ZIP code 43783: Reading Township and Somerset

Drinking-water compliance

Most homes here are on private wells, which EPA does not regulate or test; a well owner tests on their own.

Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (Envirofacts, pulled September 2026), violations and lead and copper sampling for the system that serves most of this ZIP · EPA SDWIS (Envirofacts) · EPA ECHO

Byproducts and contaminants

Most homes here are on private wells, which nobody samples for compliance; a well owner tests on their own.

Source: EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring data, 2012 to 2019 (TTHM, HAA5 and coliform from distribution-system samples of the system that serves most of this ZIP; nitrate, arsenic, radionuclides, solvents, herbicides and metals from the entry points of the same system); non-detects counted as zero

PFAS

Most homes here are on private wells, which nobody tests for PFAS unless the owner pays for it.

Source: EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data (final release, August 2026) and Ohio EPA statewide PFAS sampling 2019 to 2021 and its current status map, for the system that serves most of this ZIP; results in nanograms per litre (parts per trillion) · Ohio EPA PFAS

Lead at the tap

Most homes here are on private wells; lead there comes from the house plumbing, and only a lab test of the tap will find it.

Children: this ZIP is not on the Ohio Department of Health's high-risk list for childhood lead testing; children on Medicaid or in pre-1978 housing with peeling paint should still be tested.

Housing age: 27% of the homes here were built before 1960 and 21% before 1940, when lead service lines, lead solder and lead paint were common; 51% predate 1980 (Census ACS 2020 to 2024).

Source: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System lead and copper 90th-percentile results (Envirofacts) and EPA's service line inventory dashboard (2026 Q2), for the system that serves most of this ZIP · ODH childhood lead testing · ODH high-risk ZIP list (CCBH PDF) · Ohio EPA lead and copper · H2Ohio

Fluoride and treatment

Most homes here are on private wells: no fluoride is added, and any treatment is the household softener or filter.

The health department counts 88.4% of Perry County residents on community water as receiving fluoridated water.

Source: CDC My Water's Fluoride, fluoridation status of each system as reported by the Ohio Department of Health; EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System treatment table for the system serving most of this ZIP; EPA Six-Year Review 4 compliance monitoring, 2012 to 2019; Ohio Department of Health fluoridation report (DataOhio) for the county share · EPA SDWIS search

Algal toxins

Most homes here are on private wells, which algal blooms do not reach.

Source: Ohio EPA public water system harmful algal bloom monitoring (HAB data and map, DrinkingWater/HAB service, fetched 2026-09-09), total microcystins by ELISA in raw and treated water, for the system that serves most of this ZIP · Ohio EPA HAB information for public water systems

Groundwater

Under the surface

glacial till (clay-rich, poor yields), part of the Thornville Thin Upland Aquifer (thin upland setting); wells there yield < 5 gallons a minute, deposits < 25 ft thick

Bedrock

Allegheny and Pottsville undivided, includes Breathitt Formation, yielding 0 - 5 gpm to a well

Setting

Interbedded Sedimentary Rocks; water table 50-75 ft down, 2-4 in/yr recharge, thin or absent soil (hydrogeologic setting 7Ga); pesticide index 122

Karst

131 karst and spring points in ODNR's inventory inside the ZIP (0 field-verified), 2.3 per square mile

Well logs

937 drilled wells on file (197.6 per 1,000 residents), median 130 ft deep, 10 gallons a minute median test yield, water 50 ft down

Aquifers

95% of wells in bedrock, 5% in sand, gravel and other unconsolidated material; typical well drilled 1995, 354 since 2000; uses: Domestic 874, Agric/Irrig 19

Geology

61% of the ZIP is a sensitive geologic setting, where thin or sandy cover leaves the aquifer open to what soaks in from the surface (Ohio EPA and ODNR Geological Survey)

Injection wells

2 Class V injection wells on Ohio EPA's books inside this ZIP (2 active): 2 large septic; these put fluids underground above or into drinking water aquifers

Water table

F-1 OH monitoring well (ODNR), 9 mi away: water 12.3 ft below ground on 2026-08-25; averaged 13.3 ft in 2015 to 2019 and 13.9 ft over the latest year, so the table is running about 0.6 ft lower; range 9.4 to 17.8 ft over 4,158 readings since 2015

Nitrate risk

EPA researchers put the chance that a public water system in the Center Branch Rush Creek subwatershed exceeds the nitrate limit at 28% if it draws on groundwater and 30% if it draws on rivers or lakes, judged from land use, geology and past results (EnviroAtlas nitrate violation index; the typical Ohio subwatershed scores 23% for groundwater and 39% for surface water)

Quality monitoring

Ohio EPA's nearest ambient groundwater monitoring well is Thornville Wellfield (Perry County), 9.6 mi away: 120 ft deep in sandstone or shale (Logan Cy Grp Undiv aquifer); bedrock 57 ft down; wells there yield 5 to 25 gallons a minute; sampled on the standard cycle. 8 active wells within 15 mi

Vulnerability rates how easily a spill at the surface reaches the aquifer, not whether anything has. Well logs include abandoned and replaced wells, so counts overstate wells in use; a private well owner is the only one who tests it.

Source: ODNR Division of Geological Survey, Groundwater Vulnerability (DRASTIC) map (polygon at the ZIP's population-weighted center), karst feature inventory, and the Ohio water well log database (logs inside the ZIP boundary) · ODNR Geological Survey · Ohio EPA GIS services · USGS water data

Aquifer exposure

Karst

no karst-prone bedrock under the population center; no mapped sinkhole inside the ZIP

Wellhead protection

less than half a percent of this ZIP lies inside any public water system's five-year wellhead protection area

River intakes

8% in the 1,000-foot stream corridor zone

Vulnerability index

DRASTIC 87 (ODNR; higher means a spill at the surface reaches the aquifer more easily)

Sensitive settings are outwash plains, buried valleys, karst and shallow bedrock, mapped statewide by Ohio EPA for siting decisions. Exposure is not contamination: it says how quickly a spill, a failing tank or heavy manure would reach the water table, not whether one has.

Source: Ohio EPA Sensitive Geologic Settings and karst geology layers (geology/Geology), ODNR Geological Survey karst and spring points, Ohio EPA source water protection areas (DrinkingWater/SWAP); shares by ZIP boundary overlay, karst by a point query at the population-weighted center · Ohio EPA geology layers · Ohio EPA source water protection (SWAP) · ODNR Geological Survey

Sewage treatment

Size

0.25 million gallons a day design flow

Compliance

11 of the last 12 quarters with a violation; currently in violation (not significant); 58 effluent limit exceedances in 3 years

Other discharge permits: 1 facility inside this ZIP other than sewage plants holds a Clean Water Act permit (factories, water plants, quarries, package plants, storm water); 2 facility-quarters with a violation in the last three years.

Sewage sludge: 26 farm fields covering 759 acres inside this ZIP are permitted for spreading treated biosolids, mostly from Zanesville Energy, Llc (439 acres), Columbus Southerly Wwtp (190 acres), Somerset Wwtp (47 acres) (Ohio EPA). Biosolids carry nutrients and, increasingly under scrutiny, PFAS.

Sludge source: 1 permitted biosolids generator is inside this ZIP; nearest Somerset WWTP, 1 mi away; 3 within 10 miles (Ohio EPA).

State water loans: 10 projects inside this ZIP have borrowed $2.1 million from Ohio EPA's revolving loan funds since 2016 (3 sewer, storm water and runoff projects for $737,000; 7 drinking water projects for $1.4 million), with $527,012 of principal forgiven. Largest: Water System Improvements (Somerset, 2020, $636,020); latest: Water Treatment Plant Cyanotoxin General Plan (Somerset, 2025, $25,338). Below-market loans are how most Ohio treatment plants and water mains get rebuilt.

Stormwater: this ZIP lies outside Ohio EPA's regulated MS4 areas, so its storm drains and ditches carry runoff without a municipal stormwater permit. 1 site with an address in this ZIP holds its own industrial stormwater permit (Rhodes Mfg LLC) (EPA Facility Finder).

Plants inside this ZIP: Somerset Wwtp (0.25 MGD).

Where a home's sewage actually goes depends on the sewer district, and rural homes are on septic systems the county health department permits; the nearest plant is a proxy. Violations range from paperwork to raw discharges.

Source: EPA Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO), Clean Water Act NPDES facilities with a POTW component in Ohio; straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center. Compliance data lag about a quarter.; other Clean Water Act permit holders inside the ZIP from the same service · EPA ECHO · EPA CSO inventory · Ohio EPA GIS services · EPA Facility Finder

Stream health

Uses failing

aquatic life 77% of the land, recreation (bacteria) 94%, fish consumption 0%, drinking-water source 32% (that use is assessed on only 71% of the ZIP)

Causes listed

bacteria (pathogens) (94%), habitat damage (71%), metals (45%)

Cleanup plans

94% of the land is under a TMDL pollution budget

Watersheds here: Center Branch (not supporting); Painter Creek-Jonathon Creek (not supporting).

Fish advisories (Ohio EPA): St. Joseph Lake: largemouth bass one meal a month (mercury). Statewide, every other fish is one meal a week because of mercury.

Nearest stream assessment (Ohio EPA): Painter Creek @ Twp. Rd. 76, Dst. Trib. on the Painter Creek, 3 mi away, draining 11 square miles: full attainment of its warmwater use; fish IBI 50 of 60 (2008); bugs rated good; habitat QHEI 55 of 100. 1 assessed site inside the ZIP, 1 within 3 miles, 20 within 10. Scores above about 40 (IBI), 36 (ICI) and 60 (QHEI) mean a healthy warmwater stream.

Stream designations (Ohio EPA water quality standards): 30.4 miles of designated streams cross this ZIP: 28.5 mi warmwater habitat, 1.6 mi limited resource water, 0.3 mi exceptional warmwater habitat. Nearest specially protected stream: the Muskingum river (Licking river (RM 76.20) to Moxahala creek (RM 73.50)), 16.8 mi away, a Superior High Quality Water. Exceptional and coldwater streams are the state's healthiest; modified and limited-resource waters are channelized or ditched.

Proposed for 2026: the nearest reach Ohio EPA proposes to add to the antidegradation tiers is the Claylick Creek, 11.7 mi away, as Superior High Quality Water.

PFAS in the river (Ohio EPA large river survey): at Licking R. At Dillon Falls @ Dillon Falls Rd., 16.9 mi away, the water carried 85.8 ng/L of total PFAS (PFOA 2.2, PFOS 1.6 ng/L); fish fillets held 29.85 ng/g in bluegill and 18.43 ng/g in catfish (PFOS 12 in bluegill). Drinking water limits are 4 ng/L for PFOA and PFOS; river water is not drinking water, but treatment plants that draw from it start from these numbers.

