Amherst vs Oberlin

A side-by-side comparison of Amherst and Oberlin: population, income, housing, and more.

Amherst and Oberlin are places in Ohio. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Amherst has the higher population (12,796 vs 8,054 in Oberlin). Amherst has the higher median household income ($93,043 vs $73,775 in Oberlin). Amherst has the higher median home value ($222,700 vs $207,500 in Oberlin).

Population, income & housing

	Amherst	Oberlin
Population	12,796	8,054
Median age	43.4 yrs	24.2 yrs
Median household income	$93,043	$73,775
Median home value	$222,700	$207,500
Median gross rent	$832	$982
Housing units	5,081	2,635
Homeownership rate	87.7%	57.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.3%	54.6%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Amherst	Oberlin
Population	12,108 → 12,796 (+5.7%)	8,296 → 8,054 (-2.9%)
Median household income	$71,775 → $93,043 (+29.6%)	$50,509 → $73,775 (+46.1%)
Median home value	$164,600 → $222,700 (+35.3%)	$160,900 → $207,500 (+29.0%)
Median gross rent	$784 → $832 (+6.1%)	$833 → $982 (+17.9%)

Amherst

Population

12,10812,796

Median household income

$71,775$93,043

Median home value

$164,600$222,700

Median gross rent

$784$832

Oberlin

Population

8,2968,054

Median household income

$50,509$73,775

Median home value

$160,900$207,500

Median gross rent

$833$982

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Amherst	Oberlin
Under 5	4.3%	1.7%
5 to 17	16.7%	9.4%
18 to 24	7.2%	39.5%
25 to 34	9.3%	5.8%
35 to 44	14.5%	6.8%
45 to 54	10.4%	7.4%
55 to 64	15.6%	9.2%
65 to 74	12.4%	8.7%
75 and over	9.5%	11.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Amherst	Oberlin
White (non-Hispanic)	84.5%	68.8%
Black or African American	1.2%	11.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	2.7%	3.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.9%	7.3%
Hispanic or Latino	6.6%	8.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Amherst	Oberlin
No high school diploma	4.1%	4.6%
High school graduate	26.7%	19.9%
Some college or associate's	36.9%	20.9%
Bachelor's degree	20.7%	17.7%
Graduate or professional degree	11.6%	36.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Amherst	Oberlin
Drove alone	79.9%	45.8%
Carpooled	9.6%	6.3%
Public transit	0.2%	1.9%
Walked	0.7%	30.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	2.7%
Worked from home	9.2%	11.2%
Other means	0.4%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Amherst	Oberlin
1-unit, detached	87.1%	61.3%
1-unit, attached	4.6%	7.4%
2 to 4 units	1.5%	18.6%
5 to 19 units	3.2%	3.7%
20 or more units	1.3%	9.0%
Mobile home & other	2.3%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Amherst	Oberlin
Poverty rate	4.5%	18.8%
Average household size	2.61	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	24	16
Median year structure built	1971	1968