Defiance County vs Ottawa County

A side-by-side comparison of Defiance County and Ottawa County: population, income, housing, and more.

Defiance County and Ottawa County are counties in Ohio. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Ottawa County has the higher population (40,161 vs 38,258 in Defiance County). Ottawa County has the higher median household income ($75,728 vs $73,615 in Defiance County). Ottawa County has the higher median home value ($200,700 vs $150,900 in Defiance County).

Population, income & housing

	Defiance County	Ottawa County
Population	38,258	40,161
Median age	40.8 yrs	50.3 yrs
Median household income	$73,615	$75,728
Median home value	$150,900	$200,700
Median gross rent	$826	$909
Housing units	16,570	28,762
Homeownership rate	78.6%	83.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.1%	28.5%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Defiance County	Ottawa County
Population	38,160 → 38,258 (+0.3%)	40,632 → 40,161 (-1.2%)
Median household income	$59,931 → $73,615 (+22.8%)	$59,099 → $75,728 (+28.1%)
Median home value	$119,900 → $150,900 (+25.9%)	$152,000 → $200,700 (+32.0%)
Median gross rent	$747 → $826 (+10.6%)	$724 → $909 (+25.6%)

Defiance County

Population

38,16038,258

Median household income

$59,931$73,615

Median home value

$119,900$150,900

Median gross rent

$747$826

Ottawa County

Population

40,63240,161

Median household income

$59,099$75,728

Median home value

$152,000$200,700

Median gross rent

$724$909

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Defiance County	Ottawa County
Under 5	5.8%	3.9%
5 to 17	16.9%	13.8%
18 to 24	8.5%	6.2%
25 to 34	11.6%	10.0%
35 to 44	12.8%	10.2%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.9%
55 to 64	13.2%	16.9%
65 to 74	11.6%	15.9%
75 and over	7.9%	11.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Defiance County	Ottawa County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.2%	90.9%
Black or African American	1.4%	1.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.2%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	10.7%	5.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Defiance County	Ottawa County
No high school diploma	7.7%	5.9%
High school graduate	39.4%	35.2%
Some college or associate's	32.8%	30.4%
Bachelor's degree	13.1%	17.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.0%	10.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Defiance County	Ottawa County
Drove alone	84.2%	83.8%
Carpooled	7.4%	5.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.4%
Walked	1.7%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.0%	6.9%
Other means	0.6%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Defiance County	Ottawa County
1-unit, detached	81.2%	73.0%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	4.9%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	4.3%
20 or more units	1.7%	2.6%
Mobile home & other	4.0%	11.3%

Poverty & households

	Defiance County	Ottawa County
Poverty rate	10.0%	8.4%
Average household size	2.45	2.19
Mean commute (minutes)	20	24
Median year structure built	1967	1974