Farm chemicals (USGS estimate, 2018): farms in Perry County used about 51 metric tons of pesticide active ingredient, 124 kg per square mile, 56th of Ohio's 88 counties. Largest: glyphosate 12 t, atrazine 8 t, acetochlor 6 t, metolachlor 5 t, simazine 3 t. Atrazine, the corn herbicide, is the pesticide that most often shows up in Ohio tap water after spring rains; this county used 8 t of it.

Farms (2022 Census of Agriculture): 696 farms work 76,325 acres of Perry County, with 16.5% of its land in cropland, 110 acres to a farm. 7,414 cattle, 12,245 hogs, 3,191 laying hens, 800 broilers, 151 turkeys; 12,908 acres of corn and 13,422 of soybeans. Sales $33 million, 29% from animals and animal products. Manure and fertilizer from farms like these carry the phosphorus and nitrogen behind Ohio's algae and nitrate problems; withheld figures protect individual farms.

A watershed unit fails when any sampled stream in it fails; ditches in flat farm country fail on habitat and nutrients, city creeks on bacteria and sediment. Ohio's own report is at epa.ohio.gov; the EPA link on each unit's report page has the sampling detail.

Source: EPA ATTAINS (Ohio EPA 2024 Integrated Report), watershed assessment units overlaid on the ZIP boundary in an equal-area projection; shares are of the ZIP's land area · EPA ATTAINS · Ohio integrated report · Ohio sport fish advisory · Ohio EPA advisory map

Watershed

• Hocking53% of residentsDrains to the Ohio River
• Muskingum47% of residentsDrains to the Ohio River

ZIP codes and subbasins do not share boundaries, so this ZIP is split between them.

H2Ohio: nearest project Grosse Brothers Treatment Wetland, funded 2024, in progress, 13.1 mi away: Over the past few decades, harmful algal blooms have been increasing in Buckeye Lake, a primary tourist destination 30 miles east of Columbus. In collaboration ...; 0 within 5 miles, 2 within 15. H2Ohio pays for wetlands, farm practices and lead line work to cut the nutrients behind Lake Erie's algae.

Source water: 13% of this ZIP drains to the river intakes of Somerset Village Of, New Lexington and sits inside their Ohio EPA source water protection area; 8% lies in the 1,000-foot stream corridor zone where spills and runoff matter most.

Watershed grants: nearest "Stormwater Control for Nutrient Reduction at Buckeye" by ODNR-Parks & Recreation (stormwater management, Section 319), 12.6 mi away; 0 within 10 miles (Ohio EPA project lists: Section 319 and GLRI through fiscal 2023, SWIF through 2017).

Road salt: nearest went to Marion Township (facility, 2024-2025), 15.4 mi away. H2Ohio pays for brine makers, calibrated spreaders and covered salt barns so less chloride reaches streams and wells.

Watershed plan: the Center Branch subwatershed around this ZIP's center is covered by an acid mine drainage abatement and treatment plan that Ohio EPA lists alongside its nine-element nonpoint source plans (listed 2017), which makes mine-drainage cleanup projects there eligible for federal Section 319 runoff grants.

The population center sits in the Center Branch Rush Creek subwatershed; its water runs on through Headwaters Rush Creek, then Clark Run-Rush Creek, then Turkey Run-Rush Creek.

In 2015 Perry County drew about 2 million gallons a day of fresh water (USGS): 1 million for public supply (20% from wells, 29,000 people served at 27 gallons a person a day at home); 7,000 residents drew their own well water.

EnviroAtlas, Center Branch Rush Creek: under 50 acres in the Conservation Reserve Program; 3,022 acres of grain crops; 61 miles of streams (2.5 per square mile); water use of 111 thousand gallons a day for homes; 40.1 inches of rain and snow a year; 9.2 kg of nitrogen per hectare falling from the air each year; farm nitrogen of 1.1 kg per hectare a year as manure and 23.5 kg as synthetic fertilizer; 1% of the farmland sits on drained hydric soils; potentially restorable wetlands on farmland cover 4% of the subwatershed; 1.5% of the land is paved or roofed; 66% of the stream banks keep natural cover (EPA EnviroAtlas national metrics, 2010s vintages).

Stream permits: 2% of this ZIP drains to streams Ohio EPA rates high quality, where a project that fills, pipes or crosses a stream needs an individual Ohio EPA 401 water quality review; 65% drains toward high-quality waters farther down and might qualify for the Army Corps' blanket nationwide permits after a field screening and 33% can use those nationwide permits outright (Ohio EPA 401 nationwide permit eligibility map).

Source: USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset (HUC-8 subbasins by resident share, HUC-12 subwatershed at the population center) · 2020 census blocks · USGS watershed boundaries · EPA EnviroAtlas · Ohio EPA 401 map · USGS county water use 2015 · ODNR H2Ohio projects · ODNR Lake Erie Coastal Management Area · Ohio EPA source water protection (SWAP) · Ohio EPA nine-element plans · Ohio EPA 319, GLRI and SWIF project lists · Ohio EPA chloride reduction grants · NOAA Lake Erie water levels

Homes and income

Household income

$67,016 median

Income spread

19% of households earn under $25,000 a year, 30% $100,000 or more and 4.0% $200,000 or more

Rent

$833 a month, median gross

Owner-occupied

86% of 1,688 occupied homes; 55% of owners carry a mortgage

Typical home built

1979

Value spread

17% of owner-occupied homes are worth under $100,000 and 13% $500,000 or more; income per person $30,257 a year

Moved in

the typical owner moved in in 2007, the typical renter in 2015

Median age

35.8 years

Commute

36 minutes each way on average, 41% of commuters travel 45 minutes or more, 8% work from home

Housing stock

78% single-family detached, 4% in buildings of 5 or more units, 16.5% mobile homes; 2.7% of homes are crowded (more than one person a room)

Vacancy

11% of 1,895 housing units are vacant: 0.9% for sale, 9.9% other, such as homes held off the market, in probate or abandoned

Owner costs

19% of owners with a mortgage and 15% of owners without one spend 30% or more of income on housing

Fair market rent

$1,090 a month for a two-bedroom (one-bedroom $890, three-bedroom $1,350): HUD's fiscal 2026 small-area fair market rent, the benchmark for housing vouchers in the Perry County metro area

Tax returns

2,180 returns for 2022 averaging $66,202 of adjusted gross income; 27% reported under $25,000 and 3% reported $200,000 or more; 13% claimed the earned income credit and 28% were filed by people 60 or older (IRS)

Subsidized housing

1 tax-credit (LIHTC) property with 42 low-income units, newest placed in service 1991; 1 HUD-assisted multifamily property with 46 assisted units (Section 8 and similar contracts). Housing vouchers used in private rentals are not counted

Banks

2 full-service bank branches from 2 banks inside this ZIP (FDIC); no credit union branch (NCUA)

Strain

50% of renters pay 30% or more of income in rent; 5.3% of households have no vehicle; the median renter spends 30.2% of income on rent; the median owner with a mortgage spends 19.2% of income on housing costs

Five-year survey averages centered on 2022; small ZIPs carry wide margins of error, and owner-estimated values run below sale prices in a rising market.

Source: Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 five-year estimates by ZIP Code Tabulation Area; Eviction Lab (Princeton) tract estimates 2016 to 2018, weighted to the ZIP; HUD fiscal 2026 Small Area Fair Market Rents; IRS Statistics of Income ZIP data, tax year 2022; Mapping Inequality (University of Richmond), HOLC maps 1935 to 1940; HUD eGIS open data for subsidized housing; FDIC BankFind branch locations; NCUA credit union branch list, March 2026 · Census ACS · Eviction Lab · HUD data · IRS ZIP statistics · Mapping Inequality · HUD eGIS open data · FDIC BankFind · NCUA call report data

Houses and neighborhoods

Homes

1,225 one-family houses, 4 two-family houses, 2 three-family houses, 187 manufactured homes, 331 farmhouses; also 5 apartment buildings and 196 other residential parcels

Age

31% built before 1950, 49% before 1978 (1978: the year lead paint was banned for housing)

Size

median living area 1,548 sq ft; median lot 2.48 acres (condominiums left out)

Value

median appraised value $246,920 (tax year 2026): the county auditor's market value for property tax, not a sale price; 2026 reappraisal values as of the extract; the 2025 bill was figured on the 2025 values

Sales

43 sales in the 12 months to Sep 10, 2026 (median $280,000); 203 sales in 5 years (median $235,000, $171 a sq ft). Counted: sales the auditor marked valid or has not yet reviewed (sales marked not valid, and unreviewed ones under $10,000, are left out), single-parcel sales of homes, one per house (its newest)

Owners

78% owner-occupied (homes receiving the owner-occupancy tax credit); 3% company-owned

Neighborhoods

0 neighborhoods and 32 subdivisions (details load below)

Show neighborhoods and houses

The houses load when you search, pick a filter or press the button (the pack for this part of the state, a few megabytes). Zoomed in on the map, each house of this ZIP draws as a dot that follows the search and filters.

Source: county auditors' appraisal records: Perry County Auditor (as of Sep 10, 2026); residential parcels placed in ZIPs by the atlas; owner names are not carried · Allen County Auditor · Ashland County Auditor · Auglaize County Auditor · Butler County Auditor · Champaign County Auditor · Clark County Auditor · Clinton County Auditor · Coshocton County Auditor · Crawford County Auditor · Fairfield County Auditor · Fayette County Auditor · Franklin County Auditor · Greene County Auditor · Guernsey County Auditor · Hardin County Auditor · Highland County Auditor · Hocking County Auditor · Holmes County Auditor · Jackson County Auditor · Knox County Auditor · Licking County Auditor · Logan County Auditor · Lorain County Auditor · Madison County Auditor · Marion County Auditor · Miami County Auditor · Montgomery County Auditor · Morrow County Auditor · Muskingum County Auditor · Perry County Auditor · Pickaway County Auditor · Richland County Auditor · Ross County Auditor · Stark County Auditor · Tuscarawas County Auditor · Union County Auditor · Wyandot County Auditor · OGRIP Ohio Statewide Parcels · Athens County subdivisions, town plats and additions (Athens County Auditor GIS) · Cincinnati Community Council Boundaries · Cincinnati Statistical Neighborhood Approximations (SNA), 2020 · Clark County recorded subdivision plats · Clermont County recorded subdivision plats · Cleveland Heights neighborhoods · Cleveland Statistical Planning Areas (SPAs) / neighborhoods · Columbus Communities · Columbus Community Planning Areas · Coshocton County subdivisions (recorded plats and town additions) · Dayton neighborhoods · Dublin Civic Associations · Franklin County recorded subdivision and condominium plats · Hamilton (Ohio) 17Strong neighborhoods · Lima neighborhood associations · Logan County subdivision and condominium plats · Madison County subdivisions (recorded plats) · Morgan County subdivision, addition and town plats · Muskingum County subdivision plats · Perry County subdivisions and town additions (recorded plat names on the county engineer's parcels) · Richland County subdivisions and condominiums (recorded plats, county GIS) · Sandusky neighborhoods · Stark County recorded allotment (subdivision) and condominium plats · Toledo neighborhood associations · Union County subdivision plats

Building permits

Mix

83 single-family houses, 0 units in buildings of five or more, 0 in duplexes and small buildings

Value

$21.3 million of construction at the value declared on the permits

By year

2016: 3, 2017: 9, 2018: 9, 2019: 9, 2020: 10, 2021: 12, 2022: 7, 2023: 7, 2024: 8, 2025: 9, 2026 through July: 4

Caveat

6 of the ten years had fewer than 12 months reported by the permit office; the Census Bureau estimates the missing months, so those counts are partly or wholly imputed

Survey counts are permits issued, not houses finished, and cover new residential construction only: additions, remodels, garages and commercial buildings are not in the survey. Values are the applicants' estimates. Where a city runs the building department for its township neighbours, the city's figure covers them too.

