honestly ohios not as bad as people think. i was born in michigan and have thought about moving back to the detroit area. i also adore chicago. if i stayed in-state id definitely move to a city, probably cleveland or closer to toledo (im in a cornfield 30min away from ther atm :/). its the rural areas that are depressing but i like the 3 c's + t. never been to dayton tho.
if i had to guess? industrial decay and abandonment drove a lot of people out of jobs. detroit was hit the hardest by far, but ohio has 5 large cities that were hit. michigan has a couple more as well though so who can say. maybe its the chemtrails over the cornfields.
probably not too different than anywhere else.. depends on where ur at tho. normal and relatively diverse in the bigger cities/suburbs as far as ive seen. im in a cornfield college town for reference and there are plenty of queer people, also plenty of casual dating, dating apps, etc. id say most people are typically looking to get into ltr though? out in the middle of nowhere idk how they do it... i think it gets more conservative out there.
any dive bar will jump to tell you its twenty one pilots so they can brag that they played there. spoiler alert they played everywhere thats how they got up top. i love a small local band called freight street but ill always go for the black keys too.