Name: Toledo, OH
Rating: 0.0

( 31 Ratings )

Living in Toledo, OH

Ranks better than 66% of areas Follow

Population

275,116

Median Age

35.4 Years

Toledo Area Facts

Toledo has a Livability Score of 66_/100, which is considered good
Toledo crime rates are 104% higher than the Ohio average
Cost of living in Toledo is 6% lower than the Ohio average

What do the locals think about Toledo?

45%

Family friendly

36%

Public transit is accessible

23%

Walkable to grocery stores

50%

Yards are well-kept

68%

Lots of parks

45%

Walkable to restaurants

Friendly neighbors

Safe at night

Pet friendly

Streets have sidewalks

32%

A quiet area

50%

Sense of community

Based on 22 votes from AreaVibes users. Take the poll

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Toledo Reviews

Write a review about Toledo Tell people what you like or don't like about Toledo…

Cheap, dirty, and poor, but will suffice in a pinch 2 rating By Anonymous ( Jun 19, 2021) Have lived in the Toledo area most of my life. It has gotten progressively worse over the last 20 years or so. I was born and grew up here and remember it as a fairly nice place to grow up. I now live in a small town on the outskirts and would not move back into the actual cit ...Read More y of Toledo.
Pros: fairly cheap housing, excellent parks which are free to the public - if you want something to do during nice weather, it's your own fault if you can't find anything; lakes with great fishing, good river fishing (people come to this area for the great walleye fishing), state parks nearby with good camping, Cedar Point Amusement Park within an hour's drive, excellent zoo and art museum, an art scene which includes theatre, poetry and music. You can rent canoes and kayaks on the river and there are plenty of biking and walking trails here. There are various summer festivals and in the summer there are numerous county fairs in the area, although I don't recommend the Lucas County Fair in Toledo. It's basically an expensive carnival, not a real county fair. Instead, look up the Fulton County Fair or, in Michigan, the Monroe County Fair.
There are a LOT of restaurants here. If Toledoans can do anything with their hard-earned money, it's eat. Whether it's fast food, diners, mid-range or fine dining, you'll find it here. There are almost an equal amount of churches, so it won't be difficult to worship here.
The roads suck here. Getting a job isn't easy because everyone is looking for work, and the pay won't be good. Many people drive an hour or so to work at a job paying $15-20/hr just to have a job. There's a bus system here, that runs through certain areas. If you need it to get to work, expect to leave a minimum of an hour early to get there. Utility rates are high. Gas prices were good until this year (2021), but have raised dramatically. Grocery prices aren't too bad, but are really raising lately. Blame that on the new administration (2021).
The crime rate is very high here. Putting an alarm system in is a really good idea. If you come from a small town, expect a good amount of culture shock. Lock your house and car doors, both day and night.
Basically, if you come here with a job or to go to school and either don't need a job or a part time one will do, you should be fine. Look for housing in Perrysburg, Maumee, Sylvania, or other suburban areas. If you stay in Toledo, you're much more likely to have issues with crime. While shopping, be aware of your surroundings, find the best places to shop and you'll be fine. Read Less

Community: Toledo BBB 0.5 rating By lorivorwerk ( Feb 28, 2018) Be forewarned, the Toledo BBB is the worst place to turn to for recommendations. Having relied on their rating for a roofer, only to be swindled, we notified the BBB. After providing them with all the information necessary, including the fact that the roofer was not a certified ...Read More installer as stated on the website and providing the BBB with the manufacturer's phone number, contact person, and proof of payment (the roofer claimed we did not pay), the BBB changed the rating from an A to A-. Many months later we were contacted by three consumers who were suing in wood county for deposits taken without work completed. Had the BBB done their job, they could have spared all those victims. Turning to them out of necessity for a review on a delivery company in Toledo, once again the company has an A+ rating regardless of the fact that there have been 11 complaints filed and 1 positive review. The Toledo BBB is a sham, and you are silly if you place any value on their ratings. The BBB deserves an F rating. Read Less

City in Disarray 3 rating By NationalTraveller ( May 02, 2016) The city itself has lost its original sharpness and attractiveness due to some federal decisions in the late eighties and early 1990s. However, the restaurant scene has gained popularity, and one restaurant has some of the best cuisine out there. It's called the Tiger Lebanese Ba ...Read More kery, on Monroe St. and Central Ave. It has received great ratings on Yelp and Google, and its food is the best kind out there. However, the city looks as if it has fallen into shambles, and the only real attractive place is the Toledo Museum of Art. It's pretty interesting, but it is the only thing one must look at without getting bored. Read Less