Source: Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, annual place files 2016 to 2025 (new privately owned residential units authorized), for the permit-issuing jurisdiction where most of this ZIP's residents live · Census building permits

Home prices

Five years

+54% from 2020 to 2025

Last year

-1% in 2025

Since 2000

prices stand at 2.4 times their 2000 level

Series

tracked since 1992

Zillow's typical home value here is $307K (2026-07), up 0% over the year, up 38% over five years and up 105% over ten.

On the market (Realtor.com, August 2026): median asking price $300,000, $188 per square foot for a typical 1,912 sq ft listing; 6 active listings, 4 new this month; listings spend a median 69 days on the market; 36% of listings have cut their price. Realtor.com flags this ZIP's figures this month as low quality (6 active listings), so the asking price is not a market median.

The index follows the same houses through repeat sales and refinance appraisals on conforming mortgages, so it measures price change rather than the price level (the Homes card has the median value). Consumer prices rose about 36% from 2015 to 2025, so a gain under 36% is a loss in real terms.

Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index, annual five-digit ZIP all-transactions series (repeat sales and refinance appraisals of conforming-mortgage homes, developmental, not seasonally adjusted), latest release; Zillow Home Value Index (mid-tier, smoothed, seasonally adjusted) and Zillow Observed Rent Index by ZIP, Zillow Research · FHFA house price index · Zillow research data · Realtor.com data

Local taxes

Northern Local 97% of residents

23.1 effective mills (37.5 gross); $1,618 a year on a $200,000 home. Operating 18.3, improvements 3.1, inside millage 1.7.

New Lexington City 3% of residents

22.4 effective mills (29.2 gross); $1,569 a year on a $200,000 home. Operating 18.6, improvements 2.4, inside millage 1.4.

Municipal income tax

Somerset 1% (32% of residents); township residents outside a city or village pay none. Charged on wages and business profits where you work and, after credits, where you live.

School district income tax

Northern Local none (97% of residents), New Lexington City none (3% of residents). About a third of Ohio districts levy one.

Sales tax

7.25% combined rate in Perry County: Ohio's 5.75% plus county and transit levies.

A mill is $1 per $1,000 of taxable value, and taxable value is 35% of market value. Effective rates fall as values rise because Ohio holds most voted levies to the dollars first approved. County, municipal or township, library, park and vocational-school levies are added on the same bill and are not counted here.

Source: Ohio Department of Taxation, Aggregate Property Tax Rates by School District, tax year 2025 (composite DTE 515); weighted by the share of this ZIP's residents in each district; The Finder rate tables for municipal, school district and sales taxes, September 2026 · Ohio tax data series · The Finder

Who delivers the electricity

• South Central Power Company co-op59% of residentsBuckeye Power, Inc.
• AEP Ohio investor-owned41% of residentsAmerican Electric Power (AEP)

South Central Power Company outages, 2024: the average customer lost power for 320 minutes (201 minutes leaving out major storm days), about 2.5 interruptions a year.

South Central Power Company residential price, 2024: 14.87 cents per kWh, about $160 a month for the average home across 117,469 residential customers (EIA-861).

South Central Power Company solar and meters, 2024: no net-metered solar reported under its own name (Buckeye Power, the co-ops' generation cooperative, files one Ohio net-metering row: 3,058 systems, 32.6 MW in 2024); 100% of its 127,851 meters are two-way smart (AMI) meters (EIA-861).

AEP Ohio outages, 2024: the average customer lost power for 272 minutes (158 minutes leaving out major storm days), about 1.1 interruptions a year.

AEP Ohio standard service offer price, 2024: 19.33 cents per kWh, about $174 a month for the average home, for the 550,768 residential customers who have not chosen a supplier; the other 788,464 pay AEP Ohio 10.75 cents per kWh for delivery plus their supplier's price (EIA-861).

AEP Ohio solar and meters, 2024: 11,606 customers run net-metered solar (158.9 MW, 11,036 of them homes); 79% of its 1,541,883 meters are two-way smart (AMI) meters, 21% drive-by automated reads (EIA-861).

Energy burden: households here spend an average 3.9% of income on electricity, gas and other fuels (about $2,814 a year against $72,224 of income); the 40% of households below 80% of the area median income spend 10.4%, and 39% of households fall in groups averaging 6% or more, the usual line for a high burden (DOE LEAD Tool, 2022 update, built from 2018 to 2022 survey data).

Source: PUCO certified territories via ODOT · HIFLD retail service territories (EIA Form 861) · 2020 census blocks · outage statistics from EIA-861 Reliability, 2024 with 2023 where a utility skipped a year (SAIDI and SAIFI, IEEE 1366) · residential prices from EIA-861 Sales to Ultimate Customers, net metering and advanced meters from the EIA-861 files of the same years · DOE LEAD Tool 2022 household energy burden by tract, apportioned into ZIPs by block population · PUCO electricity · ODOT territories service · EIA-861 · DOE LEAD Tool · HIFLD retail service territories

Natural gas here

40% of the 1,688 homes here heat with utility gas.

Utility gas 40%Electricity 25%Propane or LP 19%Oil, wood, other 16%

• Columbia Gas of Ohio regulated utility100% of residents, main companyNiSource Inc.

Pipes under the street: Columbia Gas of Ohio reported 20,620 miles of distribution main to PHMSA for 2025, 64% plastic and 6.6% cast iron or bare steel (the leak-prone materials); 3,271 hazardous leaks repaired in 2025.

PUCO lists 5 companies operating in Perry County: Consumers Gas Cooperative, Columbia Gas of Ohio, Foraker Gas Company, Inc., Madison Energy Cooperative Association, Inc., National Gas and Oil Cooperative.

Source: PUCO gas distribution companies by county, April 2026 · federal (EIA) territory polygons, 2016 · Census ACS 2020 to 2024 heating fuel · PUCO natural gas · HIFLD

Power plants

Nearest plant of any size: Suburban Landfill Gas Recovery, 7.8 mi (biomass, 6 MW).

1 plant within 10 miles totalling 6 MW: 1 biomass (6 MW).

Capacity is net summer capacity in megawatts (EIA), not output; a solar farm's 200 MW runs a quarter of the hours a gas plant's would. Small peaking engines and landfill-gas units count as plants.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Form 860 plant inventory via HIFLD (February 2025); USGS U.S. Wind Turbine Database and U.S. Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Database; NRC emergency planning zones around Perry and Davis-Besse (residents inside the roughly 10-mile zone counted by 2020 census block); straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center · EIA-860 · HIFLD · USGS wind turbines · USGS solar · NRC emergency planning zones

Gas transmission pipelines

12.4 miles of transmission pipe cross this ZIP: Columbia Gas Trans Co 12.4 mi.

Transmission lines run at hundreds of pounds of pressure and are inspected under federal rules; the distribution mains that actually feed homes are a separate, denser network not shown here. By mileage in this EIA layer Ohio's map is dominated by Columbia Gas Transmission and East Ohio Gas's intrastate lines; Texas Eastern and the Rover and Nexus lines built for Utica shale gas are among the other large interstate systems.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Natural Gas Interstate and Intrastate Pipelines layer (data last updated July 2025, pulled September 2026), via the ArcGIS Online copy maintained by Esri's Federal User Community; straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center; lengths clipped to the ZIP boundary in an equal-area projection · EIA U.S. Energy Atlas · ArcGIS Online item

Incumbent telephone company

• AT&T Ohio92% of residentsIncumbent local exchange carrier
• Brightspeed8% of residentsBrightspeed (formerly CenturyLink)

ZIP codes and exchange areas do not share boundaries, so this ZIP is split between them.

Source: PUCO incumbent local exchange carrier service areas · 2020 census blocks · PUCO telephone

Internet

Served, 100/20 Mbps or better 83%Underserved, 25/3 to 100/20 2%Unserved, under 25/3 15%

Fiber reaches 3% of locations, cable 41%; a year earlier 46% were served.

Of 1,688 households, 53% subscribe to cable, fiber or DSL, 26% rely on a cellular plan only, and 7% have no internet at home.

Measured by Ookla speed tests, April to June 2025: typical fixed download 169.4 Mbps, upload 14 Mbps, 40 ms latency, across 217 tests from up to 35 devices in 27 map tiles.

Source: FCC Broadband Data Collection, June 2024 (availability) · Census ACS 2020 to 2024 (subscriptions) · Ookla Open Data, fixed-network speed tests by tile, 2025 Q2 (measured speeds) · FCC broadband map · Ookla open data · Census ACS

Cell signal

• AT&T4G 99% · 5G 94%
• T-Mobile4G 78% · 5G 65%
• Verizon4G 100% · 5G 10%

Registered towers: 3 antenna structures registered with the FCC inside this ZIP and 3 within 3 miles of its center; the tallest inside is a 360-foot tower. Only structures over 200 feet or near airports must register, so most cell sites on short poles, water towers and rooftops are not counted.

Measured mobile speeds (Ookla speed tests, April to June 2026): typical download 147.7 Mbps, upload 18.8 Mbps, latency 34 ms over 18 tests from up to 11 devices in 10 map tiles.

Coverage as the carriers report it to the FCC for outdoor use at a stationary spot, by land area rather than by residents; indoor signal and rural hollows can be worse.

Source: FCC Mobile Broadband Data Collection via Esri Living Atlas (layer last updated November 2025, i.e. the June 30, 2025 filing round), carrier-reported outdoor coverage by hexagon, summed over the ZIP's land; FCC Antenna Structure Registration database, September 2026; Ookla open data mobile tiles, 2026 Q2 · FCC broadband map · FCC antenna registration · Ookla open data

EV charging

No public station inside this ZIP; the nearest of any kind is Keer Automotive, 7 mi. 0 stations within 5 miles of the ZIP's population center, 0 with DC fast charging.

