FY 2026 Housing Needs Assessment Sections:
Jump to: Executive Summary | Table of Contents | Homeownership | Rental Housing | Home Energy & Utilities | Housing Instability & Homelessness | Housing Stock | Health | Income & Labor | Demographics | How Ohio Compares
Health
This section focuses on the housing challenges of vulnerable Ohioans with high-risk medical conditions, as well as the ways in which housing instability, quality, and safety are important social determinants of health and wellbeing. Older, inadequate homes present serious health challenges for Ohio's families — particularly those with young children, who are especially at risk of lead-based paint hazard — and individuals with disabilities, who require accessible housing.
Section Highlights
- Ohio's housing stock is relatively old. One in four housing units in Ohio (24%) was built before 1950 when the nation's first laws banning lead-based paint were enacted — higher than the national share (16%). Northwest Ohio has the highest share of pre-1950 homes (30%). These homes are more likely to contain chipped lead paint or lead-contaminated dust, which can be ingested by young children.
- While there are fewer infant deaths in the state than there were a decade ago, Ohio's infant mortality rate has consistently been above the national average, with 7 out of every 1,000 children born in Ohio dying before their first birthday. Ohio children born to Black mothers are more than twice as likely to die as infants than those born to white mothers — 14 deaths per 1,000 live births compared to 6. Having unsafe, low-quality, or inconsistent housing puts Ohio's youngest children at greater risk of infant mortality.
- In 2023, 1.7 million Ohioans (17%) were living with a disability. Prevalence of disability in Ohio adults has also increased by 14% since 2010. Furthermore, Ohio's disability prevalence rate has consistently been above the national average (16% in 2023). Nearly a third of Ohioans aged 65 or over also live with a disability (31%). One in five (20%) has serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs, and one in eight (12%) has difficulty doing errands alone.
- Due in part to the age of Ohio's housing stock, 53% of housing units in the state are in buildings that require steps to enter — considerably higher than the national average (44%). This is a problem for those who have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs, which is the case for 50% of Ohio adults with a disability.
Jump to: Lead Hazard | Infant Mortality | Disability & Accessibility | Social Vulnerability | Downloadable Tables | Notes
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Lead Hazard
Share of Units Built Pre-1950/1980 in the U.S. & Ohio
Source: American Community Survey (ACS) One-Year Estimates, Table B25034
Share of Housing Units Built Pre-1950
Source: American Community Survey (ACS) Five-Year Estimates, ACS One-Year Estimates, Table B25034
Elevated BLLs in Children Under 6 Years by Region
Source: DataOhio, InnovateOhio (based Ohio Department of Health data)
Infant Mortality
Infant Mortality Rates for the U.S. & Ohio
Source: DataOhio, InnovateOhio (based Ohio Department of Health data); Linked Birth / Infant Death Records, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Infant Mortality Rate by Race/Ethnicity of the Mother
Source: Infant Mortality Annual Report, Ohio Department of Children & Youth
Infant Mortality Rate
Source: Infant Mortality Annual Report, Ohio Department of Children & Youth
Disability & Accessibility
Disability Prevalence Rates for the U.S. & Ohio
Source: American Community Survey (ACS) One-Year Estimates, Table B18101
Prevalence of Disability by Type
Source: American Community Survey (ACS) One-Year Estimates, Tables B18102, B18103, B18104, B18105, B18106, B18107
Prevalence of Disability by Age
Source: American Community Survey (ACS) One-Year Estimates, Tables B18102, B18103, B18104, B18105, B18106, B18107
Disability Prevalence Rate
Source: American Community Survey (ACS) Five-Year Estimates, ACS One-Year Estimates, Table B18101
A 2013 study from The Ohio State University found that the share of homes built before 1950 was the most important predictor of elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs) in Ohio children under 6. Those homes predate the earliest laws in the United States restricting the use of lead paint in housing, which were enacted in the 1950s in some cities. Pre-1950 homes are also more likely to have chipped paint or lead-contaminated dust which can be ingested by young children. The use of lead paint in housing was finally banned nationally in 1978 by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. As such homes built between 1950 to 1979 are considered to pose moderate levels of risk to young children; homes built prior to 1950 are considered to pose a greater risk.
Elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) are defined as having five or more micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (µg/dL) and are tested in children under 6 years. The prevalence rate is the number of children with confirmed elevated blood lead levels divided by the number tested.
The infant mortality rate is the number of infant deaths (before the first birthday) per 1,000 live births in the year prior. Rates based on fewer than 10 deaths are considered unreliable and are thus suppressed. Rates based on fewer than 20 deaths should be interpreted with caution. Statewide total deaths include 2 deaths in unknown counties.
Disability status is defined as having serious difficulty with hearing, vision, cognition, ambulation, self-care (e.g., bathing and dressing), or independent living (e.g., performing errands such as shopping).
Social vulnerability is defined as the degree to which a community exhibits certain social conditions that may affect that community's ability to prevent human suffering and financial loss in the event of a hazardous event, such as a natural disaster, man-made ecological catastrophe, or disease outbreak. The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) is a place-based index designed to identify and quantify communities experiencing social vulnerability. The National SVI Score is percentile ranking relative social vulnerability among all counties in the United States. Statewide numbers here represent the median of all county-level scores in Ohio. Possible scores range from 0 (lowest vulnerability) to 1 (highest vulnerability). Social conditions used in this model are divided into four themes: Socioeconomic Status (accounts for poverty, unemployment, housing cost burden, education, and health insurance); Household Characteristics (accounts for age, disabilities, family type, and English proficiency); Racial/Ethnic Minority Status; and Housing Type/Transportation (accounts for structure type, crowding, vehicles, and group quarters). The Overall SVI Scores combines all four themes.
For time series based on American Community Survey (ACS) or the ACS Public Use Microdata Sample, a gap is shown for the year 2020. Due to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic in the data collection process, the level of nonresponse bias did not meet the Census Bureau's quality standards for a reliable release of standard one-year estimates for 2020. While experimental one-year estimates were released for that year using weighting methods to address the nonresponse bias, the Census Bureau has advised against comparing these to one-year estimates from other years.
Ohio Regions are defined at the county level by TourismOhio, part of the Ohio Department of Development.
