Metro comparison

Cleveland vs Mansfield

Cleveland, OH and Mansfield, OH side by side, cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare and environment, all from the same federal datasets so every number is directly comparable.

58.8
Cleveland Life Score
A-
Cleveland grade
56.7
Mansfield Life Score
B+
Mansfield grade

Head-to-head verdict

Across the seven dimensions, Cleveland scores higher on 3 (wages, safety, childcare) and Mansfield on 4 (cost of living, rent, schools, environment). The radar shows the full shape; the tables below break out every figure.

Cleveland vs Mansfield across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall) 7-axis radar comparing 2 series across Cost, Wages, Rent, Safety, Schools, Childcare, Environ.. CostWagesRentSafetySchoolsChildcareEnviron. ClevelandMansfield
Cleveland vs Mansfield across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall)

Source: BEA, HUD, BLS, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA As of December 2024

Dimension scorecard

Where each metro wins, and by how much

Every dimension is a national percentile (0–100). Each bar leans toward the stronger metro, a long lean is a decisive edge, a near-even split is a toss-up. The radar shows the overall shape; this shows the per-dimension margins.

◖ Cleveland Mansfield ◗
cost of living
47
81
wages
68
20
rent
90
95
safety
65
64
schools
89
90
childcare
32
31
environment
4
5

Cleveland and Mansfield differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Cleveland has a cost-of-living index of 93.9 vs Mansfield's 88.9 (national average = 100). Median salaries are $67,639 in Cleveland and $59,166 in Mansfield. A 2-bedroom averages $1,037/mo vs $973/mo.

How to read this matchup

Reading the Cleveland vs Mansfield Comparison

Cleveland (OH) and Mansfield (OH) are assembled here from the same federal data pipeline, BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NCES public-school counts, and EPA environmental indicators, so every number on this page is directly comparable. The overall cost index reads 93.9 for Cleveland against 88.9 for Mansfield, a 5.1-point gap on a scale where 100 equals the U.S. average. HUD's 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent, the figure used to set housing-choice voucher payment standards, is $1,037/mo in Cleveland and $973/mo in Mansfield, a $64/mo difference that compounds to $768 over a year.

On wages, BLS OES reports a median salary of $67,639 across 1,014,330 jobs in Cleveland against $59,166 across 42,920 jobs in Mansfield. Adjusted through the BEA cost-of-living lens, $100,000 earned in Cleveland carries the same local purchasing power as $94,622 in Mansfield - the most honest way to read the salary headline, because nominal wages and rents move together in tight metros. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 292.8 per 100,000 residents in OH vs 292.8 in OH, with property-crime rates of 1545.4 and 1545.4 respectively.

Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: OH lists 3,586 public schools at a 18.2:1 student-teacher ratio, while OH lists 3,586 schools at 18.2:1, a signal of class-size staffing, though individual district and school-level variation within each state is substantial. Department of Labor center-based infant care runs $11,791/yr in the Cleveland area versus $11,791/yr in Mansfield - a line item that shifts the real cost-of-living picture for households with children under five far more than headline RPP does. When these pieces are read together rather than in isolation, Cleveland and Mansfield are not simply "cheaper" or "more expensive" - they trade across dimensions, and which metro wins depends on whether your household optimizes for rent, wages, schools, childcare, safety, or environment. Treat the tables below as inputs to that trade-off, not as a single ranking.

Cleveland composite

58.8 /100

Grade A- · weighted across 7 dims

Mansfield composite

56.7 /100

Grade B+ · weighted across 7 dims

Cost-of-living gap

5.1 pts

Cleveland vs Mansfield BEA RPP

2-bed rent delta

$64 /mo

Cleveland priced higher

Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale

Cleveland

Cleveland composite (Grade A-)

Mansfield

Mansfield composite (Grade B+)

Composite is a weighted roll-up of seven dimensions: cost (20%), wages (20%), rent (15%), safety (15%), schools (10%), childcare (10%), environment (10%). Each input normalized to a 0–100 percentile across all metros.

💰 Cost of Living BEA →

Category Cleveland Mansfield
Overall RPP 93.9 88.9
Goods 93.6 93.6
Services 96.0 96.2
Rents 79.4 54.9

Salary Equivalent Calculator

What salary in Mansfield gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Cleveland?