Level 2 adds roughly 20 to 30 miles of range an hour; DC fast charging fills most cars in under an hour. Listings are operator-reported and lag new openings and closures.

Source: NREL Alternative Fuels Data Center via the U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics (public, open electric stations, the posts at one site merged, restricted-access sites excluded), and chargers in neighbouring states near the border; straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center; station list as of May 29, 2026 · Alternative Fuels Data Center · BTS Alternative Fueling Stations (NTAD)

Public transit

2 stops inside this ZIP: Perry County Transit (2).

Only fixed-route systems that publish a GTFS feed appear; dial-a-ride and demand-response services do not, and a handful of small fixed-route systems publish no feed at all. Half a mile is roughly a ten-minute walk.

Source: USDOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, National Transit Map stops (National Transportation Atlas Database, 2025 vintage, fetched September 2026), plus the Springfield, Lancaster-Fairfield, Knox County Transit, WayGo and BGSU Shuttle GTFS feeds; share of 2020 census block population within half a mile of a stop · BTS National Transit Map · BTS transportation atlas · Springfield City Area Transit GTFS feed · Lancaster-Fairfield Public Transit GTFS feed · Knox County Transit GTFS feed · WayGo GTFS feed · BGSU Shuttle GTFS feed

Walkability

Street grid

3 intersections per square mile, long blocks and country roads

Transit

no stop within three-quarters of a mile in the EPA's 2020 transit file

Mix of uses

employment mix 0.65 and mix of homes and job types 0.49 on the EPA's 0 to 1 scales, where 1 is the most varied

Car-free households

5.3% of households have no vehicle (Census ACS 2020 to 2024)

The index scores every block group on intersection density, distance to transit and how mixed its jobs and homes are, then ranks them against the whole country. It measures the street pattern, not sidewalks, safety or hills.

Source: EPA National Walkability Index (Smart Location Database 3.0, 2021) by census block group, population-weighted to the ZIP through 2020 census blocks; car-free households from Census ACS 2020 to 2024 table B25044 (the Homes card), or, where that is missing, the Smart Location Database's own 2014 to 2018 share weighted by households · EPA walkability index · Smart Location Database · Census ACS

Rail crossings

Perry County has logged 1 rail accident since 2010, 0 of them derailments (FRA Form 54). Yard mishaps at walking speed dominate; main-line derailments are the rare, dangerous ones.

Train counts and speeds are the railroad's last inventory update. Crossings with only crossbucks rely on the driver; Ohio has averaged about 77 crossing collisions a year from 2010 to 2025 (FRA Form 57), between 64 and 87 in a year.

Source: Federal Railroad Administration, Grade Crossing Inventory (Form 71, current records); crossings whose point falls inside the ZIP boundary, closed crossings excluded; nearest crossing measured from the population-weighted center. Collisions are FRA Form 57 crossing incidents since 2010, placed by crossing id through the inventory's coordinates; train accidents are FRA Form 54 rail equipment accidents since 2010, placed by their own reported coordinates, counted one per incident rather than one per report (county totals from the same file). All three pulled from data.transportation.gov, September 2026 · FRA crossing inventory (Form 71, current) · FRA crossing incidents (Form 57) · FRA rail equipment accidents (Form 54) · FRA safety data · DOT open data

Bridges

Age

typical bridge built 1975, 7 built before 1950; oldest 1900, Gower Road over Painter Creek

Busiest

SR 13 over Center Branch Rush Creek, 3,783 vehicles a day (2015 count)

Owners

county 11, state 9

Ratings come from the inspection every bridge gets at least every two years; poor means deterioration that needs repair, not imminent danger. FHWA's file is a yearly snapshot with inspections through early 2025, so a bridge replaced, re-rated or closed since then still shows its old rating here; ODOT's TIMS bridge inventory carries the current one. Traffic figures are the average daily counts the bridge owners filed with the inventory; most Ohio counts date from 2015 and some are older. County engineers own most of Ohio's small bridges and ODOT the big ones.

Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory 2025 (Ohio file); structures whose point falls inside the ZIP boundary; condition from NBI items 58, 59, 60 and 62 (deck, superstructure, substructure, culvert) · FHWA bridge inventory · ODOT TIMS bridge inventory (live)

Traffic

Trucks

766 a day on SR 13, 9% of its traffic

Driving

about 102K vehicle-miles a day on the 93 counted segments inside the ZIP; the typical segment carries 1,633 vehicles

Busiest local road

county road 26, 845 vehicles a day

Annual average daily traffic is both directions combined, averaged over the year. County, township and city roads are labelled by their route number, which ODOT uses instead of the street name. Most city streets have no count, so the busiest local road is the busiest counted one. Interchange ramps are left out of the busiest-road pick; a ZIP with nothing but ramps shows one labelled ramp and its ODOT number.

Road deaths: 6 people died in 6 crashes inside this ZIP in 2020 to 2024 (1 pedestrian, 1 motorcyclist); 3 involved a drinking driver and 3 happened in the dark; most on US-22 (3). Too few people live here for a per-resident rate to mean much; deaths are counted where the crash happened, and many who die on through roads live elsewhere. (NHTSA FARS)

Source: ODOT traffic count segments, 2025 annual average daily traffic (ODOT TIMS); segments assigned to the ZIP holding their midpoint; NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System 2020 to 2024, crashes placed by their coordinates · ODOT TIMS traffic count segments · NHTSA FARS

Airports and trains

Nearest airfield

Ed Newlon Field (I86), New Lexington, 9.3 mi, public use

Amtrak

South Shore-South Portsmouth station, 83.1 mi (South Shore, KY)

Ohio's Amtrak stops are on the Floridian (Amtrak has temporarily combined the Capitol Limited with the Silver Star), the Lake Shore Limited and the Cardinal, all overnight trains; Cincinnati's only calls three times a week. Amtrak's Thruway bus stops, Dayton-Trotwood among them, are not counted as stations here. Airline service at Toledo and Rickenbacker is limited to a few routes; Youngstown-Warren has had no airline flights since 2018.

Source: FAA airport facilities and Amtrak stations via USDOT BTS National Transportation Atlas; straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center · BTS transportation atlas

Radon in this ZIP

39% of tests at or above EPA's 4 pCi/L action level · median 3.1 · highest 154.3

A ZIP average says nothing about one house; readings next door can differ tenfold. Test yours, and fix it at 4 pCi/L or more.

Source: odh.ohio.gov radon levels by ZIP code, tests since 2010, before mitigation · ODH radon program

Flood zones

1.7% of the ZIP's land is in that floodplain, and another 0.1% is in the 0.2% (500-year) zone.

Design storms (NOAA Atlas 14): a 100-year storm here drops 5.9 inches in 24 hours (2.8 in a single hour, 4.5 in six); a 2-year storm 2.6, 10-year 3.8, 25-year 4.5, 500-year 7.9 inches in 24 hours. Storm sewers, culverts and detention ponds are sized from these numbers, and a "100-year" storm has a 1% chance every year.

Nearest river gauge: South Fork Licking River near Hebron OH, 15.9 mi away, draining 133 square miles. Record flow 5,880 cubic feet a second at a stage of 12.4 ft on 1959-01-21; the highest since 2016 was 5,000 on 2020-03-21 (USGS, 61 annual peaks, 1940 to 2024).

No federal flood insurance policy is in force in this ZIP.

2 federal flood insurance claims from this ZIP since 1978, 0 since 2010, paying about $4,966 in all; the worst year was 1980 with 1 claim.

Levees: nearest is the Rush Creek Part 4, 9.1 mi away (de-accredited).

Community status: Perry County's unincorporated areas take part in the National Flood Insurance Program; flood map effective 08/15/17.

Lenders require flood insurance on mortgaged homes in the 1% zone (zones A and AE). Block centers understate narrow floodplains in rural areas, so check the FEMA map for a specific address.

Source: FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (effective flood insurance rate maps, levee centerlines) · 2020 census block centers · ZIP land area by polygon overlay, open water excluded; NOAA Atlas 14 precipitation frequency at the ZIP center; USGS NWIS annual peak flows; OpenFEMA NFIP policies in force by reported ZIP as of September 2026, NFIP redacted claims and the Community Status Book · FEMA flood hazard layer · FEMA Map Service Center · OpenFEMA · NOAA Atlas 14 · USGS stream gauges

Natural hazard risk

• Drought95
• Lightning88

FEMA's expected annual loss here from all hazards: $851,090 a year in buildings, crops and lives.

The index blends how often a hazard strikes, what it would cost, and how vulnerable and resilient the community is. Inland flooding (rivers and heavy rain) scores 32, tornado 51, winter weather 61.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, census tracts, December 2025 release, weighted to this ZIP by 2020 block population · FEMA National Risk Index · NRI census tract layer (ArcGIS)

Climate

Temperature

50.7°F average; typical January low 18°, July high 83°

Hot and cold days

10 days a year reach 90°F; 139 nights fall below freezing, 6 below 0°F; 28 days never climb above freezing

Rain and snow

44.4 inches of precipitation on 94 days with a tenth of an inch or more; 20 inches of snow on 9 days with an inch or more, snow on the ground 29 days

Degree days

5,864 heating, 679 cooling (base 65°F): the higher the heating number, the bigger the winter gas bill

Drought (U.S. Drought Monitor): since 2020 Perry County has spent 29 weeks in moderate drought or worse, 15 of them severe or worse (most recently 15 weeks in 2024), and 81 weeks at least abnormally dry. The worst since 2000 was exceptional drought in 2024/11; 5% of all weeks since 2000 were in drought. As of 2026-09-01: no drought.

Long run (NOAA, Perry County): the average year ran 52.3 °F over 1996 to 2025 against 50.7 °F over 1901 to 1930, 1.6 °F warmer (1.8 °F warmer than 1951 to 1980); the warmest year on record was 2024 at 55.1 °F, and 2025 came in at 52.3 °F. Precipitation averaged 43.5 inches a year lately against 39.8 a century ago, 9% more; the wettest year was 2018 with 57.6 inches, and 2025 brought 43.7. More rain in bigger bursts is what strains storm sewers and septic fields.

Stations: New Lexington 2 NW (6.5 mi, temperature and precipitation and snowfall; 24 years of snowfall record). Normals are thirty-year averages, so a single winter can run far above or below them.

