Portage County, OH jobs, unemployment and layoffs

Portage County’s unemployment rate is 3.4%. No WARN layoff notices here in the last 12 months. 51 open professional jobs are in its cities.

Portage County economy

3.4%
unemployment, Aug 2026
4.5% the month before
84,327
in the labor force
Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics
161,421
people in Portage County
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
$72,822
median household income
Source: Census ACS
37%
of workers in white-collar occupations
Management, business, financial and professional; Census ACS

Portage County layoffs

No WARN layoff notices naming Portage County in the last 12 months are on file. WARN covers employers with 100 or more workers, so smaller layoffs are not in it.

All layoff notices in the state

Employers hiring most in Portage County

Employers with the most open professional roles in this county’s cities. The county is taken from each job’s city, so roles with no city are not counted.

Great Lakes Cheese10 open roles
Ametek Inc/3 open roles
Creative Financial Staffing3 open roles
Ametek SCP2 open roles
Carter Lumber2 open roles
Davey Tree2 open roles
Davron2 open roles
Giant Eagle2 open roles
QualityIP2 open roles
Akkodis1 open role

Colleges in Portage County

Colleges in Portage County
College	City	Type	Students
Kent State University at Kent	Kent	Public 4-year	20,000+
Hiram College	Hiram	Private nonprofit 4-year	1,000–4,999
Northeast Ohio Medical University	Rootstown	Public 4-year	1,000–4,999

Workforce development and job centers

The public workforce board and American Job Centers serving Portage County. They offer free help with job search, training and filing for benefits.

Northeast Ohio Consortium Council of Governments, Agent for the Ohio Area 19 Workforce Development Board (Ashtabula, Geauga, and Portage Counties)
Ashtabula, Geauga, Portage

OhioMeansJobs Portage County
Ravenna · Affiliate · 330-296-2841
Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm

Cities in Portage County

Kent17 jobs
Hiram13 jobs
Aurora8 jobs
Streetsboro6 jobs
Ravenna6 jobs
Rootstown1 jobs

Other Ohio counties

All of Ohio

Laid off or looking for work in Portage County?

See what to do first and the jobs open near you.

See your options after a layoff

Sources: Census Bureau and BLS (county unemployment is not seasonally adjusted); WARN notices from Ohio’s published record; job counts from our live job board; IPEDS for colleges; CareerOneStop for workforce boards and job centers.