Census: Lorain and Medina counties incomes dropped last year

The incomes of typical households in Lorain and Medina counties fell last year and remain well below the inflation-adjusted benchmarks reported a quarter-century ago, according to a newly released Census Bureau report. In Lorain County, the median household income dropped 4.8 percent to $77,145 last year, down from $81,041 in 2024 after adjusting for inflation, according to American Community Survey data. The decline leaves the county's median income — the exact midpoint where half of households earn more and half earn less — more than $10,400 below its inflation-adjusted 1999 peak of $87,611. Medina County households lost even more ground. Its median household income plunged 16.3 percent over the quarter-century, falling from $108,558 in 1999 to $90,900 last year. The city of Lorain saw an even steeper decline. Its median household income of $52,690 last year was 20.1 percent lower than its 1999 high of $65,972. Hannah Halbert, executive director of Policy Matters Ohio, a left-of-center nonprofit research institute that advocates on economic and labor government policies, said she wasn't surprised by the income declines shown in the report. "The latest data from the Census Bureau reinforce what we've long known: Ohio's leaders are not creating policy that benefits everyday Ohioans," she said. "Despite the billions of dollars in tax breaks for corporations — including a budget-busting incentive for data centers — working Ohioans aren't seeing the benefits of Ohio's much celebrated 'Top State for Business' ranking." Lorain and Medina counties are not outliers. Only five of the 38 of the counties included in the report had median incomes higher than their 1999 levels: Delaware, Warren, Ross, Union, and Scioto counties. Even these exceptions showed only modest gains, ranging from 1 percent in Delaware to 11 percent in Scioto. Partly thanks to so many counties reporting declines in income last year, Medina managed to keep its ranking as fifth highest in household income, according to the report. Lorain slipped slightly, falling from 15th to 16th highest income. Ohio also lags the nation. While the national median household income rose 1.2 percent last year to $84,780, Ohio's grew by less than 1 percent to $74,804. The data highlights a widening gap between Ohio and the rest of the nation. Since 1999, the U.S. median household income has increased 3.8 percent. During that same period, Ohio's inflation-adjusted median household income has fallen 6.1 percent, the third-worst change among the 50 states. Urban areas haven't escaped declining incomes. Among Ohio's nine most populous cities included in the report, suburban Parma recorded the highest median household income in 2025 at $75,328, followed by Columbus at $68,993.Cleveland and Akron posted substantial single-year rebounds. Cleveland's median income climbed 16.7 percent to $51,974, while Akron's rose 13.9 percent to $56,750. Canton recorded the lowest median income among major Ohio cities at $43,203, marking a 9.2 percent drop from the previous year. Since the turn of the century, nearly all of Ohio's urban centers have failed to keep pace with inflation. Canton's median income collapsed by 22.7 percent since 1999 — the steepest decline among the state's major cities. Toledo fell 18.6 percent, and Lorain fell 20.1 percent. Cleveland and Cincinnati were the lone urban exceptions to the 26-year decline, posting modest inflation-adjusted gains of 3.1 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively. Experts and researchers disagree on what policy changes are needed to reverse this trend. "There is no silver bullet,'' Ned Hill, a professor of economic development at Ohio State University's John Glenn College of Public Affairs, cautioned. "There is no one easy solution like lower taxes and all of a sudden the Garden of Eden will bloom.'' One certainty is that economists are deeply divided about what caused the decline in incomes. Many blame the exportation of manufacturing jobs to countries with much lower labor costs. Others point to a failure to provide workers with the skills and knowledge necessary for more demanding, high-tech jobs. Hill, who also is a senior research associate at Ohio State's Ohio Manufacturing Institute, sides with those demanding changes in Ohio's schools. "What you really have to do—and the state has been moving in the wrong direction on this—is double down on the quality of education,'' Hill said. "We're making it more difficult for people to get the training they need to be competitive because levels of literacy and numeracy have been dropping.'' Hill blamed the state legislature for "doing all it can to hollow out the public K-12 system.'' "We've turned K through 12 education into kind of this war zone of political wedge issues rather than trying to figure out how kids can learn well and succeed,'' he said. Hill argued Ohio's policymakers are focusing "so much on traditional 4-year BAs that we've discouraged other kids who could have perfectly wonderful tradesmen and technicians careers." Policy Matters Ohio's Halbert was equally critical of the state's lawmakers. "Our schools are badly underfunded, our childcare system remains in crisis, and looming cuts to Medicaid and SNAP threaten even the most essential public services," she said. "It's long past time for legislators to change course and put everyday Ohioans at the center of their policy decisions." Contact David Knox at dknox@paladinreports.com.