More and more people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Cleveland to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises: what suburbs of Cleveland are the worst?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Cleveland ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Cleveland area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Cleveland proper, although Oakwood certainly tries.
We examined the 82 biggest suburbs of Cleveland to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Ohio lists, these places are a little too far downwind of Cleveland in terms of quality of life.
$22,116 median income · $75,766 median home price
Located in
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
We’ll get the ball rolling with East Cleveland, the absolute worst place to live around Cleveland according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, East Cleveland beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the worst in the Cleveland area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s East Cleveland.
You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$48,685 median income · $150,829 median home price
Located in
Lorain County, Ohio
Welcome to Lorain. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 26.0 miles to Cleveland. Income levels here are the 4th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $48,685 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$48,076 median income · $137,894 median home price
Located in
Summit County, Ohio
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Cleveland suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Akron on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Cleveland suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,593 median income · $133,201 median home price
Located in
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
If you live in Garfield Heights, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 11th lowest Cleveland suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the 6th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Cleveland. Remember, we looked at 82 cities for this study.
Garfield Heights is about 5.6 miles to downtown.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$51,516 median income · $222,958 median home price
Located in
Lake County, Ohio
Painesville has the distinction of being a Cleveland suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Painesville has the 24th lowest home values in the metro Cleveland area, where the median price is $222,958. The median income is $231,250.
Painesville has an unemployment rate of 6.5% which ranks 12th worst.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$53,414 median income · $131,579 median home price
Located in
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Maple Heights has 23,258 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 25.4%.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$49,669 median income · $134,771 median home price
Located in
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Ah, Warrensville Heights. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Cleveland.
It’s the place with the 7th most out of work residents in the Cleveland metro area (8.3%).
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,945 median income · $181,557 median home price
Located in
Lorain County, Ohio
Elyria is a city about 23.3 miles from Cleveland, but Cleveland probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Elyria has the 9th most uninsured people, 12th worst incomes, and has the 20th highest unemployment rate (5.6%) in the entire Cleveland metro area.
Homes only cost $181,557 for a reason. That’s cheap for Cleveland standards.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$50,285 median income · $144,364 median home price
Located in
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
If you absolutely have to live near Cleveland, then Euclid might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Cleveland suburb.
About 6.1% of residents are out of work.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$60,833 median income · $239,479 median home price
Located in
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Rounding out the ten worst Cleveland suburbs to call home is Richmond Heights.
Located 10.5 miles outside the city, Richmond Heights is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 4th highest unemployment rate (11.2%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Ohio’s statewide median.
Ohio statewide median: $71,389
Ohio statewide median: $242,141
Ohio statewide median: 4.8%
Ohio statewide median: 13.3%
On the map
Where the worst Cleveland suburbs are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Cleveland for 2026
To figure out how bad a Cleveland suburb is to live in, we used Saturday Night Science to identify the kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.
Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2020-2024, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school dropouts
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
We defined a suburb as any town within 30 miles of Cleveland.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 82 suburbs to evaluate around Cleveland.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 82 in each category, where 1 was the worst.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index, the “Worst Suburb near Cleveland.” We’re looking at you, East Cleveland.
