Tuscarawas County, Ohio

Tuscarawas County is a county in Ohio, United States, in the northeastern part of the state,
about 45 miles south of Canton. It had a population of 93,263 at the 2020 census, an estimated
92,385 by 2024, and covers 568 square miles (1,470 km2) centred near 40°27′N 81°28′W.

New Philadelphia is the county seat and the county’s largest city; its postal code is 44663.
The county holds 3 cities, 16 villages and several dozen smaller communities across 22 townships,
and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 39157.

Towns & Villages in Tuscarawas County

Tuscarawas County has 19 incorporated places on record: 3 cities and 16 villages, plus a
number of unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. CDP stands for
census designated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural communities with no formal
boundary.

Baltic straddles three counties — Tuscarawas, Holmes and Coshocton — and its
citywide population figure above counts residents on all three sides of the line, not
Tuscarawas County alone. Schoenbrunn is the reconstructed site of the county’s first
Moravian mission, distinct from present-day New Philadelphia, which grew up two miles south of
it decades later.

ZIP Codes

• 44663 — New Philadelphia
• 44622 — Dover
• 44683 — Uhrichsville
• 43832 — Newcomerstown
• 44680 — Strasburg
• 44621 — Dennison
• 44681 — Sugarcreek
• 44629 — Gnadenhutten
• 44612 — Bolivar
• 43804 — Baltic (shared with Holmes and Coshocton counties)
• 44656 — Mineral City
• 43837 — Port Washington
• 43840 — Stone Creek
• 44697 — Zoar

Barrs Mills, Gilmore, Goshen, Ragersville, Schoenbrunn and Zoarville have no ZIP code of their
own; mail there is delivered under the nearest incorporated town’s code.

Geography

Tuscarawas County sits on the Western Allegheny Plateau, a belt of forested hills and river
valleys in Ohio’s unglaciated southeast. Of its 568 square miles, 3.8 square miles are
water, about 0.71 percent, concentrated in the Tuscarawas River and its tributaries rather than
any large natural lake. The Tuscarawas River runs the length of the county from northeast to
southwest, past Bolivar, Zoar, Dover and New Philadelphia before continuing into Coshocton
County, and it once carried the Ohio and Erie Canal through 15 locks in the county between 1829
and the canal’s abandonment after a 1913 flood.

Stark County lies to the north, Carroll County to the northeast, Harrison County to the
southeast, Guernsey County to the south, Coshocton County to the southwest, and Holmes County
to the northwest. Stark County,
Carroll County,
Harrison County,
Guernsey County,
Coshocton County and
Holmes County all border
Tuscarawas directly.

Demographics

Tuscarawas County had a population of 93,263 at the 2020 census, and the 2024 estimate puts
the county near 92,385, a slight decline. New Philadelphia and Dover, twin cities separated only
by a shared border, together hold well over a fifth of the county’s population. Median
household income runs $65,044 (2024), below Ohio’s statewide figure of $67,769 (2023
ACS). Population density works out to roughly 163 people per square mile of land, typical for a
mid-sized Appalachian-foothills county built around several small industrial cities rather than
one metro core.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing employs the most workers in the county, about 9,690 people, followed by health
care and social assistance at 5,233 and retail trade at 4,561. Kent State University’s
Tuscarawas campus, established in 1962 in New Philadelphia, enrols roughly 1,245 students and
anchors the county’s higher-education and workforce-training base. Sugarcreek, known
locally as “the Little Switzerland of Ohio,” built a Swiss-cheese and dairy economy
on milk from surrounding Amish farms starting in the 1830s and today runs a tourism trade
centred on that heritage, including one of the world’s largest cuckoo clocks downtown.
Dennison’s restored 1873 Pennsylvania Railroad depot, a National Historic Landmark, still
anchors that village’s identity around its Second World War-era servicemen’s
canteen, nicknamed “Dreamsville.”

History

Ohio’s legislature formed Tuscarawas County on 15 February 1808. The name comes from a
Delaware (Lenape) word variously translated as “old town” or “open
mouth.” Moravian missionaries and Lenape converts had already settled the area decades
earlier: Schoenbrunn, founded in 1772 near present-day New Philadelphia, was the first organized
settlement in what became the Northwest Territory, and Gnadenhutten followed soon after.

On 8 March 1782, Pennsylvania militia killed roughly 96 unarmed Christian Lenape men, women
and children at Gnadenhutten, accusing them without evidence of aiding raiding parties during
the American Revolution. The Gnadenhutten massacre remains one of the darkest events in Ohio
history; the village today maintains a monument and museum on the site. German religious
Separatists later founded Zoar in 1817 as a communal society, building it into a prosperous
farming and manufacturing settlement before disbanding communal ownership in 1898; the site is
now a National Historic Landmark District.

Getting There

Interstate 77 crosses the county north to south, with exits at Bolivar, Dover, New
Philadelphia, Strasburg and Stone Creek. US 250, US 36, State Route 39 and State Route 212 also
cross the county, along with several other state routes linking the smaller villages.

• Canton — about 45 miles north
• Akron — about 60 miles north
• Columbus — about 85 miles southwest
• Cambridge — about 30 miles south

Akron-Canton Airport, roughly 50 miles north of New Philadelphia, is the nearest major
commercial airport. Harry Clever Field, a general-aviation airport just north of New
Philadelphia, handles local air traffic. The county has no active Amtrak service; the nearest
station is in Alliance, about 40 miles northeast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Tuscarawas County located?
It sits on Ohio’s Western Allegheny Plateau, about 45 miles south of Canton, bordered by
Stark, Carroll, Harrison, Guernsey, Coshocton and Holmes counties.

What is the population of Tuscarawas County?
93,263 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 92,385.

How big is Tuscarawas County?
568 square miles (1,470 km2), of which 3.8 square miles are water.

What is the county seat of Tuscarawas County?
New Philadelphia, formed in 1804 on the site of an earlier Moravian mission, is the county
seat.

How many towns and cities are in Tuscarawas County?
Three cities — New Philadelphia, Dover and Uhrichsville — plus 16 incorporated
villages including Newcomerstown, Strasburg, Dennison, Sugarcreek, Gnadenhutten, Bolivar and
Zoar.

What ZIP codes does Tuscarawas County use?
44663 for New Philadelphia, 44622 for Dover, 44683 for Uhrichsville, and separate codes for
each of the county’s other villages, from 43832 (Newcomerstown) to 44697 (Zoar).

What is Tuscarawas County known for?
The 1772 Schoenbrunn mission, the 1782 Gnadenhutten massacre, the Zoar Separatist settlement,
and Sugarcreek’s Swiss and Amish-country tourism.

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