Lake County vs Lorain County

A side-by-side comparison of Lake County and Lorain County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lorain County has the higher population (314,588 vs 232,101 in Lake County). Lake County has the higher median household income ($77,952 vs $70,693 in Lorain County). Lorain County has the higher median home value ($207,200 vs $199,900 in Lake County).

Population, income & housing

	Lake County	Lorain County
Population	232,101	314,588
Median age	44.0 yrs	42.1 yrs
Median household income	$77,952	$70,693
Median home value	$199,900	$207,200
Median gross rent	$1,073	$916
Housing units	105,877	135,584
Homeownership rate	75.1%	73.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.5%	27.9%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake County	Lorain County
Population	229,954 → 232,101 (+0.9%)	307,670 → 314,588 (+2.2%)
Median household income	$64,466 → $77,952 (+20.9%)	$58,427 → $70,693 (+21.0%)
Median home value	$156,200 → $199,900 (+28.0%)	$150,500 → $207,200 (+37.7%)
Median gross rent	$897 → $1,073 (+19.6%)	$774 → $916 (+18.3%)

Lake County

Population

229,954232,101

Median household income

$64,466$77,952

Median home value

$156,200$199,900

Median gross rent

$897$1,073

Lorain County

Population

307,670314,588

Median household income

$58,427$70,693

Median home value

$150,500$207,200

Median gross rent

$774$916

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake County	Lorain County
Under 5	4.8%	5.4%
5 to 17	14.8%	16.3%
18 to 24	7.7%	8.2%
25 to 34	12.0%	11.4%
35 to 44	11.8%	12.3%
45 to 54	12.6%	12.9%
55 to 64	15.2%	14.1%
65 to 74	12.5%	11.6%
75 and over	8.6%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake County	Lorain County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.0%	76.1%
Black or African American	4.6%	7.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.4%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.5%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	5.1%	10.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake County	Lorain County
No high school diploma	6.1%	8.5%
High school graduate	31.6%	31.1%
Some college or associate's	31.8%	32.5%
Bachelor's degree	20.0%	17.4%
Graduate or professional degree	10.6%	10.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake County	Lorain County
Drove alone	77.9%	78.6%
Carpooled	7.2%	8.1%
Public transit	0.6%	0.4%
Walked	1.1%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	12.2%	10.0%
Other means	0.8%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake County	Lorain County
1-unit, detached	72.5%	76.2%
1-unit, attached	6.5%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	4.1%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	8.0%	7.1%
20 or more units	6.9%	4.0%
Mobile home & other	1.9%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Lake County	Lorain County
Poverty rate	8.2%	12.8%
Average household size	2.29	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	23	25
Median year structure built	1972	1972