We updated this article for 2026, which reflects our eleventh time ranking the worst suburbs around Cleveland.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Worst Cleveland Suburbs
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Worst Score | Population | Median Income | Median Home Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Cleveland | 12.64 | 13,534 | $22,116 | $75,766 |
| 2 | Lorain | 13.21 | 65,395 | $48,685 | $150,829 |
| 3 | Akron | 13.86 | 189,247 | $48,076 | $137,894 |
| 4 | Garfield Heights | 14.86 | 29,269 | $54,593 | $133,201 |
| 5 | Painesville | 15.64 | 20,548 | $51,516 | $222,958 |
| 6 | Maple Heights | 16.00 | 23,258 | $53,414 | $131,579 |
| 7 | Warrensville Heights | 16.93 | 13,545 | $49,669 | $134,771 |
| 8 | Elyria | 17.00 | 53,035 | $54,945 | $181,557 |
| 9 | Euclid | 19.36 | 48,823 | $50,285 | $144,364 |
| 10 | Richmond Heights | 20.43 | 10,626 | $60,833 | $239,479 |
| 11 | Bedford | 20.43 | 12,931 | $57,308 | $152,982 |
| 12 | Kent | 22.29 | 27,116 | $42,964 | $243,706 |
| 13 | Bedford Heights | 24.29 | 10,847 | $50,269 | $190,891 |
| 14 | Parma | 24.57 | 79,870 | $69,295 | $210,914 |
| 15 | Fairport Harbor | 24.71 | 3,089 | $52,308 | $186,542 |
| 16 | Brooklyn | 25.29 | 11,158 | $69,346 | $201,508 |
| 17 | Brook Park | 26.93 | 18,284 | $71,332 | $191,188 |
| 18 | Northfield | 27.93 | 3,543 | $70,917 | $297,574 |
| 19 | Parma Heights | 28.43 | 20,581 | $61,009 | $214,164 |
| 20 | Cuyahoga Falls | 29.14 | 50,909 | $72,705 | $213,993 |
| 21 | Grafton | 30.21 | 5,657 | $90,724 | $307,182 |
| 22 | Sheffield Lake | 30.71 | 8,966 | $69,632 | $203,339 |
| 23 | Eastlake | 31.00 | 17,493 | $62,072 | $204,855 |
| 24 | Streetsboro | 31.43 | 17,661 | $90,274 | $279,257 |
| 25 | Medina | 34.00 | 25,950 | $77,385 | $374,184 |
| 26 | Mayfield Heights | 34.14 | 20,022 | $66,524 | $228,639 |
| 27 | South Euclid | 34.29 | 21,534 | $81,297 | $178,615 |
| 28 | Willoughby | 35.50 | 24,046 | $71,309 | $239,414 |
| 29 | Tallmadge | 35.71 | 18,335 | $89,410 | $282,064 |
| 30 | Berea | 36.14 | 18,218 | $74,926 | $239,040 |
| 31 | Cleveland Heights | 36.21 | 44,497 | $72,826 | $202,639 |
| 32 | North Royalton | 36.21 | 30,972 | $83,670 | $334,792 |
| 33 | Amherst | 36.50 | 12,906 | $90,725 | $274,430 |
| 34 | Wickliffe | 36.86 | 12,659 | $81,750 | $193,210 |
| 35 | Lakewood | 36.93 | 50,007 | $68,954 | $286,113 |
| 36 | Munroe Falls | 38.86 | 5,000 | $81,214 | $274,601 |
| 37 | Willowick | 38.93 | 14,162 | $77,228 | $191,619 |
| 38 | North Olmsted | 39.79 | 31,924 | $84,363 | $270,520 |
| 39 | Fairview Park | 39.86 | 17,018 | $78,865 | $278,445 |
| 40 | Chardon | 40.07 | 5,249 | $86,613 | $363,602 |
| 41 | Willoughby Hills | 40.79 | 9,975 | $67,214 | $349,448 |
| 42 | Mentor-on-the-Lake | 41.21 | 7,111 | $67,188 | $212,494 |
| 43 | Richfield | 43.07 | 3,721 | $82,560 | $487,652 |
| 44 | Orange | 43.86 | 3,485 | $170,063 | $551,009 |
| 45 | Kirtland | 44.43 | 6,911 | $110,455 | $404,639 |
| 46 | Middleburg Heights | 44.86 | 15,786 | $78,815 | $271,583 |
| 47 | Macedonia | 44.86 | 12,152 | $101,285 | $339,074 |
| 48 | Stow | 45.36 | 34,240 | $93,727 | $284,989 |
| 49 | Brunswick | 45.57 | 35,246 | $90,663 | $313,497 |
| 50 | Olmsted Falls | 46.43 | 8,639 | $96,837 | $297,060 |
| 51 | Mentor | 46.50 | 47,171 | $88,949 | $269,569 |
| 52 | University Heights | 46.86 | 13,394 | $96,971 | $278,811 |
| 53 | Walton Hills | 46.86 | 2,010 | $106,055 | $321,532 |
| 54 | LaGrange | 47.00 | 2,800 | $94,922 | $297,942 |
| 55 | Strongsville | 47.29 | 45,983 | $103,253 | $360,031 |
