Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Kent is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B overall, ranked 475th of 987 in Ohio, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 57% of the country. A typical home there costs about $250K, 3.4 years of the Akron metro’s $72K median household income. 27% of residents live below the poverty line in Kent, against 9.1% in Ohio’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. On walkability, just 60 of Ohio’s 1,718 towns do better. Its National Register listings include Aaron Ferrey House and Kent Industrial District.
Where Kent beats most towns.
May 4, 1970, Kent State Shootings Site is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 2,301 in 1870, 28,215 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1866 and 5 maps from 1906 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 Kent is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Kent. Close and well known come first.
Big draw30 mi MuseumRock and Roll Hall of Fame580K visitors a year
Big draw23 mi MuseumPro Football Hall of Fame192K visitors a year
8 mi National ParkCuyahoga Valley National Park3.0M visitors a year
Big draw29 mi Stadium & arenaProgressive Field
30 mi Stadium & arenaHuntington Bank Field
30 mi Stadium & arenaRocket ArenaRock and Roll Hall of Fame: MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pro Football Hall of Fame: Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0 · Cuyahoga Valley National Park: Unknown, Public domain · Progressive Field: Jsawczuk, Public domain · Huntington Bank Field: Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0 · Rocket Arena: Cards84664, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Kent, 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 Kent.
Kent is shaped by its college students, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and trades workers with Akron and other neighbors.
Its public schools are run by the Kent City school district. Two of the 8 schools are below, and why each made the list. The 4 public schools in Kent teach 1,292 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stanton Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 616 | C+ |
| Theodore Roosevelt High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,325 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OH on state tests and graduation
The biggest place to walk is Al Lease Park, 63 acres with 1.5 miles of trail. Across 25 parks and preserves: 9.5 miles of trail. The trail density in Kent is 1.0 miles per square mile.
| Kent | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.0 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 7.2% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Al Lease Park | 1.5 mi | 63 |
| 2. Forest Lake Wildlife Preserve | 0.9 mi | 45 |
| 3. Kame-Esker Bog Park | 0.8 mi | 56 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Kent’s risk rating from FEMA comes in at 22 of 100. Households locally have drawn federal disaster aid in 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2004. FEMA puts 70% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 9% to tornadoes. Paid flood insurance claims in the town since 1978: 4.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Kent has about as many jobs (10,882) as working residents, but only 1,426 people both live and work here.
Kent’s mean commuting time stands at 21 minutes. Most people who work leave Kent to do it: just 14% work in town. 16% of workers do their job from home locally. The top destinations are Akron (10%), Cleveland (7%) and Stow (3%).
| Kent | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $43,000 | $75,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 16% | 9.7% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 6.8% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 3,329 U.S. towns with household incomes like Kent’s, it is healthier than 96%, so its B isn’t only a matter of income.
Kent: just over two in five adults feel lonely. Only 5 of the 993 Ohio towns we compare have a higher share of adults who report frequent mental distress than Kent. Of 32 CDC measures, Kent beats the Ohio average on 8 and trails it on 12.
| Kent | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 18% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 34% | 33% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.4% | 13% | 12% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 26% | 23% |
| What stands out | Kent | OH |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5% | 8.7% |
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 8.4% | 13.2% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 14% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes fell from 374 to 268 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
For Kent, the violent offense rate is 1.8 per 1,000 residents. The town’s level of property crime is 7.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Kent | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.8 per 1,000 residents | 1.2 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 7.8 per 1,000 residents | 9.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
65.6% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 45.9% across Ohio.
A home in Kent typically sold within 22 days of listing. Over the 12 months to September 2026, the typical home gained 4.7% in value. In Kent, 36% of sales closed above the list price.
| Kent | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 41% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $991 a month | $943 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
4 within 15 miles of the center of Kent
College town 37 of every 100 Kent residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Ohio.
14 places in Kent on the National Register of Historic Places.
12 notable people were born in Kent.
City in Ohio, United States
Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,215 at the 2020 census. The city is counted as part of the Akron metropolitan area and the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton combined statistical area. Part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, Kent was settled in 1805 and was known for many years as Franklin Mills. Settlers were attracted to the area due to its location along the Cuyahoga River as a place for water-powered mills. Later development came in the 1830s and 1840s as a result of the settlement's position along the route of the Pennsylvania an…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Kent.
| Town | OH rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | #475 | B | B− | B− | B− | B |
| Franklin Township | #564 | B− | C | — | B− | B |
| Brimfield Township | #544 | B | C | C+ | B+ | B |
| Stow | #290 | B+ | C | B− | B+ | A− |
| Tallmadge | #243 | A− | B− | B | B+ | B+ |
Franklin Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Kent with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Kent grades B overall, better than 61% of U.S. towns and #475 of 987 in Ohio. It grades B for health, B− for safety and B− for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
12 notable people were born here, including Lucius Fairchild and Martin L. Davey.
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