Northeast Ohio refers to a similar but substantially larger region that is home to over 4.5 million residents that also includes areas not part of Greater Cleveland.

This article covers the area considered to be Greater Cleveland, but includes some information generally applicable to the larger region, which is itself part of what is known historically as the Connecticut Western Reserve.

Northeast Ohio consists of 16 counties (Ashland, Ashtabula, Carroll, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Wayne counties)[4] and includes the cities of Akron, Ashland, Ashtabula, Brunswick, Canton, Cleveland, Elyria, Lorain, Mansfield, Medina, Wadsworth, Wooster, Warren, and Youngstown.

These include Erie, Holmes, Huron and Tuscarawas counties, and their inclusion makes the total population of the entire northeastern section of Ohio well over 4.5 million people.

[6] These, in decreasing order of population, are the twelve largest cities in Greater Cleveland of (2020): According to the 2020 United States Census, the population was 2.186 million in the five-county MSA of the Greater Cleveland Area, making it the second largest metropolitan-statistical area entirely within the state of Ohio.

[10] According to a study by Capgemini and the World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch, the Cleveland area has nearly 54,000 millionaire households, and is expected to continue to grow at 17% over the next five years.

The Chinese Americans are the oldest Asian group residing in Northeast Ohio, most visible in Cleveland's Asiatown.

Nevertheless, the area is also home to hundreds of Indians, Thais, Taiwanese, Pakistanis, Laotians, Cambodians, and Burmese peoples as well.

[17] Today, the Greater Cleveland area is home to the largest Slovak, Slovene, and Hungarian communities in the world, outside of Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary respectively.

[22][23][24] The top largest ancestries in the Greater Cleveland MSA, were the following:[25][26] Approximately 94.1% of the metropolitan area's population was native to the United States.

[25] According to the American Community Survey 2006–2010, the number of Greater Cleveland area residents born overseas was 119,136 and the leading countries of origin were India (10,067), China (7,756), Mexico (6,051), Ukraine (7,211), Germany (5,742), Italy (4,114), Canada (4,102), United Kingdom (4,048), Romania (3,947), Poland (3,834), Russia (3,826), and Yugoslavia (3,820).

In 1999, Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced federal legislation to protect small and medium-sized cities from being split into two or more area codes.

[5] More than 37% of Fortune 500 companies are present in Northeast Ohio, through corporate headquarters, major divisions, subsidiaries, and sales offices.

As of 2006[update], Northeast Ohio serves as the corporate headquarters of 22 Fortune 1000 firms (shown with 2017 rankings below): Other large employers include: The Council of Smaller Enterprises coordinates and advocates for small businesses in the region.

Cleveland's RTA Red Line which started in 1955, is the eighth oldest heavy rail rapid transit in the Country.

The Orchestra plays at Severance Hall in University Circle during the winter and at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls during the summer.

The Lake County Captains, a Single-A minor league affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, play in Eastlake at Classic Park.