$
Equivalent in Mansfield: $94,622

Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Cleveland: 93.9, Mansfield: 88.9, national avg = 100).

🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) HUD →

Bedrooms Cleveland Mansfield
Studio $715/mo $671/mo
1 Bedroom $840/mo $773/mo
2 Bedroom $1,037/mo $973/mo
3 Bedroom $1,257/mo $1,315/mo
4 Bedroom $1,429/mo $1,530/mo

💼 Wages & Employment BLS →

Metric Cleveland Mansfield
Avg Median Salary $67,639 $59,166
Total Employment 1,014,330 42,920

🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) FBI →

Crime Type (per 100K) Cleveland (OH) Mansfield (OH)
Violent Crime 292.8 292.8
Property Crime 1545.4 1545.4

🎓 Schools (state-level) NCES →

Metric OH OH
Total Schools 3,586 3,586
Student-Teacher Ratio 18.2:1 18.2:1
Charter Schools 9.3% 9.3%

👶 Childcare Costs (Annual Avg) (state-level) DOL →

Age Group OH OH
Infant (Center) $11,791/yr $11,791/yr
Toddler (Center) $10,686/yr $10,686/yr
Preschool (Center) $9,394/yr $9,394/yr

🌿 Environment (state-level) EPA →

Metric OH OH
EPA Facilities 1,546 1,546
Water Systems 1,089 1,089
Superfund Sites 50 50
Water Violations 1,500 1,500
Government-verified data - Air quality (EPA AQS), water safety (EPA SDWIS), healthcare access (HRSA), and disaster risk (FEMA NRI) are sourced directly from U.S. federal agencies. No crowdsourced estimates.

💨 Air Quality (EPA AQS) EPA AQS →

Metric Cleveland Mansfield
Median AQI 42.8 42.8
Good Air Days 69.7% 69.7%

Air quality shown at state level (no metro-specific AQI monitoring data available).

💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) EPA SDWIS →

Metric OH OH
Water Safety Score 12/100 12/100
Total Violations 288,388 288,388
Health-Based Violations 52,412 52,412
Systems with Violations 90.4% 90.4%

🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) HRSA →

Metric OH OH
Healthcare Access Score 69/100 69/100
Population in Shortage Area 31.4% 31.4%
HPSA Designations 495 495

HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.

⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) FEMA NRI →

Metric OH OH
Disaster Safety Score 56/100 56/100
NRI Risk Score (avg county) 55.0 55.0
Expected Annual Loss Score 57.6 57.6

FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) scores are county-level percentiles (0–100). Higher disaster safety score = lower relative risk. State-level values are county averages.

Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level. Metro-specific data for these dimensions is not available.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cleveland more expensive than Mansfield?
Cleveland has a cost of living index of 93.9 compared to Mansfield's 88.9 (national average = 100). Cleveland is 5.1 points above Mansfield on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Cleveland and Mansfield?
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $1,037/mo in Cleveland vs $973/mo in Mansfield, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $715/mo to $671/mo.
How do salaries compare between Cleveland and Mansfield?
The average median salary across all occupations is $67,639 in Cleveland and $59,166 in Mansfield, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. After adjusting for cost of living, $100,000 in Cleveland has the same purchasing power as $94,622 in Mansfield.
Is Cleveland or Mansfield safer?
At the state level, OH has a violent crime rate of 292.8 per 100,000 residents compared to OH's 292.8 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 1545.4 vs 1545.4 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Cleveland and Mansfield?
OH has 3,586 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 18.2:1, while OH has 3,586 schools at 18.2:1. Charter schools make up 9.3% of OH schools vs 9.3% in OH. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Where does the comparison data come from?
All data comes from official U.S. government sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (cost of living), HUD (fair market rents), BLS (wages), FBI UCR (crime), NCES (schools), Department of Labor (childcare), EPA (environment, air quality, water safety), HRSA (healthcare access), and FEMA NRI (disaster risk). No crowdsourced estimates or proprietary ratings are used.

Research Guides

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, EPA AQS, EPA SDWIS, HRSA, and FEMA NRI. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Disclaimer: This comparison is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or relocation advice. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Data sourced from official public datasets, current as of 2026. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare