2020 Census Results: Here's How Cuyahoga County Shrunk

CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OH — The 2020 Census has released its final results, showing how communities across Ohio are divvying up the state's population.

"We are excited to reach this milestone of delivering the first detailed statistics from the 2020 Census," said acting Census Bureau Director Ron Jarmin. "We appreciate the public's patience as Census Bureau staff worked diligently to process these data and ensure it meets our quality standards."

According to the data, from 2010 to 2020, Ohio's population grew by 262,944 people — about 2.3 percent — to 11,799,448 residents. However, that's well below the rate of growth for other states: the U.S. on the whole saw a 7.4 percent population growth.

Cuyahoga County, once Ohio's most populous county, lost more than 1.2 percent of its population between 2010 and 2020, the Census found. That represents a population loss of 15,305 people, bringing the county's population down to 1,264,817 residents.

"Many counties within metro areas saw growth, especially those in the south and west. However, as we've been seeing in our annual population estimates, our nation is growing slower than it used to," said Marc Perry, a senior demographer at the Census Bureau. "This decline is evident at the local level where around 52% of the counties in the United States saw their 2020 Census populations decrease from their 2010 Census populations."

As Northeast Ohio continues to experience an unusually hot housing market, Census data provides a partial explanation. There are simply fewer housing units available. Between 2010 and 2020, the county lost 5,938 housing units, approximately 1 percent of its total stock. The data suggests 9.7 percent of the county's stock is currently vacant.