×About typical	2,196	$17,889	10
Ambulatory health care services	102	15.7	0.75×Fewer than typical	1,275	$47,018	166
Specialty trade contractors	64	9.8	0.64×Fewer than typical	596	$65,154	269
Limited-service restaurants	58	8.9	1.11×About typical	1,157	$16,637	7
Religious organizations	54	8.3	1.50×More than typical	203	$18,448	—
Truck transportation	49	7.5	1.49×More than typical	598	$58,779	73
Lessors of real estate	41	6.3	0.51×Fewer than typical	185	$37,027	339
Gasoline stations	40	6.2	1.90×More than typical	386	$29,453	—
Full-service restaurants	35	5.4	0.70×Fewer than typical	929	$18,606	3
Automotive repair and maintenance	34	5.2	1.04×About typical	145	$48,641	76
Offices of other health practitioners	34	5.2	0.86×About typical	393	$30,229	75
Services to buildings and dwellings	32	4.9	0.73×Fewer than typical	509	$53,236	182

Rank places for an industry Open Belmont County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 65,003 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in St. Clairsville, Ohio: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

55.2KFY2017
36.8KFY2018
122.8KFY2019
102.3KFY2020
109.2KFY2021
-3.5KFY2022
2.5KFY2025

What was bought

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 St. Clairsville, Ohio, so they do not add up across cities.

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

See federal money in Belmont 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.

St. Clairsville, Ohio is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Michael A. RulliR-OH-6 · 100% of residentsWith party 96%Missed 5.3%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

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

Belmont County41100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Wheeling, WV-OH40

Other cities and towns in Belmont 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/3969526

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends