Ohio is one of the states on a rather troubling list that houses the poorest city in all of America. Below, we look at the average income, housing costs, and the historical struggles that have shaped the community.
Lincoln Heights: America’s poorest city
As of 2025, Lincoln Heights—the poorest city in the United States—already carries this badge. A small hour’s travel from Cincinnati, this small town registers 62.9% in poverty, with a median household income of just $14,676 in a year. This figure lags nearly $50,000 behind the national average income of $62,027, as reported by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). While the average price of a house is $109,000, that is far less than the national median of $420,400.
One of the first African-American settlements in America, Lincoln Heights is indeed historic. It was founded in the last decades of the 19th century, and it used to provide a house for hitherto African-American families and a flourishing community for themselves. In the current time, this place has become home to the densest percentage of the African-American population in the nation, with 95.9% of all residents being identified as Black. But indeed, this legacy has not helped Lincoln Heights escape decades of rickety, institutionalized images that have stopped the town from moving forward with any real development.
For a long part of history, Lincoln Heights was only an unincorporated township, lacking such basic infrastructures as paved, running roads and a water supply. Then, when the area finally became an incorporated city, it had restrictive zoning laws, thus blocking economic advancement by not allowing businesses and factories to set up. The lack of economic opportunities was further aggravated by “white flight,” which was precisely when prevailing white residents vacated the city and moved to the suburbs, causing an erosion of the tax base and underfunding of the city. All these factors were thus combined to leave public services unfit and infrastructure crumbled in a poverty-stricken city with few resources to handle the challenges it faces.
The human and structural impact
The decline of Lincoln Heights is representative of the broader racial and economic inequities that plague the United States. The town’s population has dwindled to just over 3,100, a steep drop compared to its peak of more than 6,000 in the 1970s. Outsourcing of public services, including police, results from low local resources. Local and federal lack of investment has left the city suffering from decayed infrastructure, with dwindling economic opportunities.
The struggles of Lincoln Heights, as Henry Louis Taylor, urban and regional planning professor at the University at Buffalo, noted, represent systemic barriers facing Black communities. “The notion of suburbanization, of opportunity in the neighborhoods, all of that is rooted in this fantasy that Black people can move to freedom, and we can’t,” he remarked in an interview.
The $109,000 price tag for homes in Lincoln Heights has always been associated with the low cost of housing rather than affordability, and it resonates more with a lack of demand and opportunity within the town. The families wishing to take up residence in Lincoln Heights have to contend with few opportunities for employment and public amenities. All these signify a cry for investment focused on historically undervalued places like Lincoln Heights.
Lincoln Heights has stories behind it that cut across generations, and it bears witness to the stillbirth weight of most of the systemic barriers regarding economic and social progress while giving credence to the testimony of its history. Its history is but a testament to the strength of its denizens against the unchecked forces of nature, whereas its current status cries for a new light to shine on it by policymakers.
