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Place dossier plate
SheetOH-SANDUSKY-OH · Sandusky, OH 24,748 pop · income 16th pct · 20 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 Sandusky
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sandusky on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Zanesville · lowest
39,085
Zanesville · lowest
39,085 median HH income
28.5% of the leader · rank #1
Ponchatoula · near
47,821
Ponchatoula · near
47,821 median HH income
34.8% of the leader · rank #2
Icard · near
47,825
Icard · near
47,825 median HH income
34.8% of the leader · rank #3
Sandusky · this city
47,827
Sandusky · this city
47,827 median HH income
34.8% of the leader · rank #4
West Peavine · near
47,829
West Peavine · near
47,829 median HH income
34.8% of the leader · rank #5
Spring Ridge · near
47,829
Spring Ridge · near
47,829 median HH income
34.8% of the leader · rank #6
Pecan Grove · highest
137,275
Pecan Grove · highest
137,275 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 Sandusky 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: 24,748.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Sandusky - the verdict
Nationally, Sandusky sits in the 16th percentile for household income and the 16th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
16th
percentile, household income
11th
percentile, home value
22nd
percentile, median rent
16th
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: Sandusky, OH
Sandusky is a small city in Ohio, home to 24,748 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Sandusky report a median income of $47,827 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 19.2%. Sandusky's housing stock carries a median value of $104,800, and the median resident age is 36.2 years. About 20.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 13 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 117% from five years earlier. Sandusky's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2977.4 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Sandusky's yearly average temperature at 52.0°F with 34.0 inches of precipitation per year.
Living costs in Ohio run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Ohio at 92.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,092 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Ohio run around $228, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Sandusky report an average commute of 17.2 minutes, with 78.4% driving alone and 3.4% working from home. 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 Sandusky'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 housing and income to within-city variation to climate and hazard context to reported crime to work and mobility to schools and households to population change to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sandusky, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Sandusky?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
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.
PlainCities matches 20 Census tracts to this city.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 52.0°F, with 34.0 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Ohio is 55.0 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sandusky?
Within Ohio, the closest population matches are Zanesville (24,726 residents, $39,085 income); Centerville (24,815 residents, $81,500 income); Barberton (24,977 residents, $48,943 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ardmore, OK (24,757 residents); Big Spring, TX (24,769 residents); Fort Dodge, IA (24,788 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.
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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Sandusky?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2977.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 31% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2589.6
Violent rate
387.8
Total reported rate
2977.4
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Sandusky?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.2 minutes.
Public transit
2.3%
Work from home
3.4%
Drive alone
78.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 11,269 workers age 16+.
The NCES join finds 10 public schools within the city match. 20.5% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
10
Bachelor's degree+
20.5%
Poverty estimate
19.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Sandusky growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1,083 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 13 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-4.3%
2025 estimate
24,001
2020 estimate
25,084
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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 F
20.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
388 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$47,827
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Sandusky profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 75/100 (B+) · 92.8 index
Bachelor's+ share: 36/100 (F) · 20.5%
Violent crime: 23/100 (F) · 388 /100k
Household income: 17/100 (F) · $47,827
Poverty rate: 15/100 (F) · 19.2%
Where Sandusky sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Sandusky'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 - Sandusky highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Sandusky, OH (this city): home $104,800, crime 2,977/100k
Ardmore, OK : home $158,800, crime 4,247/100k
Big Spring, TX : home $138,800, crime 3,548/100k
Fort Dodge, IA : home $128,900, crime 4,257/100k
Yukon, OK : home $185,800, crime 1,355/100k
Morton Grove, IL : home $377,000, crime 1,182/100k
Zanesville, OH : home $106,900, crime 3,174/100k
Centerville, OH : home $262,300, crime 1,046/100k
Barberton, OH : home $120,100, crime 2,380/100k
Perrysburg, OH : home $306,500, crime 474/100k
Avon, OH : home $377,100, crime 970/100k
How does Sandusky compare to other US cities?
Where Sandusky sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income16% higher than other cities
Home value11% pricier than other cities
Median rent22% pricier than other cities
Safety16% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Ohio and the picture shifts: Sandusky ranks #246 of 281 Ohio cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Sandusky 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 Sandusky near the bottom of Ohio's cities
Among the 1,196 Ohio cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sandusky ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sandusky only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#959 of 1,145
16th percentile in Ohio
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,196
0th percentile in Ohio
Median Home Value
#931 of 1,164
20th percentile in Ohio
Poverty Rate
#154 of 1,196
87th percentile in Ohio
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#522 of 1,196
56th 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
16th percentile nationally for median household income · 16th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Sandusky's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Sandusky'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 Sandusky's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$104,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 89% 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
Sandusky's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,412 of 15,516
More affordable than 84% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#138 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.2×, Sandusky sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,412 of 15,516 and #138 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$47,827Sandusky, OH median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sandusky, 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 Sandusky, OH.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
24,748
Median Income
$47,827
Median Home Value
$104,800
Median Age
36.2
Poverty Rate
19.2%
Labor force participation
58.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2977.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
387.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2589.6
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
52.0°F
Annual Precipitation
34.0"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
10
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Sandusky's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
25,084 residents
2021
24,842 residents
2022
24,582 residents
2023
24,264 residents
2024
24,166 residents
2025
24,001 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
13
housing units authorized
Single-Family
13
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
6
6
0
$1.7M
2020
18
13
5
$3.9M
2021
14
14
0
$4.8M
2022
20
20
0
$6.2M
2023
16
16
0
$8.6M
2024
13
13
0
$7.7M
Permit volume increased 117% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.2 minutes
Drive Alone
78.4%
Carpool
10.9%
Public Transit
2.3%
Walk
3.0%
Work from Home
3.4%
Other
2.0%
Based on 11,269 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 Sandusky. 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 Sandusky 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 Sandusky sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sandusky 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, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.