163,839 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.2% since 2020)
487 square miles of land · 336 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
32 active community water systems list Portage County in the area they serve, reporting 100,312 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| KENT CITY PWS groundwater · local government · OH6701812 | 29,662 served |
| RAVENNA CITY PWS surface water · local government · OH6703211 | 16,000 served |
| AURORA CITY - CLEVELAND PWS buys surface water · local government · OH6789112 | 15,852 served |
| STREETSBORO CITY PWS buys groundwater · local government · OH6705003 | 15,105 served |
| PORTAGE COUNTY WATER RESOURCES groundwater · local government · OH6702812 | 8,606 served |
| GARRETTSVILLE VILLAGE PWS groundwater · local government · OH6701412 | 2,325 served |
| WINDHAM VILLAGE PWS groundwater · local government · OH6704812 | 1,777 served |
| AQUA OHIO - BEECHCREST buys groundwater · private · OH6705212 | 1,496 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 187 people were held in Portage County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 172 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 234.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
13 school districts have their office in Portage County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $67.1 million — $55.2 million to run schools, about $17,144 per student, plus $10 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $38.3 million local (mostly property tax), $18.7 million state, $5.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $29.2 million.
Spent $48.3 million — $46.8 million to run schools, about $15,383 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $37.9 million local (mostly property tax), $9.1 million state, $2.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $14.7 million.
Spent $37.6 million — $34.6 million to run schools, about $17,474 per student, plus $1.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $14.6 million local (mostly property tax), $17 million state, $9.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $10.1 million.
Spent $32.1 million — $29.5 million to run schools, about $15,035 per student, plus $929,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $26.2 million local (mostly property tax), $7.7 million state, $2.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $40.5 million.
Spent $25.8 million — $24 million to run schools, about $12,738 per student, plus $339,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $20.6 million local (mostly property tax), $7.8 million state, $2.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $16 million.
Spent $23.6 million — $22.7 million to run schools, about $16,299 per student, plus $632,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.3 million local (mostly property tax), $11.6 million state, $3 million federal. Long-term debt: $946,000.
Spent $24.3 million — $22.9 million to run schools, about $16,734 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $11.1 million local (mostly property tax), $11.4 million state, $3 million federal. Long-term debt: $21,000.
Spent $22.9 million — $16.5 million to run schools, about $13,223 per student, plus $6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.7 million local (mostly property tax), $8.3 million state, $2.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $7.7 million.
And 5 more.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Portage County about $28.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
217 bridges in Portage County: 109 in good condition, 90 fair, and 18 poor (8.3%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| IR 76 over HATTRICK RD CR-110 · built 1965 | 29,867 vehicles a day |
| West Main Street over Cuyahoga River & CSXT RR · built 1876 | 12,977 vehicles a day |
| Stow Street over Cuyahoga River · built 1987 | 7,742 vehicles a day |
| Tallmadge Road over Barrell Run · built 1924 | 2,330 vehicles a day |
| Howe Road over Plum Creek · built 1963 | 2,020 vehicles a day |
| Judson Road over Wheeling & Lake Erie RR · built 2000 | 1,886 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $60.8 million of work in Portage County in fiscal 2025, about $376 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Ohio are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Portage County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Portage County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Ohio: the state government and every county in Ohio.
Nearby counties: Summit County (18 mi) · Geauga County (23 mi) · Trumbull County (24 mi) · Mahoning County (25 mi) · Stark County (26 mi) · Cuyahoga County (34 mi).