Ohio People and Land
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Northeastern Ohio (NEO) Region

  • The 21 counties of NEO comprise a total of 25% of the state's landmass and an astounding 40% of the total state population.


                                       Ohio Land Uses with an overlay of the Northeast Ohio counties                                     (map source:  B. Stinner, Agroecosystems Management (AMP) Team 2004)
Ohio Landuse
County 2000 Pop.
Ashland 52,523
Ashtabula 102,728
Carroll 28,836
Columbiana 112,075
Coshocton 36,655
Cuyahoga 1,393,978
Erie 79,551
Geauga 90,895
Holmes 38,943
Huron 59,487
Lake 227,511
Lorain 284,664
Mahoning 257,555
Medina 151,095
Portage 152,061
Richland 128,852
Stark 378,098
Summit 542,899
Trumbull 225,116
Tuscarawas 90,914
Wayne 111,564
   
Neo Population 4,546,000
Total Ohio Pop. 11,353,140
% of Ohio 40%

 


Continuing Land Development

In addition to continuing population growth, NEO also experienced a steady development of land.

  • Urban development in Ohio resulted in an additional 828,000 acres of developed land between 1982 and 1997, a 22.9% increase in urban land. The state’s largest increases in urban land occurred in the mid 1990’s. Forty-four percent of Ohio’s urban growth during this 15-year period occurred between 1992 and 1997. In 1997 the state’s urban land totaled 3.61 million acres and accounted for 13.7% of the all land in the state.
  • Ohio is not only one of the most urbanized states in the U.S., but it is one of the most rapidly urbanizing states in the nation. With an increase of over 364,800 acres of urban land between 1992 and 1997, Ohio ranks eighth nationally in acres converted to urban land during this time period.
  • Other states that increased significantly in urban land added substantially more people in the 1990’s than Ohio. When comparing population change between 1992 and 1997, Ohio lagged behind all other top ten urbanizing states except for Pennsylvania.
  • Ohio experienced the largest increase in urban land relative to all Midwestern states between 1992 and 1997. Ohio added 364,800 acres of urban land during this time period.

 


               1948                                                       2002                                  

Developed land in Cleveland, 1948Developed land in Cleveland 2002

 

 

  • Population change has not maintained pace with urban land growth during this time in Ohio metropolitan areas. Urban land growth rates were at least twice the rate of population growth in all Ohio metropolitan areas.

 

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OPAL HOMEPAGE • UPCOMING EVENTS • LINKS • CONTACT

For more information about the Ohio People and Land project, please contact Joseph H. Konen (konen.2@osu.edu ), District Specialist, Urban Programs at the Ohio State University Extension Center at Wooster.