Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Willoughby is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B overall, ranked 491st of 987 in Ohio, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is safety: it reports less crime per resident than 64% of U.S. towns. Expect to pay for it: the typical home is worth about $244K, 3.4 years of the Cleveland metro’s $71K median household income. 13% of the land in Willoughby is conserved, above both Ohio’s towns (3.7%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). On walkability, just 123 of Ohio’s 1,718 towns do better. Willoughby has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Smart Building and Downtown Willoughy Historic District.
Where Willoughby beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Ohio), ordered by how far Willoughby is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 390 in 1840, 23,959 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1903 and 5 maps from 1905 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Willoughby. Close and well known come first.
Big draw17 mi MuseumRock and Roll Hall of Fame580K visitors a year
Big draw17 mi Stadium & arenaProgressive Field
18 mi Stadium & arenaHuntington Bank Field
19 mi National ParkCuyahoga Valley National Park3.0M visitors a year
18 mi Stadium & arenaRocket Arena
14 mi MuseumCleveland Museum of Art410K visitors a yearRock and Roll Hall of Fame: MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Progressive Field: Jsawczuk, Public domain · Huntington Bank Field: Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0 · Cuyahoga Valley National Park: Unknown, Public domain · Rocket Arena: Cards84664, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cleveland Museum of Art: zenbikescience, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Willoughby, 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 Willoughby.
Willoughby gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns and has seen reported crime fall by a fifth or more.
8.9 miles of trail in 12 parks and preserves. Willoughby’s trail density is 0.9 miles per square mile, above both the Ohio town median (0.2) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4). The biggest park or preserve is Gully Brook Park, at 98 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chagrin River Park | 1.2 mi | 86 |
| 2. Gully Brook Park | 0.6 mi | 98 |
| 3. Osborne Park | 0.2 mi | 43 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Willoughby-Eastlake City school district. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is South High School, with 995 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edison Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 543 | C+ |
| South High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 995 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OH on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 84% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 38 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Willoughby.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Chardon weather station, 12 miles away, records that 114 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 98% of U.S. towns.
Willoughby has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Willoughby is 82°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Reported crimes fell from 289 to 209 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 23 reported in 2025, 0.9 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Most working residents leave Willoughby for work: only 11% work in town. 18% of workers work from home in Willoughby. Jobs based in Willoughby fell to 14,065 in 2023, 1,241 fewer than in 2013.
| Willoughby | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 18% | 9.7% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 11% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $71,000 | $75,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
People 65 and older are 24% of residents (18% statewide); children under 18 are 16% of residents (22% statewide). 37% of Willoughby adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more.
| Willoughby | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 16% | 22% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 20% | 18% |
| Median age | 45.6 years | 41.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 24% | 29% |
53% women, 47% men
About 87 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.1 points). Across Ohio, 50.7% of residents are women. Median age: women 47.9, men 42.7.
| Willoughby | OH | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.6% | 11.7% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.6% | 10.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.2% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.3% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.7% | 12.5% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.1% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15% | 13.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.3% | 10.9% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 11.1% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.8% | 8.2% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.1% | 32.1% | 26% |
| Some college | 20% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.5% | 9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25.7% | 19.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.9% | 12.2% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Willoughby beats the Ohio average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1.
| Willoughby | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 34% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 81% | 80% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Willoughby | OH |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 10.1% | 15.3% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.3% | 14.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.3% | 8.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical Willoughby home is worth about $244,000, up 3.3% in a year, close to the Ohio typical home.
| Willoughby | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 63% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,171 a month | $943 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
9 within 15 miles of the center of Willoughby
About 5 of every 100 Willoughby residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Ohio.
13 notable people were born in Willoughby.
City in Ohio, United States
Willoughby is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States, along the Chagrin River. The population was 23,959 at the time of the 2020 census. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Willoughby.
| Town | OH rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willoughby | #491 | B | C | B | B− | B |
| Waite Hill | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Eastlake | #531 | B | B− | — | B− | C+ |
| Mentor | #242 | A− | C | B− | A− | B+ |
| Willoughby Hills | #771 | C | D | — | B− | B− |
| Wickliffe | #200 | A− | B− | B+ | B | B− |
| Kirtland | #56 | A+ | C+ | A+ | A | A− |
| Willowick | #82 | A | B | A | B− | B |
Eastlake and Willoughby Hills report no FBI crime data of their own. Waite Hill isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Willoughby with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Willoughby grades B overall, better than 60% of U.S. towns and #491 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 C.
13 notable people were born here, including Tim Conway and Ethan Carter III.
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