Summit County, Ohio

Summit County is an urban county located in the northeast region of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 540,428, making it the fourth-most populous county in Ohio. Its county seat and largest city is Akron. The county was formed on March 3, 1840, from portions of Medina, Portage and Stark counties. It was named Summit County because the highest elevation on the Ohio and Erie Canal is in the county. Summit County is part of the Akron, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH Combined Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.7%) is water. The largest portion of Cuyahoga Valley National Park is in the northern part of the county. The southern border of the former Connecticut Western Reserve passes through the southern part of the county, leading to jogs in the east and west borders of the county.

Major highways

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Adjacent counties

* Cuyahoga Countynorthwest
* Geauga Countynortheast
* Portage Countyeast
* Stark Countysouth
* Wayne Countysouthwest
* Medina Countywest

National protected area

* Cuyahoga Valley National Park (also extends north into Cuyahoga County)

Government

Summit County, along with Cuyahoga County, is one of two of Ohio's 88 counties that have a charter government, as authorized by Article X of the Ohio Constitution. Under its charter, rather than three elected commissioners, Summit County has an elected county executive and an eleven-member county council. Eight members of the council are elected from individual districts; the other three are elected at large. Summit County also has an appointed medical examiner rather than an elected coroner, and an elected fiscal officer, who exercises the powers and performs the duties of a county auditor, treasurer and recorder. The remaining officials are similar to the officials in other counties. They include the following:

* Clerk of courts Tavia Galonski (D) (elected)
* Prosecuting attorneyElliot Kolkovich (D) (elected)
* EngineerAlan Brubaker (D) (elected)
* SheriffKandy Fatheree (D) (elected)
* Fiscal officerKristen Scalise (D) (elected)
Summit County currently has 14 Common Pleas judges. They are:
* Kelly McLaughlin (D),
* Kathryn Michael (D),
* Christine Croce (R),
* Jennifer Towell (D),
* Alison McCarty (R),
* Tammy O'Brien (R),
* Joy Oldfield (D),
* Mary Margaret Rowlands (D),
* Alison Breaux (D)
* Susan Baker Ross (D)
* Linda Tucci Teodosio (D) (Juvenile Court Judge)
* Katarina Cook (R) (Domestic Relations Judge)
* Kani Hightower (D) (Domestic Relations Judge)
* Elinore Marsh Stormer (D) (Probate Judge)

Summit County Council

Summit County has an 11-member council. Three members are elected at-large in midterm cycles, while eight members are elected from districts coinciding with the presidential election. The current members of Summit County Council are:
* Erin Dickinson (D) (at-large)
* Elizabeth Walters* (D) (at-large)
* John Donofrio (D) (at-large)
* Rita Darrow (D) (District 1)
* John Schmidt (D) (District 2)
* David Licate (D) (District 3)
* Jeff Wilhite (D) (District 4)
* Brandon Ford (D) (District 5)
* Christine Higham (D) (District 6)
* Beth McKenney (R) (District 7)
* Joseph Kacyon (R) (District 8)

* Indicates Council President

County Executives

* John R. Morgan, 1981–1989
* Tim Davis, 1989–2001
* James B. McCarthy (D), 2001–2007
* Russell M. Pry (D), 2007-2016Pry died in office on July 31, 2016, at age 58.
* Ilene Shapiro (D), 2016–present

Politics

Like much of Northeast Ohio, Summit is heavily Democratic. It has voted Republican only three times since 1932, all in national Republican landslides– Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1956 victory, and the 49-state sweeps by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in 1972 and 1984, respectively.

Overall, the county long-term has trended red since 1988, due to both Ohio's increasingly Republican political environment and a pronounced trend occurring across Donald Trump's three Republican candidacies starting with a sudden 7.13% swing to the right in 2016. In contrast, the leftward swing and John Kerry's substantial margin in the Democratic stronghold even amidst a national loss contributed to Ohio being the tipping-point state in 2004. Even in losing years, Democrats could count on Summit's reliably large margins contributing to closer overall statewide results and Ohio's swing state status. From 1992 to 2012, Democratic strength was such that only twice did Summit County swing to the right, with Barack Obama's margins of victory in the county even averaging 1.14% greater than Bill Clinton's, showing an overall Democratic trend over the years initially. Trump's campaigns dramatically reduced the average Democratic margin to 8.43%, only briefly interrupted by a 1% swing to the left amid Joe Biden's 2020 victory sandwiched in the rightward trend.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 541,781 people, 222,781 households, and 141,110 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 245,109 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 80.6% white, 14.4% black or African American, 2.2% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.5% from other races, and 2.1% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.6% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 24.9% were German, 15.3% were Irish, 10.6% were English, 10.1% were Italian, 5.1% were Polish, and 4.5% were American.

Of the 222,781 households, 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.3% were married couples living together, 13.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.7% were non-families, and 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.98. The median age was 40.0 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $47,926 and the median income for a family was $62,271. Males had a median income of $47,892 versus $35,140 for females. The per capita income for the county was $26,676. About 10.0% of families and 13.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.8% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Colleges and universities

* University of Akron, Akron
* Kent State University Twinsburg Academic Center, Twinsburg
* Stark State College Akron

Recreation

* Summit Metro Parks

Communities

Cities

* Akron (county seat)
* Barberton
* Cuyahoga Falls
* Fairlawn
* Green
* Hudson
* Macedonia
* Munroe Falls
* New Franklin
* Norton (partly in Wayne County)
* Reminderville
* Stow
* Tallmadge
* Twinsburg

Villages

* Boston Heights
* Clinton
* Lakemore
* Mogadore
* Northfield
* Peninsula
* Richfield
* Silver Lake

Townships

* Bath
* Boston
* Copley
* Coventry
* Northfield Center
* Richfield
* Sagamore Hills
* Springfield
* Twinsburg

Defunct townships

* Franklin
* Green
* Hudson
* Norton
* Northampton
* Portage
* Stow

Census-designated places

* Montrose-Ghent
* Pigeon Creek
* Portage Lakes
* Sawyerwood
* Twinsburg Heights

Unincorporated communities

* Bath
* Boston
* Botzum
* Brandywine
* Comet
* Copley
* Everett
* Ghent
* Greensburg
* Montrose
* Myersville
* Western Star

See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Summit County, Ohio

References

External links

Official Summit County page

Akron-Summit Convention and Visitors Bureau

Summit Memory
an online scrapbook capturing the history of Summit County, Ohio by the Akron-Summit County Public Library

{{Coord, 41.13, -81.53, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-OH_source:UScensus1990

1840 establishments in Ohio
Populated places established in 1840