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 (annual/seasonal and monthly); nearest reporting station to the ZIP's population-weighted center for each element; U.S. Drought Monitor county statistics · NOAA climate normals · NOAA climate at a glance · U.S. Drought Monitor

Air quality

Worst days

98th-percentile day 12.1 µg/m³ (24-hour standard 35)

Ozone

62 ppb, 4th-highest daily 8-hour reading at Heath, 17 mi away (standard 70)

County AQI

Perry County has no monitor of its own, so EPA publishes no daily index for it

Air toxics

30 in a million lifetime cancer risk from outdoor air toxics across Perry County (EPA AirToxScreen 2020), mostly formaldehyde (17) and carbon tetrachloride (3)

Permitted sources

2 permitted air sources inside this ZIP under the Clean Air Act (1 major, Title V); none had a violation in the last 3 years. Notable: Texas Eastern Transmissions L.P. - Somerset (major) (1 permanently closed source also on file) (EPA ECHO)

Air standards

Perry County meets every national air quality standard and carries no maintenance plan (EPA Green Book)

Ohio has 38 PM2.5 monitors, mostly in cities and near industry, so a rural ZIP borrows a reading from far away. 2025 includes Canadian wildfire smoke days. Air-toxics risk is EPA's modelled lifetime estimate for the county as a whole; EPA's national average is about 30 in a million, and formaldehyde, with the globally mixed carbon tetrachloride background and acetaldehyde, makes up most of it.

Source: EPA Air Quality System, 2025 annual summary files (monitor annual concentrations, county AQI) and the 2026 daily county AQI file; straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center to the nearest monitor · EPA air data files · EPA AirToxScreen · EPA Green Book · EPA ECHO

Toxic and Superfund sites

1 facility has reported toxic chemical releases or transfers to EPA's inventory from inside this ZIP, and 0 sites appear in the Superfund program's list (most assessed and never listed).

18 EPA-registered facilities of all kinds in this ZIP: 3 brownfield sites in the cleanup program (102 East Main Street, 117 East Main St., Kimpel Properties), 4 hazardous-waste handlers, 3 with air permits, 3 with water discharge permits.

Nearest landfill: Ludowici Roof Tile Inc, 6.7 mi from the center, municipal solid waste landfill (closed). Ohio EPA's list includes closed and historic dumps.

State cleanup program: 1 site inside this ZIP (Sakas Inc Former), 1 within 3 miles of the population center; the nearest is Sakas Inc Former, 1.5 mi from the center, covenant not to sue, voluntary cleanup (VAP).

Voluntary cleanups: 1 property inside this ZIP holds an Ohio EPA covenant not to sue after a Voluntary Action Program cleanup; 1 such property within 3 miles of the population center, nearest Sakas Inc Former, Somerset, 1.5 mi. These are former industrial and commercial sites certified clean enough to reuse.

Solid waste: no licensed solid waste facility inside this ZIP; nearest Suburban Landfill Inc (municipal landfill), 7.8 mi from the center; 0 within 5 miles of the center (Ohio EPA licences, 2026). Compost sites and transfer stations are where most of a county's trash and yard waste actually goes.

Hazardous waste (EPA ECHO): 4 active RCRA handlers inside this ZIP; none had a violation in the last 3 years. Nearest treatment, storage or disposal facility: Cirba Solutions US Inc in Lancaster, 14.8 mi. Handlers include every business that generates hazardous waste, from body shops to chemical plants.

Underground tanks: 2 sites with 8 registered underground storage tanks in use (21 more tanks closed over the years); 10 leaking-tank releases on record, all closed out, 6 inside a drinking-water source protection area; 2 reported since 2015, the latest in 2018 (EPA UST Finder, Ohio records as of 2018-2019).

Drop-off sites: the nearest scrap tire drop-off is Newlon Tire, Inc., New Lexington, 7.5 mi away (1 within 15 mi); the nearest household battery drop-off is Retriev, Baltimore, 14.8 mi away (2 within 15 mi) (Ohio EPA).

The inventory covers larger manufacturers and federal facilities that use listed chemicals; reporting means use or release, not a measured hazard to neighbours. Superfund status: on, proposed for, or deleted from the list after cleanup.

Source: EPA Facility Registry Service, Superfund (SEMS and NPL) sites and Toxics Release Inventory reporters, points inside the ZIP boundary; distance from the ZIP's population-weighted center · EPA Facility Registry · EPA Superfund sites · Ohio EPA cleanup sites · EPA UST Finder · EPA ECHO

Toxic releases

Where it went

18,616 lb to the air, 0 lb to surface water, 0 lb to land or underground injection; another 0 lb was shipped off site for disposal or release

Chemicals

Styrene 18,616 lb (carcinogen)

Carcinogens

18,616 lb of the on-site releases were chemicals EPA lists as carcinogens

Facilities

Schmelzer Inds. Inc. (Textiles): 18,616 lb, mostly Styrene

Trend

8,623 lb on site in 2020, so up 116% over four years

Pounds are what facilities report, not what reaches anyone: a ton of ammonia to the air and an ounce of mercury to a river are not the same risk. Off-site transfers go mostly to landfills and treatment plants elsewhere.

Source: EPA Toxics Release Inventory, basic data files for Ohio, reporting years 2020 to 2024 (2024 shown); facilities placed by their coordinates; dioxin rows reported in grams are left out of the pound totals · EPA TRI data files

Dams

Nearest high-hazard dam: Rushcreek Structure No. Iii-A, 4 mi, condition fair (flood risk reduction, 34 ft high, 415 acre-feet, built 1969, on Tributary To Center Branch Rush Creek, local government owned).

Inside this ZIP: 5 dams, 1 high-hazard, 1 rated poor: Rushcreek Structure No. Iii-A (high hazard, condition fair); Clouse Lake Dam (significant hazard, condition fair) and 3 more.

"High hazard" describes what a failure would do downstream, not the dam's shape; Ohio rates more than a third of its inventoried dams in poor condition, mostly small private lake dams. Emergency action plans are required for high-hazard dams.

Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Inventory of Dams (August 2026 release); straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center. Condition assessments come from Ohio's dam safety program. · National Inventory of Dams

Disasters on record

Strongest nearby: EF2 on 2010-09-16, 6.99 mi track (1 injured).

22 federal declarations for Perry County since Ohio's first in 1956 (17 major disasters): severe storm 10, flood 5, biological 2. Latest: Covid-19 Pandemic (2020).

0 earthquakes of magnitude 2 or more within 25 miles since 1970.

Warnings since 2015 (National Weather Service, Perry County): 6 tornado warnings (2018: 1, 2019: 1, 2022: 1, 2024: 2, 2026: 1), 145 severe thunderstorm warnings, 56 flash flood warnings, 38 flood warnings and 0 flood advisories, 17 winter storm or blizzard warnings, 31 heat warnings or advisories, 4 extreme cold or wind chill warnings; 767 products in all.

Mitigation grants (FEMA): 6 hazard mitigation projects in Perry County since 1998, worth $1.2 million ($479,688 federal), covering 42 properties; mostly property buyouts, mitigation planning, warning systems. Largest: property buyouts for Village Of Corning, $1.1 million (fiscal 1998).

Disaster aid to households: 13 households in this ZIP registered with FEMA after 3 declared disasters; 12 were approved for $64,526 of housing and other-needs help. Registrations by event: COVID-19 pandemic (2020): 10; severe storms and flooding (2004): 2; severe storms and flooding (2004): 1.

168 severe weather reports for Perry County since 2016 in NOAA's Storm Events log: 107 damaging thunderstorm wind, 28 flash floods, 19 hail, 10 river and street flooding. Largest hail 1.75 in (Jul 10, 2017); about $677,000 in reported damage, the costliest being river and street flooding on Jul 13, 2017 ($100K). Zone-wide advisories add 15 winter weather, 11 strong wind, 9 heavy snow.

Tornado tracks are straight lines from touchdown to lift-off; a near miss counts, a direct hit is not distinguished. Declarations include the 2020 COVID-19 emergency for every county; the latest, declared 2 May 2024 (DR-4777), covers the 14 March 2024 tornadoes in eleven counties, Indian Lake among them.

Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database 1950-2025; OpenFEMA disaster declarations summaries; USGS earthquake catalog (M2+, 1970 to date); NOAA Storm Events database 2016 to 2026 by county. Distances from the ZIP's population-weighted center. · NOAA SPC tornado data · OpenFEMA · USGS earthquakes · NOAA storm events · IEM warning archive

Spills and releases

What spilled

oil and gas brine or crude (1), unidentified material or sheen (1), oils and hydraulic fluid (1)

Reached water

1 of them reached a creek, river, ditch or storm drain (named or unnamed)

By year

2021: 1, 2022: 0, 2023: 0, 2024: 0, 2025: 1, 2026: 1

Anyone who spills more than a reportable quantity must call Ohio EPA within 30 minutes, so the log mixes a few gallons of diesel on a highway shoulder with real releases; the reported volume is the caller's first estimate. Every report in Ohio EPA's open-data layer carries coordinates; air-pollution complaints and calls where nothing was found are left out of this count.

Source: Ohio EPA Emergency Response spill reports (Spills2 open data), reports with coordinates inside the ZIP boundary, 2021 to date · Ohio EPA spills data · Ohio EPA Office of Emergency Response

Oil and gas wells

Status

268 producing, 1,104 plugged or abandoned, the rest drilled but idle, gas storage, orphan, expired permits or unknown

Orphans

3 wells in the state orphan program, unplugged with no solvent owner

Operators

Jeanie Enterprises Llc (50 producing), Eco Power Crypto Llc (32 producing)

Ohio has drilled since 1860, so most wells here are old, shallow and plugged; unplugged orphans and injection wells are the ones that matter for groundwater. Well-head points can be a few hundred feet off for the oldest records.

Source: Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management, public well inventory (well-head points); counts inside the ZIP boundary and within 1 mile of the ZIP's population-weighted center · ODNR oil and gas · ODNR GIS services

Abandoned mines

20TH CENTURY NO.1, 2 & 3

coal, mapped, 44 acres inside the ZIP

SIMONS

coal, mapped, 26 acres inside the ZIP

CARNEY & STICKDORN

coal, mapped, 8 acres inside the ZIP

Undermined land can subside and old workings can discharge acid mine water; ODNR's Abandoned Mine Land program funds repairs, and mine-subsidence insurance is included automatically in 26 eastern counties and offered as an option in 11 more. Maps drawn before 1977 are incomplete, so "none" means none mapped.

Quarries, pits and working mines: nearest Pole Cat Road (coal (surface), Oxford Mining Co., LLC), 6.4 mi away in Perry County; 0 within 3 miles, 4 within 10 (ODNR Industrial Minerals Locations, 2015, which includes surface and underground coal mines).

