Lancaster, Ohio.
Typical home $276,067 (+2.8% in a year), asking rent $1,226 (+4.1%). Columbus, OH metro.
Property tax and schools in Lancaster
Lancaster’s own tax page → what a home here pays, who charges it, its levies and ballot, and its schools.
Lancaster is in Fairfield County, where its property tax is set. Its homes there are in 3 school districts: Amanda-Clearcreek Local, Berne Union Local and Lancaster City. Check your own bill.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$834 (+136%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $7,510 +3%
- $268,557$276,067 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $65,461 +31%
- $210,606$276,067 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Lancaster$1,449
- Ohio$1,291
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Lancaster, OH rose 2.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Lancaster, OH rose 4.1% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Lancaster runs $772/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $816 in Feb 2025.
That is $1,998 a month against $1,226 rent: a $1,449 mortgage payment, plus $253 property tax and $296 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Lancaster
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$1,998
- Renting$1,226
- Mortgage only$1,449
Property tax · $253/mo 1.10% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Fairfield County, OH
Insurance & upkeep · $296/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio
Lancaster is a city of 40,552 people in Fairfield County. Half its households earn more than $59,133 a year and half less, against $90,966 across Fairfield County; 13% of its people live below the poverty line. 59% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 41% are rented. Unemployment in Lancaster was 3.5% in August 2026, and Fairfield County had 1.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Lancaster is a city and the center of Fairfield County, home to more people than most towns in this part of Ohio. Residents are somewhat younger than the typical American, and incomes run well below the county's overall. Most households own their homes, and winters are cold with a fair amount of rain and melted snow across the year, while summers turn warm.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in the building trades, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Among the largest workplaces in Lancaster are Fairfield Medical Center, a general hospital, along with Anchor Hocking, a glass products maker, and Magna Seating Columbus, which makes metal seat frames for automobiles. Unemployment is lower than it was a year ago, and the county has added jobs over the past year. A minority of adults hold a four-year degree, and a small share of people work from home.
Things to do. Clear Creek is a river a short drive away, a simple option for time by the water. A longer drive brings you to Hocking Hills State Park, a protected area, and to the Columbus Museum of Art, an art museum. Those who like a night out can also head for the Ohio Theatre, a theatre, which is likewise a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
- 16,857households
- 22%of adults have a degree
- 13%below the poverty line
- 28 mintypical commute
- 9%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Fairfield County had 48,050 jobs in 2025, 1.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 38° and lows near 22°; warmest in July, with highs near 85° and lows near 65°. About 40 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Lancaster weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest employers in Lancaster
- Fairfield Medical Center1,975
- Anchor Acquisition LLC1,550
- Fairfield County1,287
- Lancaster City Schools1,267
- Magna1,223
- Kroger587
- State of Ohio428
- Luxe Rehabilitation & Care360
From the City of Lancaster’s annual financial report for 2024, its schedule of principal employers (its source: “2024 - Lancaster City Income Tax Department”), as Ohio’s Auditor of State publishes it: the report. Employees as the report counts them.
Natural hazards
- Ice stormsrelatively high in parts of LancasterRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
- Lightningrelatively high in parts of LancasterRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Lancaster’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Fairfield County and the Columbus, OH metro.
Lancaster home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Lancaster$276,067
- Ohio$245,982
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Lancaster listings, and the typical home goes pending in 11 days — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Lancaster32.24%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Lancaster11
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Lancaster194
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Lancaster82
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Lancaster$245,589
- United States$371,407
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Lancaster99.33%
Zip codes with a Lancaster address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Lancaster — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.