| 56 | North Ridgeville | 49.21 | 36,627 | $96,698 | $325,234 |
| 57 | Mayfield | 49.21 | 3,321 | $125,962 | $351,601 |
| 58 | Seven Hills | 49.93 | 11,603 | $97,222 | $299,505 |
| 59 | Twinsburg | 52.07 | 19,410 | $99,144 | $354,964 |
| 60 | Westlake | 52.71 | 34,104 | $112,200 | $414,010 |
| 61 | Broadview Heights | 54.14 | 19,771 | $103,125 | $365,133 |
| 62 | Sheffield | 54.64 | 4,380 | $107,837 | $286,293 |
| 63 | Brecksville | 54.93 | 13,692 | $135,000 | $437,032 |
| 64 | Shaker Heights | 55.14 | 28,922 | $104,073 | $342,442 |
| 65 | Lyndhurst | 55.21 | 13,801 | $91,238 | $230,587 |
| 66 | Gates Mills | 56.86 | 2,207 | $231,250 | $758,245 |
| 67 | Beachwood | 57.29 | 13,865 | $106,748 | $483,433 |
| 68 | Solon | 58.43 | 23,943 | $139,089 | $452,828 |
| 69 | Aurora | 58.86 | 17,581 | $127,886 | $428,906 |
| 70 | Rocky River | 59.00 | 21,490 | $94,026 | $393,092 |
| 71 | Fairlawn | 60.57 | 7,711 | $97,055 | $309,743 |
| 72 | Chagrin Falls | 62.00 | 4,201 | $99,672 | $493,592 |
| 73 | Independence | 62.71 | 7,534 | $115,733 | $354,545 |
| 74 | Highland Heights | 63.00 | 8,623 | $122,863 | $418,478 |
| 75 | Moreland Hills | 63.86 | 3,456 | $185,592 | $731,145 |
| 76 | Avon | 64.29 | 25,317 | $135,915 | $471,403 |
| 77 | Avon Lake | 66.07 | 25,752 | $115,567 | $422,131 |
| 78 | South Russell | 66.71 | 3,956 | $171,875 | $487,890 |
| 79 | Pepper Pike | 66.79 | 6,840 | $227,813 | $696,160 |
| 80 | Silver Lake | 67.50 | 2,515 | $139,934 | $359,405 |
| 81 | Hudson | 67.79 | 23,039 | $171,427 | $542,265 |
| 82 | Oakwood | 71.86 | 9,458 | $156,667 | $396,573 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 82 suburbs within 30 miles of Cleveland.
Summary
Summary: The areas around Cleveland where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2026
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Cleveland with East Cleveland casting itself ahead of the pack.
The worst suburbs of Cleveland are East Cleveland, Lorain, Akron, Garfield Heights, Painesville, Maple Heights, Warrensville Heights, Elyria, Euclid, and Richmond Heights.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Cleveland aren’t all bad. Oakwood takes the cake as the best place to live around Cleveland. Not sold on Ohio? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Worst Suburbs Of Cleveland FAQs
What is the worst suburb of Cleveland?
East Cleveland ranks as the worst suburb around Cleveland for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. Lorain and Akron are next on the list.
What are the worst suburbs of Cleveland?
The worst-ranked suburbs around Cleveland are East Cleveland, Lorain, Akron, Garfield Heights, Painesville, Maple Heights, Warrensville Heights, Elyria, Euclid, and Richmond Heights. We scored all 82 places within 30 miles.
Why does East Cleveland rank as the worst suburb?
East Cleveland posts the roughest combined numbers of the 82 suburbs we scored: a median household income of $22,116, a median home value of $75,766, and a poverty rate of 40.7%.
What is the best-ranked suburb near Cleveland?
Oakwood lands at the opposite end of this ranking, making it the best-ranked suburb near Cleveland by these measures. Our separate best suburbs of Cleveland list covers that side properly.
How do you rank the worst suburbs?
Suburbs are scored on unemployment, income, density, home values, dropouts, poverty, and insurance coverage, using Census American Community Survey data. Real numbers, light heart — every one of these towns has people making it work.
