Lorain County () is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the northeastern part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

As of the 2020 census, the population was 312,964. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Elyria, and its largest city is Lorain. The county was physically established in 1822, becoming judicially independent in 1824. Lorain County is part of the Cleveland, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county is home to

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

History

Lorain County was established in 1822 from portions of several of its adjacent counties. This county became judicially-independent in 1824. The original proposed name for the county was "Colerain". The final name "Lorain" was chosen by Heman Ely, who had founded and named the city of Elyria. The county's name is based on the former German and now French province of

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the county has an area of , of which is land and (47%) is water. It is Ohio's fourth-largest county by area.

Adjacent counties

Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or , see ) is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The county seat and most populous city is Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,264,817, making it the second ...

(east) * Medina County (southeast) * Ashland County (south) * Huron County (southwest) * Erie County (west)

Major highways

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

( Ohio Turnpike) *

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...

( Ohio Turnpike) * Interstate 480 * U.S. Route 6 * U.S. Route 20 * State Route 2 * State Route 10 * State Route 18 * State Route 57 * State Route 58 * Ohio Route 82 * Ohio Route 83 * State Route 113 * Ohio Route 162 * Ohio Route 252 * Ohio Route 254 * Ohio Route 301 * Ohio Route 303 * Ohio Route 511 * Ohio Route 611

Demographics

2020 census

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 301,356 people, 116,274 households, and 80,077 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 127,036 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 84.8% white, 8.6% black or African American, 0.9% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 2.5% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 8.4% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 26.5% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 16.7% were Irish, 10.9% were English, 8.4% were Polish, 8.2% were

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, 6.2% were American, and 5.2% were Hungarian. Of the 116,274 households, 32.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together, 13.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 31.1% were non-families, and 26.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.02. The median age was 40.0 years. The median income for a household in the county was $52,066 and the median income for a family was $62,082. Males had a median income of $49,146 versus $35,334 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,002. About 10.3% of families and 13.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 20.5% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Higher education

* Lorain County Community College, Elyria *

, Oberlin

Public school districts

There are 20 public school districts in Lorain County. Those primarily in Lorain County are listed in bold. Each district's high school(s) and location is also listed. * Amherst Exempted Village School District ** Amherst Marion L. Steele High School, Amherst * Avon Local School District ** Avon High School, Avon * Avon Lake City School District ** Avon Lake High School, Avon Lake * ''Black River Local School District'' (also in Medina Co and Ashland Co.) ** Black River High School, Sullivan * Clearview Local School District ** Clearview High School, Lorain * Columbia Local School District ** Columbia High School, Columbia Station * Elyria City School District ** Elyria High School, Elyria * Firelands Local School District (also in Erie Co.) ** Firelands High School, Henrietta Twp (Oberlin) * Keystone Local School District ** Keystone High School, LaGrange * Lorain City School District ** Lorain High School, Lorain * ''Mapleton Local School District'' (Primarily in Ashland Co.) ** Mapleton High School, Ashland * Midview Local School District ** Midview High School, Eaton Twp (Grafton) * ''New London Local School District'' (primarily in Huron Co.) ** New London High School, New London * North Ridgeville City School District ** North Ridgeville High School, North Ridgeville * Oberlin City School District ** Oberlin High School, Oberlin * ''Olmsted Falls City Schools'' (primarily in Cuyahoga Co.) ** Olmsted Falls High School, Olmsted Falls * Sheffield-Sheffield Lake City School District ** Brookside High School, Sheffield * ''Strongsville City School District'' (primarily in Cuyahoga Co.) ** Strongsville High School, Strongsville * ''Vermilion Local Schools'' (primarily in Erie Co.) ** Vermilion High School, Vermilion * Wellington Exempted Village School District (also in Huron Co.) ** Wellington High School, Wellington The county also includes the Lorain County Joint Vocational School District, which encompasses the entire county and serves students from the Amherst, Avon, Avon Lake, Clearview, Columbia, Elyria, Firelands, Keystone, Midview, North Ridgeville, Oberlin, Sheffield-Sheffield Lake and Wellington school districts from a 10-acre campus on a 100-acre site near the intersection of State Route 58 and U.S. Route 20 in Oberlin.

Private high schools

* Elyria Catholic High School, Elyria *

Lake Ridge Academy Lake Ridge Academy (LRA) is an independent, nonsectarian day school in North Ridgeville, Ohio, United States. The school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, bu ...

, North Ridgeville * Open Door Christian School, Elyria * Christian Community School, North Eaton * First Baptist Christian School, Elyria

Government

As of 2025, the following county-wide elected officials are in office:

Politics

Lorain County used to lean Democratic in more recent presidential elections, voting for the Democratic candidate for president from 1988 to 2012. In 2016, however, the county was almost swept up as part of the unexpected Republican surge in the

Rust Belt The Rust Belt, formerly the Steel Belt or Factory Belt, is an area of the United States that underwent substantial Deindustrialization, industrial decline in the late 20th century. The region is centered in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (Uni ...

;

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

came within 131 votes of winning the county. In 2020, Trump flipped the county Republican by a narrow majority, becoming the first Republican to capture the county since

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

in 1984. In 2024, Trump won the county with 52.12% of the vote, the highest percentage for a Republican since 1972. Despite this, the county also voted for Democrat

Sherrod Brown Sherrod Campbell Brown ( ; born November 9, 1952) is an American politician who served from 2007 to 2025 as a United States senator from Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for from 1993 to 2007 and the 47t ...

in the 2024 Senate election, making it the only county in the state to vote for both Trump and Brown in 2024.

Communities

Cities

* Amherst * Avon * Avon Lake * Elyria (county seat) * Lorain * North Ridgeville * Oberlin * Sheffield Lake *

Vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

Villages

* Grafton * Kipton *

LaGrange Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi LagrangiaRochester *

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

* South Amherst *

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

Townships

* Amherst *

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

* Brownhelm * Camden *

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

* Columbia * Eaton * Elyria * Grafton * Henrietta * Huntington *

LaGrange Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi LagrangiaNew Russia * Penfield * Pittsfield * Rochester *