Source: Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Mines of Ohio (abandoned underground mine maps, coal and industrial minerals, pre-1977), overlaid on the ZIP boundary in an equal-area projection · ODNR mines of Ohio · ODNR Geological Survey

Soils and septic

Soil

Wellston silt loam, 1 to 8 percent slopes; Wellston makes up 90% of the unit, 4% slope

Water

well drained; flooding none, ponding none

Septic

Very limited for a leach field under Ohio's rule (somewhat limited under the national rule)

Basements

Somewhat limited for dwellings with basements

Farmland

All areas are prime farmland

Elevation

1,099 feet above sea level at the ZIP's population center; Ohio runs from 455 feet where the Ohio River leaves the state to 1,549 feet at Campbell Hill

One point stands for the ZIP; soils change field by field, and a site evaluation is what the health department goes by. "Very limited" means the standard design will not work, not that nothing will.

Source: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, SSURGO soil survey via Soil Data Access; the map unit at the ZIP's population-weighted center and its dominant component's interpretations; Copernicus GLO-90 elevation model (via Open-Meteo) at that center · USDA Soil Data Access · Web Soil Survey · Open-Meteo elevation

Parks and public land

Perry State Forest

state conservation area, 429 acres inside the ZIP

Nearest state park: Buckeye Lake State Park, 9.4 mi.

Protected land: 1.4% of this ZIP (526 acres) is in the USGS Protected Areas Database inventory of fee-owned parks, preserves and recreation land (public agencies, land trusts, and private clubs, camps and utility land, as their owners report it): 526 acres state. Largest: Perry State Forest (ODNR), 430 acres; Clouse Lake Wildlife Area (ODNR), 96 acres. 1% of the ZIP is protected land open to the public.

Trails: no built named trail crosses this ZIP; nearest is the US 40 Bike Lanes - Brownsville to Zanesville, 10 mi from the ZIP's center. 4.5 miles of state bike route F run through it (ODNR statewide trails inventory).

Open access as reported by each owner; local inventories vary, so a golf course or school field can be listed and a new park missed.

State lands nearby (ODNR facility layers): nearest boat ramp: Fairfield Beach Boat Launch at Buckeye Lake State Park, 12.6 mi (0 within 5 miles); fishing access: Fishing Access at Buckeye Lake State Park, 14.4 mi (0 within 5 miles); swim area: Boat Swim Area at Buckeye Lake State Park, 11.3 mi (0 within 5 miles); campground: Camp Site Area C (162-183) at Dillon State Park, 17 mi (0 within 5 miles).

Source: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States 4.1 (open-access fee, designation and easement polygons), overlaid on the ZIP boundary; straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center to the nearest ODNR state park · USGS PAD-US · ODNR GIS services

Wetlands

203 acres pond, 110 acres emergent wetland, 90 acres forested/shrub wetland. Largest single wetland: 15 acres of freshwater forested/shrub wetland.

Vernal pools: 4 potential high-quality vernal pools covering 2.2 acres lie inside this ZIP (Ohio EPA screening): seasonal woodland pools that dry by summer, hold no fish, and are where salamanders and fairy shrimp breed.

High-quality wetlands: nearest is Cranberry Bog NP (Ohio DNR), 13 acres, 12.7 mi away; 0 within 10 miles.

Mitigation sites: nearest Scott, 7.6 mi away (a permittee-responsible site under an environmental covenant); 1 within 10 miles. These are wetlands and streams built or restored to replace ones filled under Clean Water Act permits.

Assessed wetland: nearest HBL Marsh, a mitigation-bank wetland (mixed emergent marsh), 14.5 mi away: no ORAM score, plant community index 22 of 100 (surveyed 2003); 0 within 10 miles. Category 3 wetlands are the state's best and hardest to fill; category 1 are degraded.

Mapped from aerial photography, mostly 2004 to 2007 (the Lake Erie watersheds were re-mapped from 2021 imagery, a few areas date from 1976 to 2005 or 2014 to 2023), so small and seasonal wetlands are undercounted and ponds dug or filled since then are missing; a site delineation decides whether a lot is jurisdictional. Emergent means marsh, forested and shrub means swamp.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory (Ohio geodatabase), freshwater wetland and pond polygons clipped to the ZIP boundary; lakes and river channels excluded, imagery mostly 2004 to 2007 (Lake Erie basin 2021) · USFWS wetlands inventory · Ohio EPA GIS services

Land cover

Developed

7.1%: 2% low (houses on larger lots), 4.7% open space (lawns, parks, golf courses, road verges)

Farmland

49%: 23% row crops, 26% pasture and hay

Crops 2025

of 10,965 cropped acres, 40% soybeans, 37% corn, 7% wheat and small grains (plus 1% wheat followed by soybeans, counted under soybeans), 11% hay and alfalfa, 4% vegetables, orchards, fallow and other crops; 8,094 acres of pasture and grass (USDA Cropland Data Layer)

Forest

43%, plus 0.5% grass and shrub

Water and wetland

0.4% open water, 0.3% wetland

Paved and roofed

1% of the ZIP's surface is impervious; rain that lands there runs straight to a storm drain or stream instead of soaking in

Tree canopy

34% of the ZIP sits under tree canopy

Area

57.3 square miles of land

Land cover is classified from Landsat imagery at 30 metre pixels, so a house on a wooded lot can read as forest and a farm lane as open space. Stream health starts to slip once about 10% of a watershed is impervious, and is usually poor above 25%.

Source: National Land Cover Database 2021 (USGS and the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium): land cover, percent impervious surface and tree canopy at 30 m, summarised over the ZIP boundary · NLCD · USDA Cropland Data Layer · ODNR pre-settlement vegetation

People

Education

22.6% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 5.5% a graduate degree; 50.4% stopped at high school or earlier

Ages

24.9% under 18, 17.6% 65 or older

Race and origin

97.7% white, 0% Black, 0.4% Hispanic or Latino, 0% Asian, 1.9% other or two or more races

Born abroad

0.2% of residents

Veterans

7.5% of adults

Households

2.8 people per household on average; 26% of households are one person living alone, 58% married couples

Who lives here

29% of households include children, 35% someone 65 or over and 12.1% are a senior living alone; of people 15 and over, 59% are married, 26% never married, 8% divorced and 8% widowed

Poverty

13.1% of residents live below the poverty line, 18.8% of children and 15.6% of people 65 and over; the Gini index of income inequality is 0.41 (0 would mean every household earns the same, 1 that one household earns everything). County-wide, the Census Bureau's 2024 estimate is 13.7% (17.4% of children) with a median household income of $68,322 (SAIPE)

Ancestry

most often reported: German 24%, English 15%, Irish 14%

Movers

5.6% of residents lived somewhere else a year earlier

Language

0.0% of households speak limited English; 2.1% speak Spanish at home

Group quarters

95 of the 4,743 people counted here in 2020 (2.0%) lived in group quarters: 95 in nursing facilities (2020 Census)

Moving

1,657 people moved into Perry County between the returns they filed in 2022 and 2023 and 1,442 moved out (net +215, 27,267 stayed put); most arrivals came from Fairfield, OH (388), Licking, OH (303), Muskingum, OH (241); most leavers went to Muskingum, OH (301), Fairfield, OH (281), Licking, OH (258) (IRS)

Metro or rural

USDA rural-urban continuum code 1 of 9 for Perry County: metro - counties in metro areas of 1 million population or more

Nonprofits

33 tax-exempt organizations registered to addresses in this ZIP, 1 of them reporting $1 million or more in income; 76% are 501(c)(3) charities and 6% churches or religious groups; largest: American Legion Post 58 ($6 million), Sheridan Biddy League ($114,000), Somerset Artists Co-Op ($77,000) (IRS)

County growth

Perry County went from 35,416 people in April 2020 to 35,918 in July 2025 (+1.4%): 2,054 births, 2,278 deaths and a net +687 from migration since 2020; in 2025 alone a net 227 moved in from elsewhere in the U.S. and 3 arrived from abroad (Census estimates)

Since 1900

First counted in 1820 with 8,429 people and 20,775 by 1850, Perry County counted 31,841 people in 1900, 28,999 in 1950, 27,434 in 1970, 34,052 in 2000 and 35,416 in 2020; it peaked at 36,098 in 1920 (1.1 times its 1900 size, decennial censuses)

Commuting area: USDA classes this ZIP as a metropolitan fringe with light commuting to the core (rural-urban commuting area code 3 of 10, 2020 edition).

Race shares follow the Census categories, with Hispanic origin counted separately from race. Five-year averages centered on 2022. Moves count people on tax returns whose address changed county, so students and the very poor are undercounted.

Source: Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 five-year estimates by ZIP Code Tabulation Area (tables B15003, B03002, B05002, B21001, B01001, B25010, B11001, B17001, B19083, B04006, B07003, C16002, B05006, B11005, B11007, B12001); county population estimates, vintage 2025; IRS exempt organization master file; USDA rural-urban continuum codes 2023; USDA ERS rural-urban commuting area codes 2020; 2020 Census PL 94-171 redistricting file, group quarters (table P5); IRS Statistics of Income county migration, returns filed in 2022 and 2023; Census SAIPE 2024 county poverty and median income; decennial county counts from the Census Bureau report Population of States and Counties of the United States 1790 to 1990 · Census ACS · Census population estimates · IRS migration data · USDA ERS county codes · USDA ERS commuting area codes · 2020 Census redistricting data · Census SAIPE · IRS exempt organizations

Jobs and commuting

Largest employers by sector: Hotels and restaurants 106, Retail 101, Health care and social assistance 81. 32% of local jobs pay over $3,333 a month, and 55% of residents' jobs do.

Businesses: 58 establishments with 487 employees and $16 million a year in payroll in 2023; most common: restaurants and hotels (11), retail (8), professional and technical services (7), health care and social assistance (6) (ZIP Business Patterns).

Workplace safety (OSHA): 1 inspection of workplaces in this ZIP since 2020 (1 planned); most inspected: Altercare Of Ohio (1). No worker death investigated since 2015.

County labor market: Perry County's unemployment rate was 3.8% in July 2026 (5.4% a year earlier), with 15,870 people in the labor force and 598 looking for work. Employers in the county paid an average of $1,018 a week in the first quarter of 2026 (up 1.9% on the year) to 6,137 workers at 590 establishments, employment down 0.7%; the largest private sectors are manufacturing (732 jobs, $1,312 a week), retail (732 jobs, $550 a week), restaurants and hotels (552 jobs, $305 a week). (BLS)

Working-age residents: 53.2% of people 16 and over here are in the labor force, and 3.4% of the civilian labor force was unemployed, averaged over 2020 to 2024 (Census ACS). Residents' most common occupations: office and administrative support 14%, education, legal, community service and arts 14%, management and business 11%; 6% are self-employed and 21% work for a government.

Federal money: in fiscal 2025 the federal government obligated $457,000 in contracts performed in Perry County ($13 a resident) and $30 million in grants ($840 a resident) and $222 million in direct payments to people and organizations (USAspending; Social Security, Medicare and most benefits are not counted).

