Mahoning County, Ohio

Mahoning County is a county in Ohio, United States, about 60 miles southeast of Cleveland and 60 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It had a population of 228,614 at the 2020 census, an estimated 224,706 by 2023, and covers 425 square miles (1,100 km2) centred near 41°01′N 80°46′W.

Youngstown is the county seat and largest city; its postal code is 44503. The county holds 4 cities, 7 incorporated villages and 14 townships, and it runs on Eastern Time.

Towns & Villages in Mahoning County

Mahoning County has 13 named places on record: 4 incorporated cities, 7 incorporated villages, and 2 large unincorporated census-designated places that are each coextensive with their own township. CDP stands for census designated place; Unincorp. covers communities with no local government of their own.

Craig Beach and Lake Milton are two separate villages sharing one shoreline and one ZIP code, 44429; both sit on the reservoir that gives them their names. An earlier version of this page listed well over a hundred additional names — mobile-home parks, road-corner labels and duplicate entries such as two separate “East Alliance” and two separate “Petersburg” lines — pulled from a stale, unverified gazetteer. None of those could be confirmed against Census place records, so they have been dropped rather than published as guesses.

Townships

Ohio townships provide local government for unincorporated land outside cities and villages; a village inside a township is counted separately by the Census Bureau, so township totals below can run lower than the combined population of the land they cover.

ZIP Codes

• 44503 — Youngstown (downtown; the city uses a wider block of codes, 44501–44515, across its neighborhoods)
• 44512 — Boardman
• 44515 — Austintown
• 44471 — Struthers
• 44405 — Campbell
• 44406 — Canfield
• 44672 — Sebring
• 44514 — Poland
• 44442 — New Middletown
• 44429 — Lake Milton and Craig Beach, sharing one post office
• 44436 — Lowellville
• 44609 — Beloit

Smaller crossroads communities named on old maps, such as Coitsville Center and North Benton, have no ZIP of their own; mail there is delivered under the nearest incorporated place’s code.

Geography

Mahoning County sits on the Allegheny Plateau in northeastern Ohio, rolling terrain cut by the Mahoning River, which flows southeast through Youngstown before crossing into Pennsylvania. Of the county’s 425 square miles, 412 are land and 14 are water, about 3.2 percent, most of it in the Lake Milton reservoir on the county’s northwest edge. That reservoir was built in 1913 and gives its name to the villages of Lake Milton and Craig Beach on its shore.

Trumbull County lies to the north, Mercer County, Pennsylvania to the northeast, and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania directly east. Columbiana County borders the county to the south, Stark County to the southwest, and Portage County to the northwest. Trumbull County, Mercer County, Lawrence County, Columbiana County and Stark County all border Mahoning directly; Portage County has no live page on this site to link.

Demographics

Mahoning County had a population of 228,614 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the county near 224,706, a continuing decline tied to the region’s industrial history. Youngstown and Boardman are by far the two largest communities, together holding well over a third of the county’s population. Median household income runs $56,942 (2024, Census/Data USA), well below Ohio’s statewide figure of $67,769 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 555 people per square mile of land.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 19,318 people, followed by manufacturing at 12,191 and retail trade at 12,021. Mercy Health is the county’s largest single employer with about 3,000 workers, followed by Youngstown City School District at 1,791, Mahoning County government at 1,600 and Youngstown State University at 1,200. YSU enrolls about 11,000 students on its Youngstown campus and runs a satellite campus in Boardman Township. Boardman Township itself is the county’s main retail hub, anchored by Southern Park Mall. The county’s biggest annual event is the Canfield Fair, one of Ohio’s largest county fairs, held over Labor Day weekend and drawing roughly 300,000 visitors to the Canfield Fairgrounds each year.

History

The Ohio General Assembly organized Mahoning County on 1 March 1846, Ohio’s 83rd county, carved from Trumbull and Columbiana counties. It takes its name from the Mahoning River, a word rooted in a Native American term referring to a salt lick along its banks. Youngstown, already settled decades earlier, became the county seat.

Steel drove the county’s growth through the twentieth century, with mills lining the Mahoning River from Youngstown through Struthers and Campbell. That era ended abruptly on 19 September 1977, a date remembered locally as Black Monday, when Youngstown Sheet and Tube announced the closure of its Campbell Works, idling thousands of workers at once and triggering decades of population and job losses across the valley.

Getting There

Interstate 76, Interstate 80 and Interstate 680 all cross the county. US Route 62, US Route 224 and US Route 422 run through it as well, along with several Ohio state routes.

• Warren — about 14 miles northwest
• Cleveland — about 60 miles northwest
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — about 60 miles southeast

Youngstown–Warren Regional Airport, about 11 miles north of Youngstown, has had no scheduled passenger airline service since Allegiant Air ended its routes in January 2018; it still handles private and charter flights. Amtrak’s Floridian, running between Chicago and Miami, stops at the Alliance station, just across the county line.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Mahoning County located?
It sits in northeastern Ohio on the Allegheny Plateau, about 60 miles southeast of Cleveland and 60 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

What is the population of Mahoning County?
228,614 at the 2020 census, with a more recent estimate near 224,706.

How big is Mahoning County?
425 square miles (1,100 km2), of which 412 square miles are land.

Mahoning County’s seat is which city?
Youngstown is the county seat and largest city, incorporated long before the county itself was organized in 1846.

How many towns and villages are in Mahoning County?
Four cities — Youngstown, Struthers, Campbell and Canfield — plus seven villages: Sebring, Poland, New Middletown, Craig Beach, Lowellville, Beloit and Lake Milton. Boardman and Austintown are large unincorporated CDPs.

What ZIP codes does Mahoning County use?
44503 for downtown Youngstown, 44512 for Boardman, 44515 for Austintown, plus separate codes for each smaller city and village listed above.

What is Mahoning County known for?
Its steel-industry history, culminating in the 19 September 1977 Black Monday mill closures, and the Canfield Fair, one of Ohio’s largest county fairs each Labor Day weekend.

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