The 10 Worst Cleveland Suburbs

The 10 Worst Cleveland Suburbs To Live For 2024

We’ll get the ball rolling with Lorain, the absolute worst place to live around Cleveland according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Lorain beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 5th worst in the Cleveland area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 6th 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 Lorain.

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.

Welcome to Akron. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 28.7 miles to Cleveland. Income levels here are the 6th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $46,596 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.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Cleveland suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Garfield Heights 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.

If you live in East Cleveland, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the lowest Cleveland suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Cleveland. Remember, we looked at 83 cities for this study.

East Cleveland is about 6.3 miles to downtown.

Warrensville Heights has the distinction of being a Cleveland suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Warrensville Heights has the 3rd lowest home values in the metro Cleveland area, where the median price is $114,360. The median income is $214,219.

Warrensville Heights has an unemployment rate of 10.15% which ranks 4th worst.

Maple Heights has 23,473 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 21.62940670679278%.

Ah, Elyria. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Cleveland.

It’s the place with the 35th most out of work residents in the Cleveland metro area (4.9%).

Fairport Harbor is a city about 28.0 miles from Cleveland, but Cleveland probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Fairport Harbor has the 8th most uninsured people, 12th worst incomes, and has the 23rd highest unemployment rate (5.8%) in the entire Cleveland metro area.

Homes only cost $158,688 for a reason. That’s cheap for Cleveland standards.

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 8.5% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst Cleveland suburbs to call home is Brooklyn.

Located 4.7 miles outside the city, Brooklyns is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 13th highest unemployment rate (6.65%), and poverty is far above the area average.