Ohio has one of the lowest state income taxes in the country. On an $85,000 salary a single filer pays $1,621 — less than every state that taxes income except North Dakota and Arizona.
Then their city takes another 2% to 2.5%, and almost nothing you will read online mentions it.
That municipal layer is the single largest omission an Ohio paycheck calculation makes. At Cleveland's 2.5% it is nearly as large as the entire state tax again, and it turns Ohio from a low-tax state into a middling one for anyone living or working in a city — which is most Ohioans.
This article covers what the state actually takes, what your city adds, and why the two together produce a number no statewide calculator will show you.
A note before you start. This is general education, not tax advice. Federal figures are tax year 2026, from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 and the Social Security Administration; Ohio brackets and the municipal-tax rules come from this site's own sourced 50-state dataset, which cites its source per state. Figures are computed by the same engine the site's calculators use, on a single filer taking the federal standard deduction with no dependents or pre-tax deferrals unless stated. Municipal and school district income taxes are named here but are never included in any total, because rates vary by city and district — see section 3.
1. What Ohio actually takes
Ohio runs a two-bracket structure, which is close to the simplest in the country:
| Taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|
| $0 to $26,050 | 0% |
| Above $26,050 | 2.75% |
That zero bracket is doing real work. The first $26,050 of Ohio taxable income is genuinely untaxed by the state — not deducted, not exempted, taxed at zero — which is why Ohio's burden at lower incomes is so light.
Here is what that produces across incomes, for a single filer:
| Salary | Ohio income tax | Take-home |
|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | $521 | $37,816 |
| $60,000 | $934 | $49,456 |
| $85,000 | $1,621 | $67,006 |
| $120,000 | $2,584 | $90,666 |
| $175,000 | $4,096 | $126,782 |
At $45,000, Ohio takes 1.2% of gross. Very few states are gentler at that income.
Married filers pay exactly the same
Notice something unusual: Ohio's brackets do not widen for joint filers. The $26,050 threshold is the same whether you file single, jointly, separately, or as head of household.
That means Ohio has no marriage bonus and no marriage penalty at the bracket level — a joint filer on $85,000 of household income pays exactly the same $1,621 a single filer does. Most states widen their brackets for joint filers; Ohio does not, which makes its arithmetic unusually easy to reason about and slightly less favourable to married couples than a state that doubles its thresholds.
Run your own salary against Ohio's brackets2. Where Ohio sits against everyone else
At $85,000, Ohio's $1,621 places it second-lowest among the 41 states that levy an income tax:
| State | Tax on $85,000 |
|---|---|
| The nine no-income-tax states | $0 |
| North Dakota | $377 |
| Ohio | $1,621 |
| Arizona | $1,731 |
| Indiana | $2,478 |
| Pennsylvania | $2,610 |
| Kentucky | $2,857 |
| West Virginia | $3,004 |
| Michigan | $3,362 |
| Oregon (highest) | $6,864 |
Against neighbouring states, an Ohioan on $85,000 keeps $989 more than a Pennsylvanian, $1,741 more than a Michigander, and $1,236 more than a Kentuckian — before any local tax on either side.
That "before local tax" qualifier is the whole problem, because Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky all permit municipal income taxes. Comparing the state rates alone compares the smaller half of the burden in every one of them.
3. The tax your city charges, and why we will not put it in your total
Most Ohio municipalities levy their own income tax. Rates cluster between about 1% and 3%, and the larger cities sit toward the top:
| City | Municipal rate |
|---|---|
| Cleveland | 2.5% |
| North Randall | 2.75% |
| Barberton | 2.25% |
| Munroe Falls | 2.25% |
Set that against a 2.75% state rate and the scale becomes obvious. A Cleveland worker's combined marginal income tax rate is roughly 5.25%, not 2.75% — the city is charging nearly as much as the state.
Why the rates sit where they do
Under Ohio Revised Code 718.04, a municipality may levy up to 1% without voter approval, and needs a majority of the electors for anything above that. A grandfather clause preserved rates for municipalities already above 1% on or before March 23, 2015.
That history is why so many Ohio cities sit at 2% to 2.5% rather than at 1%: they were already there when the rule was written.
Work location matters as much as home
This is the part that catches people moving jobs rather than houses. Ohio municipal income tax is levied on where you work as well as where you live.
Live in a township with no municipal tax and work in Cleveland, and Cleveland taxes your wages. Live in one taxing city and work in another and you may owe both — mitigated by a residence credit that your home city may give for tax paid to your work city, except that the credit varies by city and is not always 100%.
So two people with identical salaries and identical home addresses can owe different amounts, because they work in different cities. No calculator that asks only for your state can model that.
And there is a second local layer
Some Ohio school districts levy their own income tax, on top of both the state and the municipal tax, filed separately on Form SD-100.
This is a distinct tax from the municipal one, not a component of it. A resident of a taxing school district pays both. It is easy to miss because it is filed separately and is not withheld by every employer.
