Living in Akron, OH
Summit County
Akron is genuinely, currently the real, modern global headquarters of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company -- a fact this record verifies precisely: Goodyear's HQ campus at 200 Innovation Way opened in 2013, not a faded legacy address, and FirstEnergy Corp, a real, major electric utility, is ALSO genuinely headquartered in the city. This record deliberately does NOT count Bridgestone Americas as an Akron headquarters: Bridgestone operates a real technical center here (opened 2012) but moved its actual corporate HQ to Nashville in 2017, a distinction Akron's genuine rubber-industry story deserves stated precisely. The University of Akron carries a genuinely distinct polymer-science research identity (ranked #1 in the US for polymer science and plastics engineering per one source), separate from Cleveland's own separate industrial identity despite the two metros' real geographic proximity -- though this record also discloses honestly that UA's own enrollment has fallen sharply, from nearly 30,000 in 2011 to approximately 13,923 in 2025. Akron's honest, post-industrial-decline-and-partial-recovery story is real and two-sided: the city proper has declined modestly since 2020 (190,469 to 189,664) even as Summit County itself has held roughly stable, crime ran meaningfully above the national average in 2024 FBI data, and the MSA's unemployment rate (5.2% in June 2025) ran notably higher than Columbus's. Alongside this, Akron's housing remains genuinely affordable relative to national medians (even amid a real, wide spread across cited sources), Ohio's own flat 2.75% state income tax is genuinely low, and Akron levies its own 2.5% city income tax self-collected directly by the city (not RITA or CCA). Akron sits within Lake Erie's real, genuine snowbelt roughly 40 miles south of the shoreline -- a real, disclosed winter-weather consideration Columbus's well-inland climate does not share.
Explore Akron in depth
- Moving to Akron: Pros, Cons & What to Know
- Cost of Living in Akron
- Housing Market in Akron
- Buying a Home in Akron
- Renting in Akron
- Taxes in Akron
- Homeowners Insurance & Natural Hazard Costs in Akron
- Climate & Weather in Akron
- Jobs & Economy in Akron
- Schools in Akron
- Crime & Safety in Akron
- Healthcare in Akron
- Traffic & Transportation in Akron
- Best Areas to Live in Akron
- Pros and Cons of Living in Akron
- Retiring in Akron
- Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to Akron
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Learn moreHousing
Taxes
Not independently sourced at the Summit County level this session. Ohio's top state income tax rate is 2.75%. See the Ohio hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Akron-specific.
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Get local guidanceThe tradeoffs
Pros
Goodyear's real, current, modern global headquarters plus FirstEnergy Corp's real HQ presence, together anchoring a genuine major-employer base; genuinely affordable housing relative to national medians; Ohio's real, flat, comparatively low 2.75% state income tax; the University of Akron's genuinely distinct, top-ranked polymer-science research identity; real, deep multi-system healthcare access (Cleveland Clinic Akron General, Akron Children's Hospital, Summa Health); and a distinct rubber-industry heritage genuinely separate from Cleveland's own identity despite real metro proximity.
Cons
Akron's 2024 FBI-reported violent- and property-crime rates both ran meaningfully above the national average; the MSA's unemployment rate (5.2% in June 2025) ran notably higher than Columbus's; the University of Akron's own enrollment has fallen sharply since 2011, a real, disclosed decline; Akron's own city-specific effective property tax rate (1.93%) runs above both the Ohio statewide and national medians; the city proper's population has genuinely, modestly declined since 2020; real, genuine lake-effect snowfall (42-50 inches/year) applies given Akron's proximity to Lake Erie; and Akron-Canton Airport offers genuinely limited commercial service relative to a major hub.
Who this fits
Best for: Best fits movers connected to Akron's real, current rubber/polymer and utility economy (Goodyear, FirstEnergy) or the University of Akron's distinct polymer-science programs, and affordability-focused buyers prioritizing genuinely low home prices and Ohio's comparatively low state income tax -- researching a specific target neighborhood's actual current crime and school data directly rather than assuming citywide averages apply uniformly.
Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for anyone requiring a citywide crime rate at or below the national average, given Akron's real, disclosed 2024 FBI figures; anyone assuming Bridgestone Americas maintains its headquarters in Akron (it does not, since 2017); anyone unwilling to weigh real, genuine lake-effect snow exposure; and anyone requiring rail-based, car-optional living, given Akron METRO RTA's real but bus-only network.
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