Portage LakesOH
A town of 5,913, settled in 1923.
Is Portage Lakes a good place to live?
Portage Lakes is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C+ overall, 716th of 987 graded towns in Ohio, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools outperform 53% of the state's. A typical home there costs about $167K, 2.3 years of the Akron metro’s $72K median household income. 9.4% of residents are under 18 in Portage Lakes, where Ohio’s towns sit at 22% and U.S. towns at 22%. On hazard risk, just 148 of Ohio’s 1,718 towns do better. The biggest park or preserve is Portage Lakes Wetland State Nature Preserve, at 62 acres.
What makes Portage Lakes stand out
Where Portage Lakes beats most towns.
0 miles of trails in Portage Lakes
22.6% of the town is conserved land, across 5 parks and preserves.
How Portage Lakes grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Ohio), ordered by how far Portage Lakes is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and 58 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Portage Lakes. Close and well known come first.
Big draw36 mi MuseumRock and Roll Hall of Fame580K visitors a year
Big draw15 mi MuseumPro Football Hall of Fame192K visitors a year
6 mi National ParkCuyahoga Valley National Park3.0M visitors a year
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaProgressive Field
35 mi Stadium & arenaHuntington Bank Field
35 mi Stadium & arenaRocket ArenaPhoto credits
Rock 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
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Moving to Portage Lakes: who provides what
Portage Lakes is unincorporated, so Summit County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Portage Lakes.
Portage Lakes is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay.
Very low risk in Portage Lakes, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 91% of U.S. communities. Since 1983, 5 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Portage Lakes.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Fewer children than Ohio overall
Children under 18 are 9% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 28% of residents (18% statewide). Portage Lakes’ median age is 51.5 years. 33% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Ohio.
| Portage Lakes | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 51.5 years | 41.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 28% | 20% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 33% | 24% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±5.1 points. Across Ohio, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Portage Lakes | OH | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 3.8% | 11.7% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 5.6% | 10.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.2% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 8.7% | 12.5% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 18.5% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.5% | 13.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 15.6% | 10.9% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 12.1% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.6% | 8.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 35.3% | 32.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 19.3% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.2% | 9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18% | 19.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.6% | 12.2% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Portage Lakes has set aside 22.6% of its land for conservation
0.3 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. The trail density in Portage Lakes is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Portage Lakes Wetland State Nature Preserve | — | 62 |
| 2. Confluence Metro Park | — | 37 |
| 3. Logan Field | — | 30 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Portage Lakes has snowy winters and pleasant summers
Portage Lakes has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 20° and about 47 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most of Portage Lakes’ workers commute out: the town has 0.8 jobs for each of them
Most working residents leave Portage Lakes for work: only 3% work in town. Jobs based in Portage Lakes grew to 2,274 in 2023, 406 more than in 2013. 12% of residents live below the poverty line in Portage Lakes.
| Portage Lakes | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $75,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 9.1% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.5% | 6.9% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Portage Lakes is less healthy than 51% of U.S. towns
Against the 9,804 U.S. towns with household incomes like Portage Lakes’s, it is healthier than 69%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Portage Lakes beats the Ohio average on 6 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 82% of Portage Lakes adults had a checkup this year.
| Portage Lakes | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 80% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 26% | 23% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 13% | 12% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 34% | 33% |
| What stands out | Portage Lakes | OH |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.2% | 14.1% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 9.1% | 11.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.4% | 8.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Homes in Portage Lakes sell for about $220K
At 2.3 years of the Akron metro’s $72K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 85% of Ohio towns; that ratio is one input to its B− for cost of living.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Portage Lakes
Colleges nearby
6 within 15 miles of the center of Portage Lakes
About 7 of every 100 Portage Lakes residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Ohio.
About Portage Lakes
Census-designated place in Ohio, United States
Portage Lakes is a census-designated place in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 6,407 at the 2020 census. A suburb directly south of Akron, the community takes its name from the encompassing Portage Lakes. Portage Lakes is a part of Coventry Township. The community includes Portage Lakes State Park, which features boatramps and seasonal beach swimming. Portage Lakes is part of the Akron metropolitan area and is notable as the birthplace of Rockabilly musician Bill Allen (musician).
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 4.9 sq mi
- Elevation
- 965 ft
Portage Lakes’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Portage Lakes.
| Town | OH rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portage Lakes | #716 | C+ | B− | — | B− | B− |
| Coventry Township | #666 | C+ | B− | — | B− | C+ |
| Akron | #963 | D | B | D | C | D |
| Green | #168 | A− | C | — | A | B+ |
Portage Lakes, Coventry Township and Green report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Portage Lakes with a neighbor →
Questions about Portage Lakes
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Portage Lakes, OH a good place to live?
Portage Lakes grades C+ overall, better than 40% of U.S. towns and #716 of 987 in Ohio. It grades B− for health and B− for schools.
Is Portage Lakes, OH expensive?
The typical home is worth about $167,000, 32% below the Ohio typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.