Median household income higher in Medina County than Ohio and the United States as a whole

Medina County has the fifth-highest median household income among Ohio's 38 most populous counties, according to data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2023 results. In 2023, Medina County's median household income was $89,647. Adjusted for inflation to 2023 dollars, the median household income for the county was $91,418 in 2022 and $97,520 in 2021. Medina County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Bethany Dentler said the county having a pent-up demand for workers because of the pandemic could account for the spike in 2021. "We saw that in the summer of 2020, lots of companies started hiring very quickly because they had such a backlog of work," she said. The median household income then settled into a more typical rate in 2022 and 2023, Dentler said. It could be decreasing slightly because of the lingering impacts of the pandemic. "I think companies have been a little bit leery, I would say, of expanding themselves too much because they don't know what's going to happen with interest rates and is a recession around the corner?" she said. "I think we're finally beginning to see some stability around that particular overall situation." Medina County's median household income is also greater than Ohio's, which was $67,769 in 2023, and the United States', which was $77,719 in 2023. Dentler said the local economy is resilient, and it is not dependent on one particular industry. "We have, I would say, a solid business base comprised of small to medium-sized companies, family-owned companies," she said. Only 11 states have a higher median household income than Medina County has. Dentler said those states are primarily on the coasts, and they have higher incomes and a higher cost of living. "Medina County is very competitive amongst our neighbors in the Midwest," she said. "There's no Midwestern state that has a higher median household income than Medina County." The American Community Survey also looked at the poverty rate. In 2023, Medina County had a poverty rate of 9.1 percent in 2023, and it was 6.7 percent in 2022. Dentler said it's difficult to do a complete analysis on the poverty line because it changes year to year, but some factors related to the increase could be the increased cost of living and the trend toward automation. "When they're hiring, they're not necessarily hiring masses of people at $10 an hour," she said. "They're hiring more skilled workers at $20 an hour, so that leaves some segment of the economy out in the cold, so to speak. If you don't have the skills or the education, and you're working in certain economies where the industries have automated, then you're more likely to be under that poverty line." The county needs people who work all different jobs at all skill levels, Dentler said. As a result, Medina County is working on developing more resources to build additional affordable housing, such as the Medina County Land Bank. "The people who do live here and who do choose to move here and work here, we want to make sure that they have all of the amenities and the quality of community that we want them to have here in Medina County," she said. "We're going to continue working in as many different directions as we can to make sure to maintain the excellent quality of life we have in Medina County." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.