Northwest Ohio, or Northwestern Ohio, consists of multiple counties in the northwestern corner of the US state of Ohio. This area borders Lake Erie, Southeast Michigan, and northeastern Indiana. Some areas are also considered the Black Swamp area. The Toledo metropolitan area is part of the region.
Northwest Ohio's population in 2000 was 1,639,144 and is declining, specifically in the northern regions (counties shaded in the darker blue and Allen County). However, southern areas, such as Marion and Morrow counties, and the city of Findlay are growing.
Toledo is the principal city of Northwest Ohio. Most of the region's television channels and radio stations are licensed in Toledo, Perrysburg or nearby Bowling Green. Though Toledo is an industrial city, Northwest Ohio is primarily agricultural with small centers of commerce distributed across region. Since the 1970s, the population of Lucas County and the Toledo metropolitan area has declined, though Wood and Hancock counties have had moderate population growth.
These places are or may be classified as being in Northwestern Ohio, depending on the definition being applied:
If a city is a county seat, it has been listed above according to the county in which it lies. Many of the cities, townships, and villages in Northwest Ohio are clustered in the Toledo MSA. This list is incomplete.
Extreme Northwest Ohio, or Far Northwestern Ohio, is a portion of Northwest Ohio best known as the Great Black Swamp area due to its natural history. The counties of Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, and Williams in the state of Ohio are usually classified as Extreme Northwest Ohio.
According to the 2000 Census, the population of this portion of NW Ohio is 234,660. When Allen and Hancock counties are included, the population is 414,428. Just like any other region, there is no universally agreed-upon line for Northwestern Ohio, as the entire area is defined differently by the opinions of multiple people.
City | Population (2010 Census) |
---|---|
Bryan (Williams County) | 8,545 |
Defiance (Defiance County) | 16,494 |
Findlay (Hancock County) | 41,202 |
Lima (Allen County) | 38,771 |
Local transit is available in three urban areas within Northwest Ohio. The Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority serves Toledo, the Allen County Regional Transit Authority serves Lima, and the Sandusky Transit System serves Sandusky.
Toledo Express Airport (TOL), in suburban Swanton, is the largest airport in northwest Ohio. Toledo Express is served by seven major passenger airlines, and has been named one of the five best small airports in the Midwest. Toledo Express is also a major air cargo center, serving as the international hub for BAX Global. Toledo Express has begun a $22 million renovation project; As of 2007, the airport has expanded and renovated the central gate area of its single terminal, and is seeking an airline to offer direct service to New York City.
Toledo Express also hosts the corporate flight departments of Owens-Illinois, Owens-Corning, Pilkington, and Dana Holding Corporation. Grand Aire Express offers charter and air taxi services from its base at the airport. In education, the airport is a base of operations for FlightSafety International and Toledo Public Schools' aviation program, with flight instruction also offered by the airport's two fixed-base operators, who also provide fuel, repair, and storage for general aviation aircraft. Additionally, Toledo Express is a base for F-16 fighter jets of the Ohio Air National Guard, which has provided the airport additional funding for runway lengthening and safety enhancements.
Detroit Metropolitan Airport to the north, Port Columbus International Airport to the southeast, and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to the east are the major or hub airports serving residents of Northwest Ohio. Detroit Metro is a "fortress hub" for Delta Air Lines and offers both domestic and international flights. Cleveland Hopkins is a hub for United Airlines and offers both domestic and international flights.
Charter and air taxi service is also available at several smaller airports, such as Toledo Metcalf Field, Findlay Airport, and Lima Allen County Airport. General aviation users can also land at any one of approximately 40 public-use airports (both publicly and privately owned) in Northwest Ohio.
KFDY (Findlay Airport) has both the second and third largest runway in Northwest Ohio with runway 18/36 at 6449 x 100 ft and runway 7/25 at 5883 x 100 ft. Runway 18/36 is capable of allowing aircraft such as the Boeing 767-200 to land and then take-off at MTOW if needed. KTOL (Toledo Express) has the largest runway in Northwest Ohio at 10,600 x 150 ft, making it capable of handling nearly any aircraft at MTOW.
Interstate 90 runs east-west through the upper part of Northwest Ohio. Interstate 75 runs from the Michigan border, through Toledo, south to Findlay, Lima, and to southwest Ohio.
