OH · Cuyahoga County · 372,624 (2020) · 2nd-largest city in Ohio · Eastern time
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland lies on the south shore of Lake Erie at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in northeast Ohio. It is the second-largest city in Ohio and the centre of a metropolitan area of about two million.
- State
- Ohio
- County
- Cuyahoga County
- Population (2020)
- 372,624
- Rank
- 45th of the 50 cities mapped here; outside the national top 50
- Coordinates
- 41.50°N, 81.69°W
- Time zone
- Eastern
- Metro area
- about 2.1 million
- State capital
- No – Columbus
Where Cleveland is
Cleveland is at 41.50°N, 81.69°W in Cuyahoga County, of which it is the county seat. The city covers about 78 square miles along 14 miles of Lake Erie shoreline at roughly 650 feet above sea level — Lake Erie's surface is 571 feet — on the lake plain at the northern edge of the Allegheny Plateau. The Cuyahoga River splits the city into East Side and West Side as it winds through the industrial Flats to the lake. Canada is 50 miles north across the lake. Columbus, the state capital, is 140 miles southwest; Pittsburgh 135 miles southeast, Detroit 170 miles northwest and Pennsylvania 75 miles east.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 372,624 residents, 45th among the 50 cities on this site and outside the national top 50. Cleveland was the fifth-largest city in the country in 1920 and peaked at 915,000 in 1950; it has lost about 60 percent of its population since, and fell another 6 percent between 2010 and 2020. The Cleveland–Elyria metropolitan area (five counties) has about 2.1 million people, roughly the same as Columbus's metro, and with Akron and Canton forms a combined region of about 3.6 million. Cuyahoga County, at about 1.26 million, is the second most populous county in Ohio after Franklin.
Geography
- Lake Erie — the shallowest and warmest of the Great Lakes; the Port of Cleveland handles iron ore for the steel mills and the lake produces heavy snow on the East Side. See the Great Lakes map.
- Cuyahoga River — the crooked river that famously caught fire in 1969, now much cleaner; upstream it runs through Cuyahoga Valley National Park between Cleveland and Akron.
- Rocky and Chagrin rivers — deep wooded valleys on the west and east sides, protected in the Cleveland Metroparks "Emerald Necklace".
- Portage Escarpment — the step from the lake plain up to the Allegheny Plateau runs through the eastern suburbs ("the Heights") and marks the edge of the Appalachian uplands.
Nearest large cities
Cleveland is within three hours of Columbus, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Buffalo. Distances are approximate road miles from Public Square.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | PA | 135 | SE |
| Columbus | OH | 140 | SW |
| Detroit | MI | 170 | NW |
| Indianapolis | IN | 315 | SW |
| Louisville | KY | 350 | SW |
Is Cleveland the state capital?
No. Ohio's capital is Columbus, 140 miles southwest, founded in 1812 to be a capital near the centre of the state; Cleveland has never held the role. It is the seat of Cuyahoga County. Cleveland was the largest city in Ohio for most of the 20th century but was overtaken by Columbus in the 1990 count, and Columbus is now more than twice its size within city limits.
Related maps
- Ohio map — the state with its 88 counties.
- Columbus — the state capital, 140 miles southwest.
- US cities map.
- Great Lakes and national parks maps.
- Nearby: Pittsburgh, Detroit, Pennsylvania.
- Great Lakes region · Eastern Time Zone.