Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Athens's standout: it is among the most walkable places in the country. Overall it grades C, better than 32% of U.S. towns. It has 15 miles of trail. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $244K, 4.4 years of the Athens area’s $56K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 94% of U.S. towns, with 14 places on the National Register. Athens is a college campus (most residents are students), so it isn’t ranked among Ohio’s towns. 64% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Athens, above both the Ohio town median (24%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). Only 77 of Ohio’s 1,718 towns score lower on hazard risk. Its National Register listings include Ohio University Campus Green Historic District and Athens State Hospital.
Where Athens beats most towns.
Manasseh Cutler Hall, Ohio University
Manasseh Cutler Hall, Ohio University is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 578 in 1810, a low of 578 in 1810, 23,849 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1816 and 5 maps from 1903 on.
14 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Ohio), ordered by how far Athens is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 10%), so the C overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Athens, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Athens.
Athens is shaped by its college students and draws workers from Athens Township and beyond, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Ohio (mostly inland flooding).
Athens’ trail density is 1.5 miles per square mile. The biggest place to walk is The Ridges, 746 acres with 7.4 miles of trail.
| Athens | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.5 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.6% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Ridges | 7.4 mi | 746 |
| 2. Strouds Ridge Reserve Hope Drive Tract | 1.9 mi | 111 |
| 3. Sells Park | 1 mi | 43 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
11,728 jobs are based in Athens, 2 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 16.2 minutes, against 23.4 across Ohio.
40% of residents live below the poverty line in Athens. About one in 3 of Athens’s working residents works in town. The median household income in Athens is $38,000.
| Athens | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 40% | 9.1% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 34% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 16 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 20% | 9.7% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 97% of Ohio towns, with expected losses of about $350 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1978, 26 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Athens.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Athens has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 22° and about 18 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Reported crimes fell from 372 to 203 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 19 reported in 2025, 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
68% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 45.9% across Ohio.
33% of Athens households own their home. The typical Athens home is worth about $244,000, up 3.2% in a year, close to the Ohio typical home.
| Athens | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 33% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,011 a month | $943 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Against the 1,920 U.S. towns with household incomes like Athens’s, it is healthier than 95%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Athens beats the Ohio average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 16. Of the 993 Ohio towns we compare, none has a higher share of adults who report frequent mental distress than Athens.
| Athens | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 18% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 26% | 23% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 38% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 34% | 33% |
| What stands out | Athens | OH |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 3.4% | 8.7% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 14.1% | 29.8% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 18.4% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Athens
College town 57 of every 100 Athens residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Ohio.
14 places in Athens on the National Register of Historic Places.
43 notable people were born in Athens.
City in Ohio, US
Athens is a city in Athens County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 23,849 at the 2020 United States census. Located along the Hocking River within Appalachian Ohio about 65 miles (105 km) southeast of Columbus, Athens is best known as the home of Ohio University, a large public research university with an undergraduate and graduate enrollment of more than 21,000 students. It is the principal city of the Athens micropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Athens grades C overall, better than 32% of U.S. towns. Athens is a college campus (most residents are students), so it isn’t ranked among Ohio’s towns. It grades B− for health, B for safety and B− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
43 notable people were born here, including Maya Lin and Kevin Hartman.