Toledo is Great! 4.5 rating By ajb1996 ( Apr 12, 2016) I came back to Toledo to attend UT! I do not regret this decision whatsoever. Toledo is a community where you will find a lot of diversity. The Toledo Zoo, Art Museum, Mud Hens (Minor league Baseball team), Walleye (ECHL team), and the university are just a couple of Toledo's att ...Read More raction. Their downtown is starting to come back and a lot of people are starting to move down their. There are so many great places to eat downtown and Tony Packo's is a must! When it comes to shopping Franklin Park Mall is the place to be! When it comes to Neighborhoods in Toledo, the West and South side are pretty clean and decent. Old Orchard, Westmoreland, Westgate, Franklin Park, Indian Hills, Elmhurst, Beverly-Harvard, the Library Village, DeVeaux, Whitmer-Tribley, and the Alexis Addition are some of the best neighborhoods in Toledo! Read Less

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City in Disarray 3 rating By NationalTraveller ( May 02, 2016) The city itself has lost its original sharpness and attractiveness due to some federal decisions in the late eighties and early 1990s. However, the restaurant scene has gained popularity, and one restaurant has some of the best cuisine out there. It's called the Tiger Lebanese Ba ...Read More kery, on Monroe St. and Central Ave. It has received great ratings on Yelp and Google, and its food is the best kind out there. However, the city looks as if it has fallen into shambles, and the only real attractive place is the Toledo Museum of Art. It's pretty interesting, but it is the only thing one must look at without getting bored. Read Less

Toledo is Great! 4.5 rating By ajb1996 ( Apr 12, 2016) I came back to Toledo to attend UT! I do not regret this decision whatsoever. Toledo is a community where you will find a lot of diversity. The Toledo Zoo, Art Museum, Mud Hens (Minor league Baseball team), Walleye (ECHL team), and the university are just a couple of Toledo's att ...Read More raction. Their downtown is starting to come back and a lot of people are starting to move down their. There are so many great places to eat downtown and Tony Packo's is a must! When it comes to shopping Franklin Park Mall is the place to be! When it comes to Neighborhoods in Toledo, the West and South side are pretty clean and decent. Old Orchard, Westmoreland, Westgate, Franklin Park, Indian Hills, Elmhurst, Beverly-Harvard, the Library Village, DeVeaux, Whitmer-Tribley, and the Alexis Addition are some of the best neighborhoods in Toledo! Read Less

Toledo OH City Review 3.5 rating By Anonymous ( Nov 17, 2014) I have lived in Toledo for about six years. I moved to the city because of the quiet atmosphere and because I was attending college in the area. One of the things that surprised me about Toledo is that the housing is very compact. There are many more apartment buildings than ther ...Read More e are houses. The best thing to do is find an apartment until you see something for sale open up since finding a home is so hard.

The city is family oriented. I have seen many families walking along the sidewalks in town and enjoying sunny days at parks in the city. There are also several museums in Toledo. My favorite is the Toledo Museum of Art. A large sculpture sits outside the front door that entices you to enter. Once inside, you see a large amount of modern art. It doesn't take very long to walk through the museum, so you can go around lunch time and get done by the time the museum closes.

The Toledo Zoo is another favorite place to visit. The polar bears are absolutely beautiful, but if the weather is too hot, you won't be able to see them outside of the water. There is a Christmas lights display every year that is magical as the habitats of the animals are decorated as well. Restaurants in the city cater more toward families than groups of people who simply want to sit and talk. However, the food is delicious wherever you go, and there are various ethnic restaurants to choose from, especially if you like Chinese and Japanese. Read Less

The WORST city I have ever lived in or been to! 0.5 rating By AmityAngel ( Mar 09, 2014) (My experiences take place in the "inner circle" of Toledo and the areas just around it.. I live in the Olde West End. Clarifying this because I have heard the outer areas are not as bad.)

I'm from Houston, Texas and spent most of my life around that area, though I've also lived ...Read More in Tennessee, Alabama, and Brunswick, Ohio for good lengths of time. I am generally an extremely adaptable and calm & collected person. Not only that, but I've also usually lived in cities with a lot of lower-class, poor people. I truly thought that was what the "slums" were like. Dear god, was I wrong.

I came to this city because I needed a cheap house I could buy with cash. I didn't have time for extensive research. When I found one that looked decent, I got it straight away. Though the houses around here are extremely old and not kept up, surprisingly enough, the house was the very LEAST of all the problems.

When I bought the house, I had plans for me and my new husband to live here for at least 5 years, maybe even a decade.
We have been here THREE MONTHS, and I have already put the house back up on the market. We can't stand this place so much that we seriously contemplate just leaving this screwed up city and forfeiting the $30 grand we'd get selling the house. So just what has to happen to put us in such a negative mindset in such a short amount of time? Well, let's see..

