Ashtabula ( ASH-tə-BYU-lə) is the most populous city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. It lies at the mouth of the Ashtabula River on to Lake Erie, 53 miles (85 km) northeast of Cleveland. The city had 17,975 people at the 2020 census. Like many other cities in the Rust Belt, it has lost population because of a decline in industrial jobs since the 1960s. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area.
In the middle of the 19th century, the city was an important destination on the Underground Railroad as refugee slaves took ships across Lake Erie to Canada. In the late 19th century, the city became a major coal port on Lake Erie. Coal and iron were shipped here, the latter from the Mesabi Range in Minnesota.