Why the calculators leave it out
There is no such thing as "the Ohio local rate." There are hundreds, they depend on two addresses rather than one, the residence credit varies, and school districts add a separate layer.
A take-home figure that silently included Cleveland's 2.5% would be wrong for the large majority of Ohioans who do not work there. One that silently excluded it would understate the burden for everyone who does. Naming it and leaving it out of the total is the only defensible option — so add your own rate to every Ohio figure you see, including ours.
Your municipal rate is available from your city's finance or income tax department, and it will already be on your pay stub as a line naming your city.
4. The full picture on $85,000
State tax is the part that varies. Here is everything, for a single filer:
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | $85,000 |
| Federal income tax | −$9,870 |
| Social Security (6.2%) | −$5,270 |
| Medicare (1.45%) | −$1,233 |
| Ohio income tax | −$1,621 |
| Take-home | $67,006 |
| Your municipal tax, not included | typically $1,700–$2,100 |
Two observations.
Federal dominates. $16,373 of federal tax and FICA against $1,621 of Ohio tax — the federal share is ten times larger. Ohio's low rate is real and it is a small part of the total.
The municipal layer is comparable to the state one. At a 2.5% city rate on $85,000 that is roughly $2,125 — more than the state took. Which is why an Ohio calculation that stops at the state line has told you about the smaller of the two.
5. What Ohio does with retirement income
Worth knowing if you are planning rather than just checking a paycheck, because Ohio's treatment is lopsided.
Social Security is fully exempt. The federally taxable portion carried into your federal AGI is deducted in arriving at Ohio adjusted gross income — with no income threshold, no age condition, and no phase-out. Railroad Retirement benefits are deducted the same way.
401(k), 403(b), 457 and traditional IRA distributions are fully taxed. Ohio offers no exclusion for them; they are ordinary Ohio income at the rates above. What Ohio provides instead is a set of small nonrefundable credits, which are considerably less valuable than an exclusion would be.
So the shape of Ohio's retirement treatment is: generous on Social Security, ordinary on everything else. For a retiree whose income is mostly Social Security, Ohio is genuinely cheap. For one drawing substantially on a 401(k), it is an ordinary-rate state with a very low ordinary rate.
6. Reducing what Ohio takes
Ohio's rate is low enough that the levers are modest, but three are worth knowing.
Pre-tax deferrals reduce Ohio tax too. A traditional 401(k) contribution lowers your federal and Ohio taxable income, because Ohio starts from federal adjusted gross income. At 2.75% the Ohio saving is small — $275 on a $10,000 deferral — but it is on top of the federal saving at your bracket, which is where the real money is.
HSA contributions reduce more. Made through payroll under a cafeteria plan, they reduce federal and Ohio taxable income and your FICA wages. That last part is worth 7.65% that a 401(k) deferral does not touch.
The municipal tax generally does not follow the same rules. This is an Ohio-specific wrinkle worth confirming with your own city: many Ohio municipalities tax gross wages with far fewer deductions than the state allows, so a 401(k) deferral that reduces your state tax may not reduce your city tax at all. Check your municipality's own rules rather than assuming the state treatment carries across.
7. Moving into or out of Ohio
A few practical points if Ohio is a decision rather than a fact.
The state comparison flatters Ohio, the local one does not. Ohio's 2.75% top rate looks excellent against Pennsylvania's 3.07% or Michigan's 4.25%. But all three permit local income taxes, and Ohio's are among the higher ones in practice. Compare like with like: state plus local, for the specific cities involved.
Townships often have no municipal income tax. Living in an unincorporated township while working in one is a real and common Ohio arrangement, and it changes the arithmetic — though you will still owe the work city's tax on wages earned there.
Ohio has no reciprocity with every neighbour. Ohio has agreements with several bordering states covering state income tax for commuters, but these do not touch municipal taxes. If you cross a state line to work, check the agreement rather than assuming.
Property and sales tax are the other half. Ohio's property tax burden is meaningful and its combined sales tax is mid-range. A state's income tax describes one line on a paycheck, not the cost of living there.
8. The zero bracket, and who it actually helps
Ohio's first bracket is 0%, and that structure produces a burden curve that looks very different from most states.
A single filer's Ohio tax as a share of gross salary:
| Salary | Ohio tax | As a share of gross |
|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | $521 | 1.2% |
| $60,000 | $934 | 1.6% |
| $85,000 | $1,621 | 1.9% |
| $120,000 | $2,584 | 2.2% |
| $175,000 | $4,096 | 2.3% |
The effective rate climbs from 1.2% to 2.3% and then flattens, approaching but never reaching 2.75%. That asymptote is what a single non-zero bracket produces: as income grows, the untaxed first $26,050 becomes a smaller share of the whole, so the effective rate creeps toward the marginal one without ever arriving.
Two practical consequences.
