Plan on about an hour's drive from either Cleveland or Pittsburgh to reach Youngstown, in Ohio's Mahoning Valley, which is still working through the story of the steel boom and what came after. The city has roughly 59,000 people, far fewer than in its heyday, and you can see that in the vacant blocks on the East and South sides. Housing is among the cheapest in the country.
What it has going for it is real. The Butler Institute of American Art is a serious museum, Mill Creek MetroParks has gardens, an old mill and nature trails, and the Covelli Centre brings in concerts and hockey. Downtown and the university area are slowly coming back. Be honest with yourself about safety: violent crime is well above average, car break-ins are common, and winters bring a lot of lake-effect snow. Lock your car, and stick to downtown and the park in daylight.
Cities with a similar character, anywhere on the site.
Out of 10. Open any score to see how it’s worked out. “Data-based” scores come from published figures; “Hey! En Route estimate” scores are worked out from what we know about the city; “Hey! En Route rating” scores were set by our editors.
- Known as
- Steel Valley; Mahoning Valley hub; Home of the Butler Institute of American Art; Birthplace of Ohio's steel boom and bust story
- Founded
- 1797 settled (John Young, Western Reserve); 1848 incorporated as a village; 1867 chartered as a city
- Languages
- English; Spanish (Puerto Rican community); Arabic; Italian heritage phrases; smaller Slovak, Polish and Vietnamese communities
- Airports
- Youngstown-Warren Regional (YNG), about 15 miles north in Vienna (limited service); Akron-Canton (CAK), about 50 miles west; Pittsburgh International (PIT), about 65 miles southeast; Cleveland Hopkins (CLE), about 65 miles northwest
- Tipping
- Restaurants 18-20%; bars $1-2 per drink; taxis and rideshare 15-20%; hotel housekeeping $3-5 per night; bellhops $2-5 per bag; counter service optional
About this data
Population is Census QuickFacts Vintage 2025 (58,832); land area 33.93 sq mi from Census; median value and rent from Census ACS 2020-2024. Metro figure 541,243 is the 2020 Census count for the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman OH-PA MSA (shared with Warren and Boardman; a newer estimate was not retrieved). The QuickFacts tables were fetched, but the tourism sites were only seen in search results. Visitor site is the Explore Mahoning (youngstownlive.com) page seen in search; the calendar is the City of Youngstown events page seen in search, not a tourism bureau calendar. Elevation, coordinates, founding details, event months, hotel ranges, tipping, cost-of-living index, crime rate and airport distances are approximate or from general knowledge and not verified. Lower confidence overall; URLs not load-tested.