County economy: Perry County produced $698 million of real GDP in 2024 (2017 dollars, down 5.3% since 2019); personal income came to $51,367 a person in 2024, 67th of Ohio's 88 counties and up 30% since 2019 before inflation (BEA).

County type (USDA ERS, 2015 codes): Perry County is a metro county with a nonspecialized economy, with none of the ERS distress flags.

Opportunity zone: 89% of residents live in a census tract designated a federal Qualified Opportunity Zone in 2018, where investors who put capital gains into local projects get tax breaks (CDFI Fund list, 2010 tracts carried to 2020 boundaries).

How they get there: 83.9% drive alone, 6.4% carpool, 0.2% transit, 1.2% walk, 0% bike, 8.3% work from home (ACS).

Where residents work: 6% inside this ZIP; 11% in Lancaster (43130), 9% in Zanesville (43701), 8% in New Lexington (43764) (shares of the 1,745 residents with an Ohio workplace).

Unemployment-insurance records tie each job to a workplace and a home address; large employers sometimes report every worker at a headquarters, which inflates a few ZIPs. Self-employment, the military, the Postal Service, most farm work and a large part of federal civilian employment are missing (federal jobs come from OPM records that omit several agencies and, in practice, most of Wright-Patterson).

Source: Census Bureau LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, all jobs; populated census blocks assigned to ZIP Code Tabulation Areas by interior point, workplace-only blocks by the majority ZCTA of their block group or tract; Census ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023; OSHA enforcement data via the Labor Department open data catalog; BLS county unemployment (LAUS) and wages (QCEW); Census ACS 2020 to 2024 labor force by ZIP Code Tabulation Area (B23025); USAspending federal awards by county, fiscal 2025; BEA county GDP and personal income · Census LEHD · BLS local unemployment · BLS QCEW · BEA county GDP · USAspending · OSHA enforcement data · Census ZIP Business Patterns · Census ACS · USDA ERS county typology · CDFI Fund Opportunity Zones

Upward mobility

No Opportunity Atlas estimate covers enough of this ZIP (tracts redrawn since 2010, or too few children).

Source: Opportunity Atlas tract outcomes (Chetty, Friedman, Hendren, Jones and Porter, 2018; Census Bureau and IRS data for children born 1978 to 1983), population-weighted to ZIPs through 2020 census blocks · Opportunity Atlas · Opportunity Insights data

Social vulnerability

Socioeconomic status

62nd percentile: poverty, unemployment, housing cost burden, no high school diploma, no health insurance

Household characteristics

67th: people 65 and over or 17 and under, disability, single-parent households, limited English

Racial and ethnic minority status

14th

Housing and transportation

57th: multi-unit and mobile homes, crowding, no vehicle, group quarters

The index ranks tracts on how much help their residents would need in a disaster or disease outbreak, using American Community Survey 2018 to 2022 figures. Ranks are within Ohio; a ZIP is the average of its tracts weighted by residents.

Source: CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index 2022, census tracts ranked among Ohio tracts, population-weighted to the ZIP through 2020 census blocks · CDC/ATSDR SVI

Community health

Weight and activity

obesity 37.6%, no leisure-time physical activity 31.4%

Chronic conditions

diabetes 14.4%, high blood pressure 41.2%, COPD 10.0%, cancer (any but non-melanoma skin cancer) 10.1%

Habits

current smoking 18.2%, binge drinking 15.7%, short sleep 40.8%

Mind

depression 26.1%, frequent mental distress 18.0%, feeling lonely 32.9%

Access

uninsured under 65 8.2%, yearly checkup 79.8%, dental visit 59.5%

Hardship

any disability 32.0%, food insecurity 13.6%

Heart and lungs

current asthma 11.0%, coronary heart disease 8.6%, stroke 4.2%, arthritis 32.6%

Keeping up

80.9% of adults with high blood pressure take medicine for it, 85.8% had a cholesterol check in 5 years

Social needs

housing insecurity 10.3%, no reliable transportation 7.4%, utility shut-off threat 7.6%, lacking emotional support 20.6%

Provider shortage

100% live in an area HRSA designates a primary care shortage area for its low-income residents (score 16 of 25); 100% live in an area HRSA designates a dental shortage area for its low-income residents (score 9 of 26); 100% live in a designated mental health shortage area (score 19 of 25) (HRSA; higher scores mean greater need)

Coverage (Census)

11.5% of residents have no health insurance (14.0% of children); 22% are on Medicaid and 43% have coverage through an employer

Disability (Census)

17.7% of residents report a disability, 39% of those 65 and over

County (County Health Rankings 2025): Perry County sits in health group 6 of 10 among U.S. counties for population health (1 is healthiest) and group 6 for community conditions. Premature death 11,571 (Ohio 9,740) years of life lost before 75 per 100,000; one primary care doctor for every 3,546 people (Ohio 1,328), one mental health provider for every 539 people (Ohio 286), one dentist for every 2,957 people (Ohio 1,535); preventable hospital stays 3,128 (Ohio 3,033) per 100,000 Medicare enrollees; injury deaths 117.7 (Ohio 100.7) and suicides 20.6 (Ohio 14.7) per 100,000; infant deaths n/a per 1,000 births; teen births 24.1 (Ohio 17.4) per 1,000 girls 15 to 19; children in poverty 18.2 (Ohio 17.5) percent; fine-particle air pollution 7.5 (Ohio 7.8) micrograms per cubic metre; no community water system in the county had a health-based drinking water violation in 2023. Drug overdoses: 11 deaths in the 12 months ending December 2024 (15 a year earlier, 28 at the highest since 2020, in the 12 months ending October 2021), about 30.9 per 100,000 residents against 20.8 statewide in the 12 months ending December 2025; the county count has been suppressed (1 to 9 deaths) in every later month (CDC provisional counts).

Cancer (NCI State Cancer Profiles): Perry County records 505 new cancers a year per 100,000 people, age-adjusted, for 2018 to 2022 (Ohio 472.9, U.S. 448.6), about 238 cases a year, with the rate stable; cancer deaths 196.9 per 100,000 (Ohio 160.3, U.S. 145.4), stable. By site, per 100,000 (Ohio in parentheses): lung 87.2 (63.6), colorectal 46.6 (38.4), female breast 118.3 (133), prostate 111.9 (120.8), bladder 21.2 (21.8), leukemia 10.8 (13).

Medicare: 8,808 people in Perry County were on Medicare in 2025 (25% of residents): 7,453 aged 65 or over and 1,355 younger people with disabilities. 57% chose a Medicare Advantage plan, 19% also had Medicaid and 82% had Part D drug coverage; enrollment is up 14% since 2020 (CMS).

Modelled from a national telephone survey and the ZIP's demographics, so these are estimates of what residents would report, not counts of patients; small ZIPs carry wide margins.

Source: CDC PLACES, 2025 release (BRFSS 2023 and 2022, ACS 2019-2023), model-based ZCTA estimates of crude adult prevalence; County Health Rankings 2025 and CDC provisional overdose counts for the county; HRSA shortage area designations weighted to the ZIP; Census ACS 2020 to 2024 (insurance, disability); CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment, county, 2025 · CDC PLACES · County Health Rankings · CDC overdose data · NCI cancer profiles · HRSA data

Life expectancy

Ohio's statewide figure for the same years was 77.6; the United States 78.7. Differences of a year or two between neighbouring ZIPs are within the estimates' error; differences of five or more are real and track income, smoking and access to care.

Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Small-area Life Expectancy Estimates Project (USALEEP), 2010-2015, census tracts weighted by 2020 block population · CDC USALEEP

Nearest hospital

245 beds · no trauma designation listed · 0 general or critical-access hospitals within 10 miles, 4 within 25.

Medicare rating: ★★☆☆☆ · emergency room: yes · typical ER visit 145 minutes door to discharge (Ohio median 155)

Patients' verdict: 70% would definitely recommend it, 71% rated their stay 9 or 10 out of 10 (★★★☆☆ patient-experience rating, 593 surveys).

Outcomes: 30-day death rates after heart failure 12.6% (about the national rate), heart attack 12.7% (about the national rate), pneumonia 16.1% (about the national rate), July 2022 to June 2025; the patient-safety composite for serious complications (July 2022 to June 2024) is worse than the national value (Medicare).

Community health center: nearest Hopewell Health Centers - New Lexington, New Lexington, 7.1 mi away; 0 within 3 miles, 1 within 10. These federally funded clinics see anyone and charge on a sliding scale.

Veterans: nearest VA site is Lancaster VA Clinic, Lancaster (primary care outpatient clinic), 17.9 mi away; 0 VA sites within 10 miles, 3 within 25.

Providers: 51 active health care providers list a practice address in this ZIP: 8 physicians, 3 nurse practitioners and physician assistants, 2 dentists, 1 pharmacy, 4 nursing or assisted-living facilities; most common physician specialties: Family Medicine (6), Surgery (1), Cardiovascular Disease (1) (NPPES registry, August 2026).

Dialysis: nearest Fmc - Hocking Hills Dialysis Center, Lancaster, 15.4 mi away, 20 stations, Medicare ★★★★☆ (Fresenius Medical Care); 0 within 5 miles, 0 within 15.

Source: federal HIFLD hospital inventory (via FEMA) with Medicare Care Compare star ratings, emergency-service flags, median emergency department times (measure OP_18b), HCAHPS patient survey results and 30-day death rates and patient-safety composites (Complications and Deaths file; a campus with no record of its own carries its parent hospital's figures, labelled); NPPES NPI registry, August 2026 monthly file, active records by practice ZIP; straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center (some listings lag closures and mergers); HRSA health center sites, CMS dialysis facilities (geocoded with the Census geocoder) and the VA facility list · CMS Care Compare data · HIFLD · HRSA data · CMS NPI files

Nursing homes

1 certified home within 5 miles, 4 within 15; 1 inside this ZIP.

Medicare rating

★★★☆☆ overall; inspections ★★★☆☆; staffing ★★☆☆☆

Beds

79 certified

Ownership

For profit, corporation

Penalties

no federal fines or payment denials since 2023 (CMS)

In this ZIP: ALTERCARE SOMERSET INC. (3★, 79 beds).

Stars are Medicare's Care Compare ratings; a 1-star home failed inspections or is thinly staffed, and the abuse flag means a citation for harm in the past year or two. Ratings shift every quarter.

