Lorain County vs Summit County

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

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

Summit County has the higher population (538,087 vs 314,588 in Lorain County). Summit County has the higher median household income ($71,016 vs $70,693 in Lorain County). Lorain County has the higher median home value ($207,200 vs $195,700 in Summit County).

Population, income & housing

	Lorain County	Summit County
Population	314,588	538,087
Median age	42.1 yrs	41.2 yrs
Median household income	$70,693	$71,016
Median home value	$207,200	$195,700
Median gross rent	$916	$998
Housing units	135,584	247,239
Homeownership rate	73.7%	67.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.9%	35.3%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lorain County	Summit County
Population	307,670 → 314,588 (+2.2%)	541,334 → 538,087 (-0.6%)
Median household income	$58,427 → $70,693 (+21.0%)	$57,181 → $71,016 (+24.2%)
Median home value	$150,500 → $207,200 (+37.7%)	$146,800 → $195,700 (+33.3%)
Median gross rent	$774 → $916 (+18.3%)	$823 → $998 (+21.3%)

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

Summit County

Population

541,334538,087

Median household income

$57,181$71,016

Median home value

$146,800$195,700

Median gross rent

$823$998

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lorain County	Summit County
Under 5	5.4%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.3%	15.4%
18 to 24	8.2%	8.1%
25 to 34	11.4%	13.4%
35 to 44	12.3%	12.3%
45 to 54	12.9%	12.3%
55 to 64	14.1%	14.1%
65 to 74	11.6%	11.4%
75 and over	7.8%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lorain County	Summit County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.1%	74.2%
Black or African American	7.2%	13.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.3%	4.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.3%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	10.8%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lorain County	Summit County
No high school diploma	8.5%	7.1%
High school graduate	31.1%	29.2%
Some college or associate's	32.5%	28.4%
Bachelor's degree	17.4%	22.3%
Graduate or professional degree	10.5%	13.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lorain County	Summit County
Drove alone	78.6%	76.7%
Carpooled	8.1%	7.2%
Public transit	0.4%	0.9%
Walked	1.6%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	10.0%	13.0%
Other means	1.2%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lorain County	Summit County
1-unit, detached	76.2%	71.8%
1-unit, attached	5.5%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	7.1%	7.3%
20 or more units	4.0%	7.4%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Lorain County	Summit County
Poverty rate	12.8%	12.6%
Average household size	2.43	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	25	23
Median year structure built	1972	1965