Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
2.8 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Ohio town.
Kenton gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $183K, 2.9 years of the county’s $62K median household income. It grades C overall, 794th of 987 graded towns in Ohio. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 95% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, and the median household income is $56K, and 19% of residents live below the poverty line. On the plus side, it is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 97% of U.S. towns, with 4 places on the National Register. 27% of working residents work locally in Kenton, above both Ohio’s towns (6.8%) and U.S. towns (8%). On civic life, just 4 of Ohio’s 1,560 towns do better. The biggest park or preserve is Saulisberry Park, at 160 acres.
Where Kenton beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Hardin County Courthouse| Widest gap | Kenton | OH |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 11.9% | 8% |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Ohio), ordered by how far Kenton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 299 in 1840, 7,947 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1907 and 4 maps from 1915 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Kenton, 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 Kenton.
Kenton trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and trades workers with Columbus and other neighbors, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Ohio (mostly inland flooding).
Kenton: a quarter of adults say their health is fair or poor. Two figures for adults locally: 36% get no exercise outside work, 18% report frequent physical distress.
| Kenton | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 16% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 28% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 38% | 35% |
| What stands out | Kenton | OH |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 11.9% | 8% |
| More smokers | 21.4% | 15.4% |
| More adults who get no exercise | 35.7% | 26.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Count the trails in 3 parks and preserves and they come to 1.3 miles. Parks and preserves in Kenton: 3, covering 184 acres. The town’s trail network density is 0.3 miles per square mile.
| Kenton | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Saulisberry Park | — | 160 |
| 2. C E Wharton Memorial Park | — | 22 |
| 3. Pioneer Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Homes are within reach (about $183K for the typical one, A+ for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 25 miles. The median property tax bill is $1,273, against $2,822 across Ohio, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Zillow values the typical Kenton home at about $183,000, up 3.3% in a year, 26% below the Ohio typical home. In Kenton, 73% of households live in a home they own.
| Kenton | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $625 a month | $944 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 73% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
In Kenton, the rate of reported violence is 2.6 per 1,000 residents. Its property crime rate comes in at 14.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Kenton | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.6 per 1,000 residents | 1.2 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 14.6 per 1,000 residents | 9.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
A winter brings about 26 inches of snow, with January nights at 19° and July afternoons at 84°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Kenton has about as many jobs (3,428) as working residents, but only 820 people both live and work here.
Kenton’s typical journey to work stands at 22 minutes. The top destinations are Columbus (5%), Bellefontaine (5%) and Buck Township (4%).
| Kenton | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $56,000 | $75,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 90% of Ohio towns; that rating is what its B− for hazard risk is built on.
Federal disaster aid has reached households in Kenton after 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2008. The natural-hazard score from FEMA locally is 61 of 100. 66% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 8%. Paid flood insurance claims in the town since 2006: 14.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
1 within 15 miles of the center of Kenton
About 3 of every 100 Kenton residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Ohio.
4 places in Kenton on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in the United States
Kenton is a city in and the county seat of Hardin County, Ohio, United States, located in the west-central part of Ohio about 57 mi (92 km) northwest of Columbus and 70 mi (113 km) south of Toledo. Its population was 7,947 at the 2020 census. The city was named for frontiersman Simon Kenton of Kentucky and Ohio.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Kenton.
| Town | OH rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenton | #794 | C | A+ | C | C+ | D |
| Buck Township | — | — | A | — | C+ | D |
| Pleasant Township | #708 | C+ | A | — | B− | D |
Buck Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Buck Township and Pleasant Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Kenton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Kenton grades C overall, better than 32% of U.S. towns and #794 of 987 in Ohio. It grades D for health, C for safety and C+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A+.