It's kind of a major problem when you're afraid to death to even leave the house. "Because of burglary?" you might think. Interestingly enough, we have had no encounters or problems with the ridiculous crime rate here, though I'm sure that will happen too if we stay here another damn week. No, no, the reason we now refuse to drive ANYWHERE but the post office (and only when we have a large package buildup!) is for a much more simple reason, a reason that shouldn't be a problem to begin with in a city this size.
The freaking road.
Potholes are EVERYWHERE. The lanes are waaaay too narrow. People can't drive worth a !@#$. (This is saying a lot coming from a Texan!) The second month we were here, we spun out of control and hit the far wall on the freeway because we suddenly had to move over 4 lanes and it was crazy busy, and it ended up costing $5,000 to fix it. It was nothing more than a miracle that we didn't hit anyone else. After finally getting the car back 4 weeks later (we had to order pizza every day!), the DAY we got it back, we hit a pothole and got a flat tire. It was a HUGE pothole, and the road was filled with them to the point they couldn't even be avoided!
And finally what topped the cake for us, what has now driven us to the point where after making a 4 a.m trip to Wal-Mart to avoid a wreck (since it seems to happen every damn time we drive anywhere around here), we refuse to go ANYWHERE now (we are seriously taking a taxi to the house closing once it sells!) was a trip we took to a store 10 miles away on a SUNDAY morning.
On a Sunday morning around 11, in every other city besides Toledo, the roads are generally calm. We assumed Toledo was the same, and that was an assumption that nearly cost us thousands of dollars again.. TWICE! While driving to our destination, we noticed a few cars speeding past us far above the speed limit, odd for early Sunday. Just that is nerve-wracking due to the narrow-ness of the lanes. But hey, let them go get their cars wrecked by potholes, am I right? Then, this car comes RACING down the road, going around cars in a clumsy, drunken manner and then they start coming towards our car from behind, in the middle of the damn road! How drunk/cracked up do you have to be to not see the freaking car in front of you or the line on the road!? And on a Sunday morning? Honking elicited no response at all, and we had to move over to the lane on the opposite direction in order to narrowly avoid them side-scraping us. The thing is, this EXACT situation happened again on the way back, with a totally different car. Sunday morning is supposed to be one of the safest times to drive!
Well, it's a good thing we stocked up on groceries. We're not driving again until the day we head back to Texas.

Though I know there are quite a few attractions here, how can I comment on them or rate Toledo for them when you can't even GET there without destroying your car on the way?

Everyone else here seems to think they're cheap, but the utility bills are ridiculous! I pay over $300 a month for gas and electricity EACH, separately! The house is freezing and dark. That's over $600 of what would cost no more than $200 anywhere else I have ever been! (using lights often and a decent temperature) The trash pickup service doesn't even come but every other week... then has the nerve to leave trash if it fills more than one can!

Also, the people here seem rather short-tempered. We've witnessed two fights break out at Wal-Mart (during the day) over practically NOTHING. Neither I nor my husband have ever seen any two people fighting at a Wal-Mart before, and we've went there all the time in every other place we've each lived in.

Also, one day we decided to try walking to the post office rather than driving. We turned back when a guy came up to us and asked for change. Ridiculous. The last time I checked, this was a medium-sized city in Ohio, not freaking inner city Houston.

I am normally a very adaptable and calm person.. but everything about this city just makes me want to flip out. Neither I nor my husband, who have been around a decent amount, have ever had ANY of these problems! And most of my life I spent living in a bad suburb of Houston with a crime rate on an equal level as here.

Before I came here, my car worked fine, and I could actually go anywhere I needed or wanted without being paranoid about getting into an accident (and it actually happening) or hitting a pothole that has no business being there. Can they not fix their roads?

The other reason I came here was because I had a great experience living in Brunswick. I wanted to escape Texas because of some things that happened, so I came back to Ohio because of those fond memories.
I will never again live anywhere north of Kentucky. (The snow is also a huge pain but I left that gripe out because that's not just Toledo)
I have never before wanted to go back to a place with such bad memories than right now, as I live in this real-life hellhole.

Everybody who reads this.. save yourselves before it's too late. DO NOT move to Toledo! Read Less

More then what you think. Toledo is a city not to be over looked. 4 rating By Kenneth R Wieland ( Jul 07, 2012) Ok I will give you that Toledo has been the butt of more then a few jokes. It most famous citizens are known for dressing in drag, writing for National Lampoon or sleeping with Tom Cruise. That being said lets look at a few other things. How about a downtown loft 1600 sq. ft. For ...Read More $900 a mont. The largest fresh water lakes on the planet with free city owned marina privileges. New baseball stadium, new hockey/sports/entertainment arena, new casino. Live theater, music, art and cinema within walking distance of each other. Top rated museum, zoo and school for performing arts. Many events are free or at low cost. The city is a bargain all the way around.

Employment is plentiful for those that are trained. Wages are average to above average but the key word is trained. There is a lot of compation for entry level employment. The city is in transition from a manufacturing center to a mixed base employment economy. I know many of the hospitals have recruiting bonuses.