Amtrak serves the passenger train, the Lake Shore Limited in Bryan in the Extreme Northwest. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza in Toledo and Sandusky host Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited.
Perrysburg is a city located in Wood County, Ohio, United States, along the south side of the Maumee River. The population was 25,041 at the 2020 census. Part of the Toledo metropolitan area, the city is 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Toledo. Perrysburg served as the county seat from 1822 to 1868.
U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has since been extended. It was formerly part of the major highway known as the Dixie Highway. The highway's southern terminus is in Jacksonville, Florida, at US 1/US 17. The northern terminus is at Interstate 75 (I-75) in Mackinaw City, Michigan.
Toledo Express Airport, officially Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport, is a civil-military airport in Swanton and Monclova townships 10 mi (16 km) west of Toledo in western Lucas County, Ohio, United States. It opened in 1954–55 as a replacement to the Toledo Municipal Airport southeast of Toledo. Toledo Express is near the crossing of State Route 2 and the Ohio Turnpike.
Sylvania Township is one of the eleven townships of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. As of 2020, the total population was 50,679, making it the second most populous municipality of Lucas County, Northwest Ohio, and the 419 / 567 area codes.
Ohio's 9th congressional district has been represented by Representative Marcy Kaptur (D) since 1983. It was one of five districts that would have voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election had they existed in their current configuration while being won or held by a Democrat in 2022.
The Diocese of Toledo in America is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or diocese, of the Catholic Church covering nineteen counties in northwestern Ohio in the United States.
Area codes 419 and 567 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The largest city served by these area codes is Toledo.
The Greater Buckeye Conference was a high school athletic conference with six members, all located in a large area of northern and northwest Ohio. It was affiliated with the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The conference was created for the 2003-2004 school year after the Great Lakes League folded, and lasted until the end of the 2010-11 school year.
Perrysburg Township is one of the nineteen townships of Wood County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 13,571 people in the township.
Lake Township is one of the nineteen townships of Wood County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 11,160 people in the township.
The Toledo Metropolitan Area, or Greater Toledo, or Northwest Ohio is a metropolitan area centered on the American city of Toledo, Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the four-county Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) had a population of 646,604. It is the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the state of Ohio, behind Cincinnati–Northern Kentucky, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Akron.
Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority (TARTA) is a public transit agency that has been operating in Toledo, Ohio since 1971. TARTA services 32 bus routes in and around the Toledo metropolitan area and carries approximately 2 million passengers every year. Every TARTA fixed-route bus is equipped with a bicycle rack. The transit authority has special buses designed especially for disabled riders called TARPS, which acts along the lines of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
U.S. Route 23 (US 23) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs from Jacksonville, Florida, to Mackinaw City, Michigan. In the state of Ohio, it is a major north–south state highway that runs from the Kentucky border at Portsmouth to the Michigan border at Sylvania.
WJTA "Holy Family Radio" is a non-commercial FM broadcasting station with its studio and office located in Glandorf, Ohio with transmitter located near Leipsic in rural Putnam County. WJTA airs programming from the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network, and transmits at 88.9 mHz on the FM band. It is the first full-time Catholic radio station to come on the air in northwestern Ohio and within the Toledo Diocese...the others being WNOC "Annunciation Radio" licensed in Bowling Green and based in Toledo and WRRO licensed in Edon serving the Bryan area and the corner of the Ohio, Indiana and Michigan state lines.
Lasalle & Koch Co. or Lasalle's was a department store in Toledo, Ohio, with branches in some nearby communities.
This is a list of high school athletic conferences in the Northwest Region of Ohio, as defined by the OHSAA. Because the names of localities and their corresponding high schools do not always match and because there is often a possibility of ambiguity with respect to either the name of a locality or the name of a high school, the following table gives both in every case, with the locality name first, in plain type, and the high school name second in boldface type. The school's team nickname is given last.
This is a list of former high school athletic conferences in the Northwest Region of Ohio, as designated by the OHSAA. If a conference had members that span multiple regions, the conference is placed in the article of the region most of its former members hail from. Because the names of localities and their corresponding high schools do not always match and because there is often a possibility of ambiguity with respect to either the name of a locality or the name of a high school, the following table gives both in every case, with the locality name first, in plain type, and the high school name second in boldface type. The school's team nickname is given last.