WARREN, Ohio – The Raymond John Wean Foundation has issued revisions to two community reports the organization released earlier this year, noting the initial studies were based on less reliable comparative data from 2020, the nonprofit said.
The Wean Foundation’s partner, Greater Ohio Policy Center, prepared the reports and reviewed the analysis released in April. It determined the 2020 data was likely impaired because of the global pandemic and recession.
Instead, the new reports use data collected from 2010, 2017 and 2023 instead of 2010, 2020 and 2023 to gauge more accurate trends, the Wean Foundation said in a press release. The two reports featured data analysis on Youngstown and Mahoning County, and Warren and Trumbull County. These reports considered data related to housing, population, ethnicity and age demographics, employment opportunities and other metrics.
The revised community reports show that while overall progress has been made in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, as well as the cities of Youngstown and Warren, the degree of progress is not as extensive as previously reported, the Wean Foundation acknowledged.
Among the revisions that correct the earlier reports are updates on population trends.
Mahoning and Trumbull counties, and the city of Warren, continue to experience population decline, the new data show. According to the revised reports, the population of Mahoning County declined 2.1% between 2017 and 2023, while Trumbull County’s population dropped by just less than 1%. Warren’s population declined by 22.95%.
The previous reports suggested that the population had stabilized, and in the case of Warren and Trumbull County, actually increased when using data from 2020. The earlier study showed that Mahoning County’s population declined by just 0.67% between 2020 and 2023, while Trumbull County’s increased by 1.1%. Warren’s population increased by 0.18%, according to the earlier studies.
Other revisions show that 33% of residents in Youngstown earn more than $40,000 per year. The earlier studies reported that 52% or greater earned that amount.
The new data also show that home ownership rates in Warren among White and Black households increased slightly, but homeownership among Hispanic households increased dramatically. In 2023, 65% of this demographic owned their home.
Revisions also show that the health care industry still employs the majority of residents in Youngstown and Warren, but not at as high a rate as earlier reported. Manufacturing is the second-highest employer for workers from Youngstown and Warren. The reports issued earlier identified retail as the second-highest employer.