In Toledo we say if it takes more then 15 minutes to get there or if I have to pay to park I'm not going. To make it short Toledo is a easy city to transvers and economic to live in. As one of my friends from NYC said " we live like bedaween royally. Read Less

Toledo, Ohio - Not Much More Than A Thoroughfare 1.5 rating By Anonymous ( Nov 25, 2011) Although I do not live in Toledo, Ohio, I do live in Ohio and have traveled to this city several times. I really saw nothing that I was overly impressed with in this city, although there are a couple of things that make this city attractive. I view this city as more of a cut-thro ...Read More ugh than a place to visit.

Toledo has the most beautiful zoo exterior I have ever seen. The zoo is located in the nicest area of the town and the road leading up to the zoo entrance is tree-lined and the yards are well maintained. The entrance to the zoo is very regal and inviting. The actual zoo itself is just as any other zoo: the same animals, foods and souvenirs. Another thing that is great about this city is the fact that it is a cut-through to the city of Detroit. Toledo is just outside of Michigan, and getting to Detroit doesn't take long. Another great aspect of Toledo is the mall. It's big, beautiful and well maintained.

I was put off by Toledo mainly because the city proper is so run down. Everything from restaurants to houses and apartment buildings are dirty and appear old and unkempt. People don't seem to take pride in their homes or in their vehicles because there are hardly any nice vehicles on the roads. People are not well dressed and I found it to be overly depressing. Thankfully I stayed inside the majority of the time I was there, except for when I visited the mall.

If a family is choosing to move to Toledo I would suggest taking a few trips to the city and getting a feel for which areas appear better. Talk with locals and real estate agents. Research school systems on the internet and find an area that has the best rated schools. Read Less

I'm Done With Toledo, Ohio 3 rating By Anonymous ( Apr 30, 2010) I lived in Toledo, Ohio for four years when I went to medical school. It's a good, solid city for a young person, but it doesn't have the nightlife of someplace like New York City. There are a limited amount of things to do. For those desiring big city life, Detroit, Cleveland an ...Read More d Chicago are a few hours drive away.

Most Toledo restaurants are relatively inexpensive and there are plenty of chain style restaurants. These fill up quickly starting Thursday night. This runs into the weekend and the lines can be long. Unique to Toledo are several chains of hot dog restaurants such as Tony Packo's. As far as attractions go in Toledo, the Toledo Museum of Modern Art offers pieces from Monet and Picasso.

The Maumee River runs to the east and south of Toledo. Plenty of boating activities are present there during the summer months. The winter months can be quite cold with plenty of snow. One bright spot in Toledo's downtown area is the new Mudhens stadium. There, in a small stadium, one can catch triple AAA baseball for the Detroit Tigers major farm team. Read Less

Compare Toledo, OH Livability

Toledo, OH

Toledo, OH is in Lucas County. If you like the feeling that comes with residing in a dense suburban area, then this should be your city of choice. Most residents in this city have built their own permanent houses. You will also find a variety of bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and parks in the city. You will find that most families in the US tend to live here and are quite liberal-minded. The most exciting place to live in Toledo is the Downtown area. Here, you will find exciting sports and entertainment arenas, and the famous Mudhens baseball field. You will find out that it is an active and fun area.

If you love food and eating out, you can visit one of the famous Tony Packo’s restaurants found in about five locations in Toledo, OH. The restaurant is known for its chili, stuffed cabbage creations, hot dogs and pickles. You can also decide to buy some pickles and hot dog sauce from the restaurant to enjoy at home. Toledo is commonly referred to as the ‘Glass City’ mostly because of its rich and famous glass industry. Besides being the glass capital of the United States, it is the largest glass city of the entire world. It is famous for glass art, bottles, and windows.

Toledo is a fairly beautiful place to live with your family. You can visit several attractions sites during your free time, such as museums, sports venues, and other kid-friendly parks. One famous museum in the city is the Toledo Museum of Art. Children will be impressed by the Toledo-area Metroparks, where they can go and play, and the Toledo Zoo. As mentioned earlier, Toledo Downtown is a ball of energy, where people congregate to celebrate certain events such as the workweek. The Huntington Center is famous for hosting several concerts and sporting events in the year. However, there are times when the downtown area looks quite empty.

Other attraction scenes are the Maumee River, where people come together to enjoy the splendid view while they undertake fishing activities. Even if you are not a huge earner, you can comfortably live in Toledo because of its low cost of living. The primary mode of commuting in the city is through the use of cars, and public transport is only by bus. There are airports in the city, which including the Toledo Executive Airport and the Toledo Express Airport. Generally, it is quite a beautiful and quiet city to live in and offers the residents plenty of opportunities. The only downside to the town is the increase in crime rates, making it an unsafe zone for its residents.