Ohio Ranks 6th in U.S. for Access to Mental Health Care; Summit and Cuyahoga Counties Rank High

Ohio is among the top states in the country when it comes to access to mental health care, according to a new study, and northeast Ohio performed particularly well.

The study from Autism 360 ranks Ohio sixth in the nation for mental health care access in 2025, giving the state an overall score of 74.5 out of 100.

Researchers used federal data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and U.S. Census Bureau and looked at two main factors: the number of mental health facilities per 100,000 residents and how far people must travel, on average, to reach the nearest facility.

Ohio had 6.2 mental health facilities per 100,000 residents, according to the analysis, while the average Ohioan lived about 3.9 miles from the nearest facility.

Several northeast Ohio counties scored even better than the state as a whole. Mahoning County had the best access in Ohio and ranked eighth among 984 counties studied nationwide. It had 12 mental health facilities per 100,000 residents and an average travel distance of just 2.5 miles, earning an access score of 94.1.

Cuyahoga County ranked 39th nationally, with an access score of 87 out of 100. Residents there were an average of just 1.8 miles from a mental health facility, one of the strongest travel-distance scores in the study. Cuyahoga County had 6.2 facilities per 100,000 residents.

Summit County ranked 64th nationally, earning an access score of 83.8. The county had 6.1 facilities per 100,000 residents, with residents traveling an average of 2.6 miles to the nearest facility.

That puts both Summit and Cuyahoga counties within roughly the top 7% of the 984 counties included in the study.

Other Ohio counties near the top included Trumbull County at number 36 nationally, Montgomery County at number 50 and Butler County at number 57.

Utah topped the national rankings with an access score of 97.1, followed by Maryland, Connecticut, Kentucky and Arizona. Ohio came next at number six.

At the other end of the rankings, Alabama and Hawaii tied for the lowest score among states at 9.8 out of 100.

The findings come with an important distinction: a mental health facility being nearby doesn’t necessarily mean a patient can quickly or affordably get an appointment.

The study’s access score is based on proximity and the number of facilities, rather than factors such as provider availability, appointment wait times, insurance coverage or cost.

Separate research from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio found that 75 of Ohio’s 88 counties were designated mental health professional shortage areas as of July 2025, illustrating that challenges remain even in a state that performs well by the measures used in this particular study.