Lake County, Ohio

Lake County is a county in Ohio, United States, along the southern shore of Lake Erie, directly
northeast of Cleveland. It had a population of 232,603 at the 2020 census, an estimated 232,216 by
2024, and covers 979 square miles (2,540 km2) — most of it open water — centred near
41°49′N 81°14′W.

Painesville is the county seat; its postal code is 44077. The county holds 9 cities, 9
incorporated villages, 1 census-designated place and 2 unincorporated communities across 5
townships, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 39085.

Towns & Villages in Lake County

Lake County has 21 named places on record: 9 incorporated cities, 9 incorporated villages, one
census-designated place (CDP) and 2 unincorporated communities with no municipal government of
their own. Most of the county’s nine cities — Mentor, Willoughby, Eastlake, Willowick,
Wickliffe, Kirtland, Willoughby Hills and Mentor-on-the-Lake, plus Painesville —
incorporated out of their original townships, so only five townships remain today.

Two pairs of names are easy to mix up. Perry (village) and North Perry are separate
municipalities a few miles apart, both inside Perry Township; and Mentor and Mentor-on-the-Lake
are two different cities — Mentor is the county’s largest city, while Mentor-on-the-Lake is
a smaller lakefront suburb tucked along its northern edge. Unionville straddles the county line:
its ZIP code, 44088, is administered from the Ashtabula County side, though the community itself
sits mostly in Lake County’s Madison Township.

ZIP Codes

• 44060 — Mentor (also serves Mentor-on-the-Lake and Kirtland Hills)
• 44094 — Willoughby (also serves Kirtland)
• 44077 — Painesville (also serves Fairport Harbor)
• 44095 — Eastlake (also serves Timberlake and Lakeline)
• 44092 — Willowick (also serves Wickliffe and Willoughby Hills)
• 44057 — Madison (also serves North Madison)
• 44081 — Perry (also serves North Perry)
• 44045 — Grand River (shared with neighboring Geneva)
• 44088 — Unionville (administered from Ashtabula County)

Waite Hill has no ZIP code of its own; mail there is delivered under a neighboring
municipality’s code.

Geography

Lake County sits on the Lake Erie plain, a narrow, mostly flat shelf between the lakeshore and
the higher ground to the south. Its total area, 979 square miles, is dominated by the 752 square
miles of Lake Erie within the county’s boundary — only 227 square miles are dry land, making
Lake County the smallest county in Ohio by land area even though it ranks third-largest by total
area. The Grand River and Chagrin River both cross the county on their way to Lake Erie, and
Headlands Beach, near Painesville, is the largest natural sand beach on Ohio’s shoreline. Lake
County shares Lake Erie’s open water with the Canadian province of Ontario across the
international boundary.

Ashtabula County lies to the east, Geauga County to the south, and Cuyahoga County — home
to Cleveland — to the southwest. Ashtabula
County, Geauga County and Cuyahoga County all border Lake County
directly; Lake Erie forms its entire northern edge.

Demographics

Lake County had a population of 232,603 at the 2020 census, and the latest Census Bureau
estimate puts the county near 232,216 residents as of 2024, essentially flat over the decade.
Mentor and Willoughby are the two largest communities, together home to roughly a third of the
county’s population. Median household income runs about $80,925 on a recent American Community
Survey estimate, well above Ohio’s statewide 2023 ACS figure of $67,769. With all but 227 square
miles of the county under Lake Erie, population density on the land itself works out to about
1,025 people per square mile — dense for the region, reflecting the county’s built-up
lakefront suburbs.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing is the county’s largest employment sector, with about 24,025 workers, followed by
health care and social assistance at roughly 17,339 and retail trade at about 13,114. Lubrizol
Corporation, a specialty chemicals maker, is headquartered in Wickliffe and is one of the county’s
largest private employers. University Hospitals operates TriPoint Medical Center in Concord
Township, and the Perry Nuclear Generating Station, a 1,100-acre plant on the lakeshore near
North Perry, employs more than 700 people. Lake Erie College, a private liberal arts college
founded in 1856, is based in Painesville, and Lakeland Community College, a public two-year
school, is based in Kirtland. The Lake County Captains, the Cleveland Guardians’ High-A
affiliate, play home games at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake each baseball season.

History

Ohio’s General Assembly formed Lake County on 6 March 1840, carving it out of Cuyahoga and
Geauga counties. Its name comes from its location on Lake Erie’s southern shore — and from
the fact that most of the county’s own area is water rather than land. Painesville was named the
county seat.

Kirtland, in the county’s southern reaches, was an early center of the Latter Day Saint
movement in the 1830s; the Kirtland Temple there, dedicated on 27 March 1836, was the movement’s
first temple and remains a historic pilgrimage site. In 1880, President James A. Garfield ran the
first successful front-porch presidential campaign from his Mentor home, later nicknamed
Lawnfield by the reporters who covered it; the house is now the James A. Garfield National
Historic Site.

Getting There

Interstate 90 runs the length of the county along the lakeshore, with Interstate 271 reaching
its southwestern corner near Willoughby Hills. US Routes 6 and 20 and a dense network of state
routes, including State Route 2 along the lake, connect the county’s cities and villages.

• Cleveland — about 25 miles southwest
• Akron — about 50 miles south
• Ashtabula — about 20 miles northeast
• Chardon — about 15 miles south

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, roughly 30 miles southwest of Painesville, is the
nearest major commercial airport. Lake County Executive Airport, near Willoughby, is a general
aviation reliever airport for Hopkins. Amtrak’s Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited trains
stop at Cleveland’s downtown station, the nearest Amtrak service to the county.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Lake County located?
It sits along Lake Erie’s southern shore in northeastern Ohio, directly northeast of Cleveland,
bordered by Ashtabula, Geauga and Cuyahoga counties.

What is the population of Lake County?
232,603 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 232,216.

How big is Lake County?
979 square miles (2,540 km2) in total, but only 227 square miles are land — the rest is
Lake Erie, making it Ohio’s smallest county by land area.

What is the county seat of Lake County?
Painesville is the county seat.

How many towns and cities are in Lake County?
Nine incorporated cities, nine incorporated villages, one census-designated place (North Madison)
and two unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Lake County use?
44060 for Mentor, 44077 for Painesville, 44094 for Willoughby, 44095 for Eastlake, 44092 for
Willowick and Wickliffe, 44057 for Madison, and 44081 for Perry and North Perry, among others.

What is Lake County known for?
The Kirtland Temple, an early Latter Day Saint landmark dedicated in 1836, and the James A.
Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, home to the first successful front-porch presidential
campaign in 1880.

More counties in this state: Towns and
villages in Ohio.