A town of 23,396, settled in 1797. Home to 14 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 3 things Athens does most differently from other towns.
1850 · 1940 Census Enumeration District Descri…18 postcards, papers and photographs from public archives, and 14 places on the National Register.
1909
Asylum Gate
Postcard · Wikimedia Commons. A different picture from Athens’s archive appears here every day.
See all 18 archive items →What neighbors are saying. Town Square →
I love that our average commute to work is just 16 minutes, which is pretty quick compared to the rest of the state and country. This makes it…
Nothing on the calendar.
Ordered by what stands out in Athens. Another town gets a different order.
About one in 3 of Athens’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Columbus (9%), Nelsonville (2%) and The Plains (2%). Half commute less than 34 miles.
15 miles of trails across 17 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Ridges | 7.4 mi | 746 |
| 2. Strouds Ridge Reserve Hope Drive Tract | 1.9 mi | 111 |
| 3. Sells Park | 1 mi | 43 |
The median sale price was $268,000 in May 2026.
Athens beats the Ohio average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 16.
| What stands out | Athens | OH |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 3.4% | 8.7% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 14.1% | 29.8% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 18.4% | 7.7% |
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 79% of U.S. communities.
Athens has chilly winters and warm summers. A typical July afternoon reaches 84°, a January night drops to 22°, and about 18 inches of snow falls in a normal winter.
Athens reports less crime per resident than 60% of the U.S. towns and cities we grade.
14 places in Athens on the National Register of Historic Places.
45 notable people were born in Athens.
City in Ohio, US
Athens is a city in Athens County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 23,849 at the 2020 United States census. Located along the Hocking River within Appalachian Ohio about 65 miles (105 km) southeast of Columbus, Athens is best known as the home of Ohio University, a large public research university with an undergraduate and graduate enrollment of more than 21,000 students. It is the principal city of the Athens micropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
