City · Wyandot County, Ohio

Upper Sandusky, Ohio

Upper Sandusky is a city in Wyandot County, Ohio. It has 6,558 residents. Upper Sandusky, Ohio has a quality-of-life score of 71 out of 100 (high), ranking #4,537 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Ohio it ranks #118 of 684 cities and towns. It ranks best on hospital quality rating (high), violent crime rate (low) and social associations (high). It ranks worst on access to exercise opportunities (low), comfortable days (low) and dentists (low).

71High

Quality-of-life score: #4,537 of 15,651 cities and towns
Ohio: #118 of 684 in OH
Population: 6,558 (2020-2024)
Land area: 7 mi²
Density: 971.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 3979044

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety73#4,216/15,637
Economy62#5,934/15,631
Housing93#1,050/14,977
Health54#7,231/15,609
Healthcare41#9,287/15,650
Environment53#7,267/15,453
Education69#4,895/15,649
Infrastructure71#4,608/15,650
Community59#6,410/15,651
Leisure & amenities42#9,116/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Upper Sandusky, Ohio ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Wyandot 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

Hospital quality rating · high5.0
98/100Ohio 3.6United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesWyandot County value
Violent crime rate · low42 /100k
98/100Ohio 276 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationWyandot County value
Social associations · high20.0 /10k
98/100Ohio 10.8 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWyandot County value
Job growth · high5.0%
98/100Ohio -0.2%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataWyandot County value
Rent-burdened households · low34.6%
94/100Ohio 45.9%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Primary care shortage · low0.0
90/100Ohio 6.6United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationWyandot County value

Weaknesses

Access to exercise opportunities · low35.4%
4/100Ohio 84.2%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWyandot County value
Comfortable days · low22.6%
5/100Ohio 23.4%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationWyandot County value
Dentists · low28 /100k
9/100Ohio 66 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWyandot County value
Primary care physicians · low28 /100k
10/100Ohio 77 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWyandot County value
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100Ohio 12.2United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationWyandot County value
Pharmacies · low0.9 /10k
12/100Ohio 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsWyandot County value

Trends

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

New homes permittedWorsening
9.0 /1k (2021) → 1.5 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−83%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
78.2% (2015-2019) → 90.3% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$46,774 (2015-2019) → $67,071 (2020-2024)
+43%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
28.0% (2015-2019) → 34.6% (2020-2024)
+6.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Poverty rateWorsening
8.1% (2015-2019) → 11.7% (2020-2024)
+3.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Home price to income ratioImproving
2.7× (2015-2019) → 2.3× (2020-2024)
−12%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, Upper Sandusky, Ohio improved on 2 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 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.

Improved2

Household income+43%$46,774 → $67,071
Broadband+12 points78.2% → 90.3%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Upper Sandusky, Ohio between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.5 min2015-2019	18.4 min2020-2024	+0.9 min	Within the margin of error	37%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%2015-2019	22.9%2020-2024	+1 points	Within the margin of error	34%
Broadband subscriptions	78.2%2015-2019	90.3%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	69%
Effective property tax rate	0.90%2015-2019	0.93%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	13%
High school diploma or higher	92.2%2015-2019	94.2%2020-2024	+2 points	Within the margin of error	59%
Home price to income ratio	2.7×2015-2019	2.3×2020-2024	−0.3×	Within the margin of error	90%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3992015-2019	0.4112020-2024	+0.013	Within the margin of error	39%
Median household income	$46,7742015-2019	$67,0712020-2024	+43%	Improved	78%
Poverty rate	8.1%2015-2019	11.7%2020-2024	+3.6 points	Within the margin of error	17%
Rent as share of income	22.7%2015-2019	24.7%2020-2024	+2 points	Within the margin of error	40%
Rent-burdened households	28.0%2015-2019	34.6%2020-2024	+6.6 points	Within the margin of error	33%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	7.8%2015-2019	5.5%2020-2024	−2.4 points	Within the margin of error	72%

“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 Upper Sandusky, Ohio five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Upper Sandusky, 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, Upper Sandusky, Ohio itself moved +0.1 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

6,558 residents (±309)

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

2,874 households (±186)

Upper Sandusky, Ohio
Ohio share

Under $25k21%607
$25k–50k18%†513
$50k–75k17%492

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,874 households (±186)

Upper Sandusky, Ohio
Ohio share

Own61%1,739
Rent39%1,135

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

3,120 workers (±262)

Upper Sandusky, Ohio
Ohio share

Drive alone86%2,674
Carpool9.3%†290
Public transit0.4%†11

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 Wyandot County, the county holding most of Upper Sandusky's residents.

Wyandot County has 502 employer establishments, 234 for every 10,000 residents (0.94× the US rate of 248; 1.08× Ohio's), with 8,781 paid employees at an average annual pay of $55,337. The Census Bureau also counts 1,470 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 502; 1,470 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 234; US 248 · Ohio 216
Paid employees: 8,781
Average annual pay: $55,337; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	40	18.6	1.01×About typical	582	$13,974	7
Specialty trade contractors	40	18.6	1.20×About typical	719	$84,655	118
Religious organizations	27	12.6	2.27×More than typical	191	$18,204	—
Ambulatory health care services	24	11.2	0.54×Fewer than typical	118	$55,322	42
Limited-service restaurants	19	8.8	1.10×About typical	369	$13,696	—
Building equipment contractors	18	8.4	1.39×More than typical	662	$87,746	17
Truck transportation	18	8.4	1.66×More than typical	207	$71,116	49
Automotive repair and maintenance	17	7.9	1.57×More than typical	63	$29,238	31
Offices of other health practitioners	15	7	1.15×About typical	74	$42,689	16
Full-service restaurants	14	6.5	0.85×About typical	179	$14,168	5
Banks and credit unions	13	6.1	1.87×More than typical	120	$53,117	—
Construction of buildings	13	6.1	0.80×About typical	24	$69,333	65

Rank places for an industry Open Wyandot County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 21,473 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 Upper Sandusky, 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

2.2KFY2017
425FY2018
758.2FY2019
3.8KFY2020
888.5FY2021
2.5KFY2022
283.8FY2023
1.7KFY2025

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 Upper Sandusky, Ohio, so they do not add up across cities.

Upper Sandusky, Ohio's figures are part of those of Wyandot County, OH ($55K 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: Upper Sandusky is mostly in Wyandot County.

See federal money in Wyandot 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.

Upper Sandusky, 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.

Wyandot County77100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Wyandot 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/3979044

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends