Ohio city and school district income tax (2026)

Both can apply, but you're not taxed twice on the full amount. Your employer must withhold for the city where you physically work (if it has a tax). If you live in a different city that also taxes income, you owe tax there as a resident too, minus whatever credit your home city gives for tax paid to the work city. Columbus, Toledo, Akron and Dayton give a full credit up to their own rate, so a Columbus resident working in another 2.5% city owes nothing extra; a resident of a city with a partial credit (or a rate higher than the work city) owes the difference and usually has to file a return. Since 2023, remote days are taxed where you actually work, which for a home-based employee is the home city.

It is a flat rate on qualifying wages, which for most employees equals Box 5 Medicare wages: gross pay including bonuses and overtime, less Section 125 benefits, but not reduced by 401(k) contributions. There is no standard deduction, exemption or filing-status difference. On $60,000 of wages at Columbus's 2.5%, that is $1,500 a year or about $58 per biweekly check, on top of federal and Ohio state tax.

Townships can't levy an income tax in Ohio, so anyone working in an unincorporated township area pays none. Among cities, a handful have chosen not to: Beavercreek near Dayton is the best-known example. Most cities and villages of any size do have one. Check any Ohio address with the Department of Taxation's The Finder tool, which returns the municipality, its rate and, separately, the school district.

A separate tax that about 200 of Ohio's roughly 600 school districts levy on their residents, at rates between 0.25% and 2%. It is withheld by your employer based on the four-digit district number on your Form IT 4, regardless of where you work, and reported on Form SD 100 with your Ohio return. Districts choose one of two bases: the traditional base taxes Ohio taxable income (wages, interest, pensions, business income, minus exemptions); the earned income base taxes only wages and self-employment income. If you moved and didn't update your IT 4, you may be paying a district you no longer live in.

Only if you itemize, as part of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which is capped ($40,000 for 2025 through 2029 under the 2025 federal tax law, phasing down at high incomes). Most Ohio workers take the standard deduction and get no federal benefit from it. It is not deductible on the Ohio return either; Ohio only offers a credit for tax paid to other states, not to cities.

It depends on the city. The Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA) administers the tax for more than 300 municipalities, mostly in northeast and central Ohio. The Central Collection Agency (CCA) is run by Cleveland and handles Cleveland plus a few dozen others. Large cities such as Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron and Dayton run their own tax divisions. Your employer remits withholding to whichever agency your work city uses; you file a resident return with your home city's agency if one is required.