Jefferson County, Ohio: commercial real estate data.

Jefferson County

How many people live in Jefferson County

• Population, American Community Survey 2020-202464,518
• Households27,143
• Average household size2.38
• Median household income$59,055
• Median age44.3
• Median gross rent$835 per month
• Median owner-occupied home value$127,800
• Home value to household income2.2 times
• Annual rent as a share of median income17.0 percent
• Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher20.3 percent
• Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree7.7 percent
• Adults 25 and over45,793
• Population under 1812,527
• Share under 1819.4 percent
• Population 65 and over14,513
• Share 65 and over22.5 percent
• Working age population, 18 to 6437,478
• Civilian labor force29,782
• Unemployment rate5.0 percent
• Labor force participation, adults 18 and over57.3 percent
• Rank by population among Ohio counties39th of 88
• Rank by population among US county-equivalents, Puerto Rico included859th of 3,222

Jefferson County is the 39th largest of 88 Ohio counties by population. A median home costs 2.2 times median household income, which is affordable by national standards. Residents 65 and over outnumber those under 18, at 22.5 percent against 19.4 percent, which points demand at health care, services and single story product rather than schools.

US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 5-year.

Jefferson County

Where are people moving to Jefferson County from?

• Tax returns filed by households arriving1,106
• People arriving, from those returns2,004
• Tax returns filed by households leaving1,160
• Net household movement-54
• Adjusted gross income arriving$48.3 m
• Net adjusted gross income movement$-6.6 m
• Average income of an arriving household$43,697
• Average income of a leaving household$47,384
• Largest single originBelmont County (121 households)
• Largest single destinationBelmont County (137 households)

Households arriving report $3,687 less average income than households leaving, which drains spending power even where headcount holds up. The largest single source of arrivals is Belmont County, which is the catchment a retail or multifamily study should look at first.

US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.

Jefferson County

Employment by industry in Jefferson County

• Covered employment, annual average19,779
• Establishments reporting1,413
• Average annual pay$51,142
• Average weekly wage$984
• Retail trade, employment2,557
• Retail trade, average annual pay$31,721
• Accommodation and food services, employment1,587
• Accommodation and food services, average annual pay$18,780
• Manufacturing, employment1,538
• Manufacturing, average annual pay$86,252
• Transportation and warehousing, employment1,504
• Transportation and warehousing, average annual pay$56,692
• Construction, employment1,030
• Administrative and support and waste management services, employment672

Retail trade is the largest private sector at 2,557 jobs, 12.9 percent of covered employment.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages.

Jefferson County

Building permits in Jefferson County

• Housing units authorized by permit, 20243
• Declared construction value permitted$812,226
• Single family units authorized3
• Multifamily units authorized0
• Multifamily share of units0.0 percent
• Average declared value per unit$270,742
• Units authorized per 1,000 households0.1

Single-family homes are 100.0 percent of units authorized, so the pipeline is predominantly single-family.

US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual.

Jefferson County

SBA loan default and charge-off rates in Jefferson County

Do SBA loans in Jefferson County get paid back?

• Loans with a final outcome recorded27
• Paid in full23
• Charged off4
• Status: Paid in full23
• Status: Charged off4
• Status: Exempt from disclosure60
• Status: Cancelled13
• Status: Committed, not yet disbursed8

Only 27 loans have reached a final outcome, fewer than the 30 a charge-off rate needs, so no rate is published.

Compare against the national and state SBA charge-off rates, computed the same way over resolved loans only.

US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.

Jefferson County

How large is Jefferson County?

• Land area408 sq mi
• Rank by land area among Ohio counties67th of 88
• Width, east to west18.1 mi
• Height, north to south30.5 mi
• Geographies sharing a boundary7
• Residents per square mile of land158
• Establishments per square mile2.85

US Census Bureau county boundary geometry, TIGER, adjacency computed from shared boundary vertices, TIGER county boundaries. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 5-year. US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023.

Feasibility studies

When a Jefferson County site needs a document a lender will accept.

The same data layer behind this page is the one the studies are written from. A study for a Jefferson County site starts with the figures you are reading, carrying the same source and period into the credit file.

• Population, American Community Survey 2020-202464,518
• Households27,143
• Average household size2.38
• Median household income$59,055
• Median age44.3

How a feasibility study works →

Jefferson County

Cities and places in Jefferson.

22 Census places lie wholly or partly in Jefferson County. All 22 carry enough published place level data for a page of their own and are linked.

A further 6 of the county's 108 SBA 7(a) approvals are to borrowers in cities that match no Census place in Jefferson County, the largest being Stubenville (2), Cadiz (1), E. Springfield (1). Those are postal cities, unincorporated areas and cities outside the county, so no place row claims them; they are counted in the county total above.