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Place dossier plate
SheetOH-AKRON-OH · Akron, OH 189,526 pop · income 17th pct · 138 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Akron
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Akron on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Canton · lowest
39,754
Canton · lowest
39,754 median HH income
47.2% of the leader · rank #1
Wilhoit · near
48,542
Wilhoit · near
48,542 median HH income
57.6% of the leader · rank #2
Ila · near
48,542
Ila · near
48,542 median HH income
57.6% of the leader · rank #3
Farmersburg · near
48,542
Farmersburg · near
48,542 median HH income
57.6% of the leader · rank #4
Warba · near
48,542
Warba · near
48,542 median HH income
57.6% of the leader · rank #5
Akron · this city
48,544
Akron · this city
48,544 median HH income
57.6% of the leader · rank #6
Glendale · highest
84,262
Glendale · highest
84,262 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Akron on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 189,526.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Akron - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Akron lands in the 17th percentile for household income and the 9th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
17th
percentile, household income
14th
percentile, home value
22nd
percentile, median rent
9th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Akron, OH
189,526 people live in Akron, Ohio - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $48,544 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.6%. Akron's housing stock carries a median value of $111,200, and the median resident age is 37.2 years. 23.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 58.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Akron's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3775.3 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Ohio run below the national norm: the state registers 92.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,092 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Ohio's average monthly utility costs around $228 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 55.0 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Akron's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from reported crime to comparison shortlist to population change to housing and income to work and mobility to within-city variation to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Akron, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Akron?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3775.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 66% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Which cities make useful reference points for Akron?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Ohio, the closest population matches are Dayton (136,741 residents, $43,454 income); Toledo (268,461 residents, $47,532 income); Parma (80,131 residents, $67,425 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Providence, RI (190,214 residents); Brownsville, TX (188,023 residents); Glendale, CA (192,270 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -493 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.3% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
PlainCities matches 138 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Akron?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
2.3×
Home value
$111,200
Household income
$48,544
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
74.3%
Work from home
9.6%
Public transit
2.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 87,247 workers age 16+.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 76 public schools within the city match. 23.3% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
17.6%
Bachelor's degree+
23.3%
Matched public schools
76
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living B+
92.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share D
23.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$48,544
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
820 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Akron profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 75/100 (B+) · 92.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 44/100 (D) · 23.3%
Household income: 18/100 (F) · $48,544
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.6%
Violent crime: 1/100 (F) · 820 /100k
Where Akron sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Akron's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Akron highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Akron, OH (this city): home $111,200, crime 3,775/100k
Providence, RI : home $322,800, crime 1,935/100k
Brownsville, TX : home $122,400, crime 2,398/100k
Glendale, CA : home $1,043,900, crime 2,314/100k
Tempe, AZ : home $421,900, crime 3,364/100k
Vancouver, WA : home $440,300, crime 3,990/100k
Dayton, OH : home $93,200, crime 5,673/100k
Toledo, OH : home $107,000, crime 3,773/100k
Parma, OH : home $157,600, crime 830/100k
Canton, OH : home $94,400, crime 4,576/100k
Cincinnati, OH : home $215,300, crime 4,675/100k
Lorain, OH : home $123,500, crime 2,132/100k
How does Akron compare to other US cities?
Here's how Akron stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income17% higher than other cities
Home value14% pricier than other cities
Median rent22% pricier than other cities
Safety9% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Ohio, Akron ranks #261 of 281 Ohio cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Akron against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Ohio only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Ohio-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Akron near the bottom of Ohio's cities
Among the 1,196 Ohio cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Akron ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Akron only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#951 of 1,145
17th percentile in Ohio
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,196
0th percentile in Ohio
Median Home Value
#861 of 1,164
26th percentile in Ohio
Poverty Rate
#196 of 1,196
83rd percentile in Ohio
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#446 of 1,196
62nd percentile in Ohio
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Ohio only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
17th percentile nationally for median household income · 9th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Akron's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Akron's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Akron's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$111,200Among the most affordablemore affordable than 86% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Akron's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,897 of 15,516
More affordable than 81% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#16 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.3×, Akron sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,897 of 15,516 and #16 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$48,544Akron, OH median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Akron, OH median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Akron, OH.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
189,526
Median Income
$48,544
Median Home Value
$111,200
Median Age
37.2
Poverty Rate
17.6%
Labor force participation
58.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3775.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
820.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2955.0
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
76
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Akron's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
190,184 residents
2021
188,696 residents
2022
188,702 residents
2023
188,934 residents
2024
189,332 residents
2025
189,691 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.3%
Carpool
10.9%
Public Transit
2.2%
Walk
1.7%
Work from Home
9.6%
Other
1.3%
Based on 87,247 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Ohio statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $228
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Ohio at $228 (electricity about $105 , water and sewer about $45 ).
These are Ohio statewide averages, not a meter reading for Akron. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Ohio's BEA cost-of-living index is 92.8 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Akron is $1,092/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Ohio statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 55.0 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Ohio statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Akron sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Akron compares to similar-size Ohio cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.