Van Wert County, Ohio

• White (non-Hispanic) 26,431 91.7%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1,219 4.2%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 138 0.5%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 100 0.3%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 871 3.0%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 44 0.2%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 23 0.1%

• Under 18 6,631 23.0%
• 18–24 2,127 7.4%
• 25–44 6,904 24.0%
• 45–64 7,404 25.7%
• 65 and over 5,760 20.0%

Median household income

$72,213

90% interval $66,161–$78,265

−$46 vs OH · 36th of 88

Below poverty line

8.9%

90% interval 7.0%–10.8%

−3.7 pp vs OH · 73rd of 88

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.5%

−0.6 pp vs. state

County GDP

$1.7B

0.19% of state

Avg. annual pay

$51,936

Establishments

676

• Manufacturing 2,842 25.7%
• Education & health services 2,634 23.8%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 2,294 20.8%
• Leisure & hospitality 1,001 9.1%
• Financial activities 620 5.6%
• Other services 405 3.7%
• Public administration 400 3.6%
• Construction 41 0.4%
• Information 34 0.3%
• Professional & business services 12 0.1%

The sectors listed cover 93.1% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

82.1%

+14.9 pp vs OH · 6th of 88

Median gross rent

$782

−$252 vs OH · 75th of 88

Owner-occupied

9,478

Renter-occupied

2,071

• Concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 70% of the county workforce. Most panelists likely share employer relationships within these sectors, surface those connections early in voir dire before any institutional-defendant or sector-specific framing.

• Wide wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Financial activities, $94,617/yr) pays 5.8× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $16,265/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 16 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 11,616 78.9%
• Democratic 3,000 20.4%
• Other / third-party 113 0.8%

• Spanish 385 1.4%
• German or other West Germanic 298 1.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 42 0.2%
• Korean 17 0.1%
• Tagalog 17 0.1%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 14 0.1%
• Chinese 5 0.0%

Households

11,549

Family households

7,705

66.7% of households

Married couples w/ children

2,083

27.0% of families

Single-mother families

686

8.9% of families

Veterans

1,434

6.5% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 4,652 16.1%
• Mainline Protestant 3,320 11.5%
• Catholic 2,212 7.6%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 98 0.3%

Health insured

96.0%

±1 pp

Uninsured

4.0%

±1 pp

81st of 88

With a disability

14.3%

±1.2 pp

60th of 88

Bachelor's or higher

17.1%

±1.7 pp

−14.4 pp vs OH · 64th of 88

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

7.1%

90% interval 6.3%–7.9% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

Van Wert County Court of Common Pleas

Judges

1 (Court of Common Pleas General Division judges only; vintage 2026 supremecourt.ohio.gov roster. Domestic Relations / Juvenile / Probate Division judges separately allocated in urban counties and not counted (those divisions don't hear general civil jury trials). Small rural counties typically have 1-2 General Division judges who concurrently handle Domestic Relations and Juvenile dockets.)

Court seats

Van Wert

Traffic fatalities

4

18.02 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

3