Ohio is unusually cheap at low incomes. At $45,000 the state takes 1.2%, which is less than several states with lower headline rates but no zero bracket. A state charging a flat 2% from the first dollar takes more from a $45,000 earner than Ohio does at 2.75%.
And the gap between marginal and effective is small at high incomes. Someone on $175,000 pays 2.3% effective against a 2.75% marginal — a narrower gap than in a state with many brackets. There is much less room for the bracket confusion that dominates federal tax discussions.
9. Finding and verifying your own municipal rate
Since no calculator can supply this, here is how to get it reliably.
Look at your pay stub first. If your employer withholds municipal tax it will appear as a line naming a city, and the rate is derivable from the amount against your gross. This is the fastest check and it tells you what is actually being withheld rather than what should be.
Then confirm with the city itself. Your municipality's income tax or finance department publishes the current rate and the residence credit. The credit is the part worth reading carefully, because it decides whether working in a different city costs you twice.
Check whether your employer withholds at all. Ohio employers generally withhold for the work city. Whether they withhold for your residence city varies, and if they do not, you may owe an annual filing and possibly quarterly estimated payments directly to your home municipality. Discovering this in April is a common and avoidable unpleasantness.
Check the school district separately. School district income tax is a different tax with its own filing, and your district's taxing status is not implied by your municipal situation. The Ohio Department of Taxation publishes which districts levy one.
If you moved during the year, expect a part-year apportionment in both cities. This is normal and it is worth flagging to your employer's payroll rather than reconciling it yourself later.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ohio's income tax rate? Two brackets: 0% on the first $26,050 of Ohio taxable income and 2.75% above that. It is among the lowest state rates in the country, and it is not the whole story — most Ohio municipalities levy their own income tax on top.
How much is take-home pay on $85,000 in Ohio? $67,006 for a single filer taking the standard deduction, after $9,870 of federal income tax, $6,503 of FICA, and $1,621 of Ohio tax. Your municipal income tax comes out of that figure and is not included.
Do I pay city income tax where I live or where I work? Potentially both. Ohio municipalities tax wages earned within their boundaries as well as residents' income. Your home city may give a residence credit for tax paid to your work city, but the credit varies by city and is not always the full amount.
What is the Ohio school district income tax? A separate tax levied by some school districts on top of state and municipal taxes, filed on Form SD-100. It is a distinct tax rather than part of the municipal one, and residents of a taxing district pay both.
Why doesn't your calculator include my city's tax? Because there is no single Ohio local rate — there are hundreds, they depend on where you live and where you work, and school districts add another layer. Including one would be wrong for nearly everyone. We name it and leave it out of the total so you can add your own.
Does Ohio tax Social Security? No. Ohio fully exempts Social Security benefits with no income threshold, age condition, or phase-out. It does tax 401(k) and IRA distributions as ordinary income.
Do married couples pay less in Ohio? Not at the bracket level — Ohio's thresholds are identical for all filing statuses, so a couple filing jointly on $85,000 of household income pays the same $1,621 a single filer does. There is neither a marriage bonus nor a penalty in the brackets.
Is Ohio a low-tax state? On state income tax, genuinely yes — second-lowest of the 41 states that levy one. Once municipal income tax is added it becomes middling for city residents and workers, and property tax is a separate consideration.
Does a 401(k) contribution reduce my Ohio city tax? Often not. Ohio starts from federal adjusted gross income, so a traditional 401(k) deferral does reduce your state tax. Many Ohio municipalities tax gross wages with far fewer deductions, so the same deferral may not reduce your city tax at all. Confirm with your own municipality rather than assuming the state treatment carries across.
What is my effective Ohio tax rate? It rises with income and approaches but never reaches 2.75%, because the first $26,050 is taxed at zero. It runs from 1.2% at $45,000 to 2.3% at $175,000 — a much narrower marginal-versus-effective gap than the federal brackets produce.
What to do next
Start with the state figure, then find your own municipal rate and add it — that combination is your real income tax burden and no statewide tool will produce it for you.
- Ohio take-home pay calculator — every deduction shown separately, with the municipal tax named rather than guessed.
- Your Paycheck in the USA in 2026 — how Ohio compares to all fifty states on the same salary.
- 50/30/20 budget calculator — what to do with the take-home figure.
- Ohio rent affordability — what that take-home supports in rent.
- Marginal vs. Effective Tax Rate — why your bracket is not your rate.
Every figure on this site is sourced and dated. How we source every number.
Figures in this article are illustrations computed by this site's own tax engine for tax year 2026, on a single filer taking the federal standard deduction with no dependents or pre-tax deferrals unless stated. Federal figures come from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 and the Social Security Administration; Ohio figures from this site's sourced 50-state dataset. Municipal and school district income taxes are named but never included in any total, because rates vary by city and district and depend on where you work as well as where you live. This is general education and not tax advice; for your own situation consult a licensed tax professional.