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Place dossier plate
SheetOH-WESTERVILLE-OH · Westerville, OH 38,543 pop · income 82nd pct
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 Westerville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Westerville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Atlantic City · lowest
36,220
Atlantic City · lowest
36,220 median HH income
24.0% of the leader · rank #1
Wynantskill · near
107,045
Wynantskill · near
107,045 median HH income
70.9% of the leader · rank #2
Westerville · this city
107,054
Westerville · this city
107,054 median HH income
70.9% of the leader · rank #3
Middlesex · near
107,063
Middlesex · near
107,063 median HH income
70.9% of the leader · rank #4
Lake Telemark · near
107,065
Lake Telemark · near
107,065 median HH income
70.9% of the leader · rank #5
Trowbridge · near
107,083
Trowbridge · near
107,083 median HH income
70.9% of the leader · rank #6
Upper Arlingt… · highest
150,993
Upper Arlingt… · highest
150,993 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 Westerville 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: 38,543.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Westerville - the verdict
Nationally, Westerville sits in the 82nd percentile for household income and the 33rd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
82nd
percentile, household income
71st
percentile, home value
22nd
percentile, median rent
33rd
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: Westerville, OH
38,543 people live in Westerville, Ohio - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Westerville households earn a median of $107,054 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.1%. Typical homes in Westerville are valued around $343,200, and the median resident age is 40.9 years. 58.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 64.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 37 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 77% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 1947.3 crimes per 100,000 residents, near the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 53.9°F with 42.2 inches of precipitation per year and 19.0 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Ohio run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Ohio scores 92.8 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,092 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $228 across Ohio, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 15.2 minutes, with 67.9% driving alone and 25.2% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 55.0 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Westerville'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 work and mobility to climate and hazard context to population change to housing and income to reported crime to comparison shortlist to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Westerville, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Westerville?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.2 minutes.
What physical conditions frame life in Westerville?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 53.9°F, with 42.2 inches of precipitation and 19.0 inches of annual snowfall. 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.
Is Westerville 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 -1,071 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 37 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Westerville?
Within Ohio, the closest population matches are Warren (39,057 residents, $36,955 income); Findlay (40,280 residents, $57,344 income); Hilliard (36,560 residents, $122,864 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Spartanburg, SC (38,578 residents); Wheeling, IL (38,495 residents); Atlantic City, NJ (38,486 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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Westerville?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.1%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$107,054
Home value
$343,200
Value / income
3.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Westerville?
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 1947.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 15% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1726.2
Violent rate
221.1
Total reported rate
1947.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Westerville?
The NCES join finds 23 public schools within the city match. 58.3% 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.
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
23
Bachelor's degree+
58.3%
Poverty estimate
3.1%
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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
58.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$107,054
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B+
3.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Violent crime D
221 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Westerville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 91/100 (A+) · 58.3%
Household income: 80/100 (A-) · $107,054
Poverty rate: 78/100 (B+) · 3.1%
Cost of living: 75/100 (B+) · 92.8 index
Violent crime: 45/100 (D) · 221 /100k
Where Westerville sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Westerville'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 - Westerville highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Westerville, OH (this city): home $343,200, crime 1,947/100k
Spartanburg, SC : home $185,300, crime 6,709/100k
Wheeling, IL : home $244,600, crime 969/100k
Atlantic City, NJ : home $189,600, crime 8,017/100k
Phenix City, AL : home $160,000, crime 4,248/100k
Calexico, CA : home $281,700, crime 682/100k
Findlay, OH : home $183,300, crime 1,948/100k
Hilliard, OH : home $360,000, crime 1,051/100k
Upper Arlington, OH : home $568,200, crime 827/100k
Lancaster, OH : home $180,200, crime 2,531/100k
Reynoldsburg, OH : home $230,300, crime 2,878/100k
How does Westerville compare to other US cities?
Here's how Westerville stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income82% higher than other cities
Home value71% pricier than other cities
Median rent22% pricier than other cities
Safety33% 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, Westerville ranks #203 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 Westerville 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 Westerville near the bottom of Ohio's cities
Among the 1,196 Ohio cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Westerville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Westerville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#116 of 1,145
90th percentile in Ohio
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,196
0th percentile in Ohio
Median Home Value
#72 of 1,164
94th percentile in Ohio
Poverty Rate
#848 of 1,196
28th percentile in Ohio
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#74 of 1,196
94th 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
82nd percentile nationally for median household income · 33rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Westerville's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Westerville'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 Westerville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$343,20029th percentilemore affordable than 29% 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
Westerville's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,728 of 15,516
More affordable than 50% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,182 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.2×, Westerville sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,728 of 15,516 and #1,182 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$107,054Westerville, OH median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Westerville, 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 Westerville, OH.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)58.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
38,543
Median Income
$107,054
Median Home Value
$343,200
Median Age
40.9
Poverty Rate
3.1%
Labor force participation
64.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
58.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1947.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
221.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1726.2
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
53.9°F
Annual Precipitation
42.2"
Annual Snowfall
19.0"
Schools
Total Schools
23
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Westerville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
39,236 residents
2021
38,615 residents
2022
38,426 residents
2023
38,330 residents
2024
38,371 residents
2025
38,165 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
37
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
33
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
159
51
108
$34.9M
2020
21
3
18
$3.2M
2021
20
8
12
$4.5M
2022
2
2
0
$5.5M
2023
11
6
5
$3.8M
2024
37
4
33
$20.1M
Permit volume decreased 77% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.2 minutes
Drive Alone
67.9%
Carpool
3.0%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
2.6%
Work from Home
25.2%
Other
1.0%
Based on 19,207 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 Westerville. 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 Westerville 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 Westerville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Westerville 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.