Ohio paycheck calculator

How Ohio withholds state tax from your paycheck

Employers use the Department of Taxation's withholding tables for your pay frequency. They subtract a fixed amount for each exemption on your Form IT 4 from your gross pay, then apply the table's percentages to the rest.

New tables took effect on August 1, 2026 to reflect the 2026 rate cut passed in the state budget bill (H.B. 96). Paychecks earlier in 2026 used the previous tables, so your year-to-date withholding may run a little higher than the current paycheck suggests.

The withholding tables are deliberately designed for withholding, not for your final bill. They use their own step rates, and your actual tax is settled on your Ohio IT 1040 using the flat rate, your exemptions and any credits.

Exemptions on the IT 4

Form IT 4 asks for one exemption for yourself (unless someone else claims you), one for your spouse if you are married and your spouse does not file a separate Ohio return, and one for each dependent. If you never turn in an IT 4, your employer must withhold as if you claimed zero.

On the annual return, the value of each exemption shrinks as income rises, and for 2026 you get no exemption at all once modified adjusted gross income reaches $500,000.

City income tax

Ohio has hundreds of municipal income taxes. Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Akron and Dayton each tax wages at 2.5%, Cincinnati at 1.8%, and a few cities such as Youngstown and Euclid go higher. Our calculator includes the larger cities using the Department of Taxation's official rate table.

City tax is figured on Medicare wages (Box 5 of your W-2), not on state taxable wages. That means traditional 401(k) contributions do not lower your city tax, while pre-tax health premiums and cafeteria-plan HSA contributions do.

If you live in one city and work in another, your employer withholds for the work city. Your home city may then tax the difference, depending on how much credit it gives for tax paid elsewhere. Columbus, for example, credits tax paid to another city up to its own 2.5% rate.

School district income tax

Many Ohio school districts levy an income tax on people who live in the district, no matter where they work. Employers withhold it when you list your school district on the IT 4. Rates and the income they apply to vary by district, so it is not included in our results; you can look up your district with The Finder on the Department of Taxation's site.

Reciprocity and payroll taxes

Ohio has reciprocity agreements with Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Full-year residents of those states who work in Ohio can claim the waiver on the IT 4 and owe no Ohio income tax on their wages, though city tax can still apply where they work.

Ohio has no employee-paid state disability, paid leave or unemployment insurance deduction, so state income tax and local taxes are the only state-level lines on an Ohio paycheck.

What changed recently

• 2026: H.B. 96 replaced the two upper brackets with one rate: for 2026, taxable nonbusiness income above $26,050 owes $332 plus 2.75% of the excess. Exemptions are no longer allowed once modified AGI reaches $500,000. Source
• 2026: The Department of Taxation published new employer withholding tables for paychecks from August 1, 2026, lowering the amount withheld from most paychecks. Source
• 2026: Under the supplemental withholding rule effective January 1, 2026, bonuses are withheld at Ohio's highest income tax rate for the year, which is 2.75% for 2026. Source
• 2025: For 2025 the top rate on income over $100,000 fell from 3.5% to 3.125%, and indexing of brackets and exemptions was suspended for 2025 and 2026. Source