The year Ohio printed two different paychecks
Ohio finished its long march to a flat tax in 2026: income above $26,050 now pays a single 2.75% rate, and below that line the state tax is simply zero. But the transition left a quirk - withholding tables changed on August 1, mid-year, so the same salary produced visibly different stubs in March and in September. If your paycheck moved without a raise, that is why. Annual liability, which this calculator computes, was 2.75% all along.
The bigger variable in Ohio is municipal: most Ohio cities levy their own income tax, commonly around 2% and sometimes more. That line frequently rivals the state tax itself. Enter your city's rate in the local field above - the state's official municipal rate database is linked in the sources below.
Two different stubs in the same year
Ohio changed its withholding tables on 1 August 2026, part-way through the year. The same salary therefore produces one figure on a July paycheck and a different one in September, without anything changing in your own situation. This calculator applies the tables in force now. If you are comparing it against a stub from earlier in the year, that is where the difference comes from — and your annual tax, which is what the state actually charges, is unaffected by the mid-year switch.
The extra dollar that leaves you poorer
Ohio's personal exemption is not one amount. It is $2,400 per exemption while your income stays at or under $40,000, $2,150 between $40,000 and $80,000, and $1,900 above that. Those are steps, not a gentle taper, and they produce a result most people find hard to believe: earn one dollar more than $40,000 and you lose $250 of exemption, which costs you roughly $6 a year in state tax - about $13 if you file jointly, because the exemption is per person. The same step repeats at $80,000.
Nothing you can do about the threshold itself, but it is worth knowing before you read too much into a raise that lands just over one of those lines. A pre-tax contribution that pulls your income back under the threshold is worth more than its face value in that narrow band. We show the effect rather than smooth it away, because the smoothing is what hides it.
Your city does not tax what the state taxes
This trips up almost every Ohio paycheck estimate, including some that otherwise get the state right. Ohio cities do not tax your state taxable income - they tax your qualifying wages, essentially the Medicare wages box on your W-2. Two things follow, and both cost money.
First, the personal exemption above does not reduce your city tax. It comes off the state calculation only. Second, and this is the one that surprises people: your 401(k) contributions are taxed by your city, even though Ohio itself exempts them. Put $6,000 into a 401(k) on a $60,000 salary and your state tax falls by about $165 - while your city tax does not move by a cent. Pre-tax health premiums are different: those never enter the Medicare wages box, so they do stay out of the city base.
One caveat on those amounts: they are Ohio's 2025 figures. The state has not published its indexed 2026 exemption amounts, so we use the last ones it printed. The difference will be a few dollars a year at most, and we will re-check when the 2026 numbers appear.