Source: Medicare Care Compare nursing home provider and penalties files (CMS), geocoded with the Census Bureau; straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center · CMS Care Compare data

Crime

Violent

15 offenses: 0 murders, 5 rapes, 1 robbery, 9 aggravated assaults (0.7 per 1,000 residents; Ohio 3.2)

Property

83 offenses: 36 burglaries, 41 thefts, 5 vehicle thefts (3.6 per 1,000; Ohio 16.9)

Other

22 simple assaults, 41 vandalism reports, 13 drug offenses, 4 weapons violations

Reporting

12 months of 2024 on file; 23,073 residents served; about 68% of the ZIP's residents live where the sheriff is the local police

Trend

violent offenses up 36% from 11 in 2023; property up 20% from 69

Rates cover the whole agency's territory, not this ZIP alone: a city's downtown and its quiet edges share one number. Murders, rapes and assaults are counted once per victim and other offenses once per incident, as the FBI's Crime Data Explorer does; a large department's figures can still fall somewhat short of the Explorer's, which takes in later submissions, and a sheriff's population is only the unincorporated area it serves.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, NIBRS incident data for Ohio, 2024 (2023 for the trend): Group A offenses per reporting agency (violent = murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault; property = burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson), murders, rapes and assaults counted once per victim; the agency is the police department of the ZIP's largest local government (city, village or township) when it has one of its own, found in the FBI's 2023 and 2024 rosters or the USGS police station inventory, otherwise the sheriff of the ZIP's county; a rate needs at least six months of 2024 on file and is annualized from fewer than 12; the Ohio figures pool the 511 police departments and sheriff's offices with all 12 months on file · FBI Crime Data Explorer · USGS structures service

Police and post office

1 station within 3 miles, 3 within 8. Inside this ZIP: Somerset Police Department.

Nearest post office: Somerset Post Office, 0.2 mi; 1 inside this ZIP.

Townships without their own department are policed by the county sheriff, whose office may be at the county seat; the state highway patrol covers the roads. The inventory lists stations, not patrol zones. It also misses some departments and still lists some that have closed; the atlas adds the departments that reported at least six months of 2024 crimes to the FBI but had no station in it, and drops the closed and duplicate records it found.

Source: USGS National Map structures inventory (police stations, post offices), with closed and duplicate records dropped, wrong names corrected and departments it lacks added from OpenStreetMap and the Census Bureau geocoder (September 2026); straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center · USGS structures service · OpenStreetMap · Census Bureau geocoder

Fire and EMS

1 station within 3 miles, 5 within 8.

Inside this ZIP: Somerset - Reading Township Volunteer Fire Department.

Source: USGS National Map structures inventory (fire and EMS stations; most Ohio records last updated 2019 to 2022), Columbus- and Cleveland-area stations checked against the cities' station lists, September 2026. Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania stations near the line are included; Kentucky and West Virginia stations across the Ohio River are not. Straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center. Stations open or close without the inventory always catching up. · USGS structures service · Columbus fire stations · Cleveland fire stations

Public library

1 library within 3 miles, 3 within 8.

Open

about 38 hours a week

Building

5,500 square feet

Perry County District Library

6 buildings, serves 35K people, 2.4 visits per resident a year, 194K items lent, 425 programs, $2.6M annual income

Inside this ZIP: Somerset Branch.

Museums: 1 inside this ZIP (Historical Society of Perry County); nearest Historical Society of Perry County, Somerset, 2 mi away; 1 within 5 miles, 7 within 15 (IMLS 2018 directory: museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos).

Source: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey fiscal 2024 (outlet and system files) and Museum Data Files 2018 (museums); straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center · IMLS Public Libraries Survey · IMLS Museum Data Files

Grocery access

Distance

84% of residents live more than half a mile from a supermarket, 78% more than 1 mile

Without a car

0% live in a tract flagged for low income and low vehicle access; 5.3% of households have no vehicle (Census ACS 2020 to 2024)

Poverty

11% of residents below the poverty line

SNAP stores

0 supermarkets or superstores and 2 grocery stores inside this ZIP take SNAP, alongside 2 convenience stores, 1 other outlet (dollar, drug and discount stores); nearest supermarket or grocery store Carpenters Market (grocery store), 0.3 mi from the ZIP's center, and the nearest supermarket or superstore Kroger, 7.5 mi; 1 supermarket or grocery store within 3 miles (USDA, 2026)

SNAP households

19% of households received SNAP benefits in the past year (Census ACS 2020 to 2024)

Setting

0% of residents in urban tracts, across 2 tracts

A "supermarket" here is a large grocery store, supercenter or club; dollar stores and corner groceries do not count, and stores that opened since 2019 are missing from the distance figures; the SNAP store list is current. Rural distance flags mean a long drive, not necessarily hardship.

Source: USDA Economic Research Service, Food Access Research Atlas: 2019 Large Retailer Access Map (2010 census tracts, 2019 supermarket list; ERS's name for this file since July 2026), tract values weighted into ZIPs by 2020 census block population; SNAP store counts from USDA Food and Nutrition Service retailer locations, 2026; SNAP and no-vehicle households from Census ACS 2020 to 2024 · USDA ERS Large Retailer Access Map · USDA SNAP retailers · Census ACS

History

The history of this area has not been researched yet; the work runs county by county outward from Franklin County.

Source: Local history researched from Wikipedia, the 1880 county histories on archive.org, Ohio History Connection, National Register listings, Ohio historical markers, local historical societies and Wikimedia Commons, one file per municipality and township, loaded on demand; Native American history per county and statewide from the same sources and the nations' own histories · Ohio History Connection · Internet Archive (county histories) · Wikimedia Commons · Remarkable Ohio (historical markers)

Historic places

• Bowman Mill Covered Bridge (structure)
• Mitchell, Randolph, House (building)
• Parks Covered Bridge (structure)
• and 2 more

Place names (USGS): 5 named communities (New Reading, Somerset, Wesley, Carthon, Wellan (historical)); 2 named streams end here (Somerset Creek, Dittoe Run); 5 named lakes or reservoirs (Clouse Lake, Rush Creek Structure 3b Reservoir, Rush Creek Structure 3a Reservoir and more). Federal maps carry these names; the communities include hamlets and crossroads that never incorporated.

Listing recognizes significance and brings review of federally funded projects; it does not restrict a private owner. Historic districts count once, at their center.

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places spatial data (point file); listings whose point falls inside the ZIP boundary · National Register data · USGS GNIS

School district

• Northern Local97% of residentsLocal school district
• New Lexington City3% of residentsCity school district

ZIP codes and school districts do not share boundaries, so this ZIP is split between them.

1 public school inside this ZIP: Somerset Elementary School (3.5 stars). Nearest to the population center: Somerset Elementary School (3.5 stars), 0.3 mi; 1 within a mile, 1 within 3.

1 private school inside this ZIP with 180 students in kindergarten through 12th grade (1 religious): Holy Trinity School (180 students, Catholic) (NCES Private School Survey 2023-24; the survey's student counts, here and per school, exclude prekindergarten).

Enrolled here: 282 students attend the 1 public school inside this ZIP with 2023-24 enrollment on file; 18 students per teacher. 57% of the 282 students at the 1 school reporting it qualify for free or reduced-price meals. (NCES)

Enrollment: 783 residents attend kindergarten through 12th grade, 27% of them at private schools; 183 are in college or graduate school (Census ACS 2020 to 2024).

Money, fiscal 2023: Northern Local took in $33 million, 44% from the state, 45% local and 11% federal, and spent $11,226 per pupil on day-to-day operations for 2,226 students, 60% of it on instruction; capital outlay $0.6 million (Census school finance survey via NCES).

Child poverty: the Census Bureau's 2024 estimate puts 11% of Northern Local's school-age children below the poverty line (279 of 2,592 aged 5 to 17; SAIPE).

Source: Ohio school district boundaries (OGRIP, 2014 edition, via ODOT) · 2020 census blocks · public school locations from NCES EDGE, 2024-25 · enrollment and meals from the NCES Common Core of Data 2023-24 · private schools from the NCES Private School Survey 2023-24 · district finances from the Census F-33 survey, fiscal 2023 · child poverty from Census SAIPE 2024 · ODOT GIS · NCES EDGE · NCES Common Core of Data · NCES private schools · Census SAIPE · Census school finances (F-33)

School report card

Components

achievement 4 stars, progress 2 stars, gap closing 3 stars, early literacy 3 stars, graduation 4 stars, college and career readiness 2 stars

Achievement

performance index 80.2% of ODE's maximum score for the year (the average of the top 2% of district scores, not the highest score possible) (score 88.1, 88.9 the year before)

Graduation

95.8% of the class of 2024 graduated in four years; 55.2% of that class (graduates or not) showed college, career, workforce or military readiness

Spending

$10,368 per pupil in 2023-24 against $12,759 statewide

Teachers

average salary $69,146, 18 years of experience, 66.7% with a master's degree, 2.4% in their first years of teaching

Enrollment

2,131 students in 2024-25

Three stars means the district meets state standards, five that it significantly exceeds them, one that it needs significant support. Achievement stars follow family income closely; the progress component (growth from year to year) is the fairer measure of teaching. Charter and private schools are not in the district figures.

Source: Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, 2024-2025 School Report Cards (district overview, achievement, expenditures per pupil and educator files), for the district where most of this ZIP's residents live · Ohio school report cards

Colleges

Ohio University-Lancaster Campus is a regional campus of a public university with 3,676 students over the 2023-24 year; published tuition and fees $6,178 a year in state, $9,170 out of state; 14% of a 286-student entering class graduated (six-year bachelor).

0 institutions within 10 miles, 9 within 25.

Next nearest: Ohio State School of Cosmetology-Heath (17.4 mi).

Universities, community colleges, career schools and private colleges all count; branch campuses appear only where IPEDS lists them separately. Graduation rates follow first-time full-time students for 150% of normal time.

Source: NCES IPEDS 2024 directory, 12-month enrollment 2023-24, tuition and fees 2023-24 and graduation rates for the 2017 entering cohort at four-year institutions and the 2020 cohort at two-year ones; straight-line miles from the ZIP's population-weighted center · NCES IPEDS

Local government

• Reading Township, Perry County39% of residentsTownship
• Somerset (village)32% of residentsVillage
• Hopewell Township, Perry County18% of residentsTownship
• Clayton Township, Perry County10% of residentsTownship

ZIP codes and municipal and township boundaries do not share boundaries, so this ZIP is split between them.

Source: ODOT municipal corporation and township boundaries · 2020 census blocks · Ohio EPA grants awarded in 2025 (OEPA_Achievements map service) · Auditor of State unauditable entities list · ODOT GIS · Auditor of State · Ohio EPA grants (OEPA_Achievements)

Who represents this ZIP

U.S. Senate: Bernie Moreno (R), Jon Husted (R)

• Troy Balderson RU.S. House OH-12Zanesville · since 2018 · site
• Tim Schaffer ROhio Senate 20Lancaster · since 2019 · site
• Kevin D. Miller ROhio House 69Newark · since 2021 · site

Source: ODOT district boundaries · members from the U.S. House, Ohio Senate and Ohio House directories, September 2026 · U.S. House · Ohio Senate · Ohio House · ODOT GIS