Ohio by the numbers
In Ohio, the median worker earns $48,060 a year, the typical home is worth $199,200 and carries $2,712 of property tax, and the average household pays $157 a month for electricity at 19.52¢ per kilowatt-hour.
Midwest PJM Retail choice statewide
Energy
Ohio spent most of the past two decades as a low-rate state. It sits on cheap Appalachian gas, kept a large coal fleet running longer than most of its neighbours, and restructured early enough that generation costs were exposed to competition rather than locked into rate base.
The increase now showing up is a supply-side event, not a delivery one. Ohio utilities buy default generation service through competitive auctions, and those auctions clear against PJM prices. When PJM's capacity auction cleared at record levels for the 2025/2026 delivery year, the cost passed straight into Ohio's standard service offer. Data-centre load growth, fossil retirements and a queue of new generation that has not connected fast enough all pushed that auction higher.
Ohio is itself one of the fastest-growing data-centre markets in the country. Central Ohio's load growth is a meaningful part of why the regional reserve margin tightened in the first place.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Ohio households used 878 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $157. At the state median wage that is about 6.8 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, gas is still cheaper to run than a heat pump here, by about $4.31 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median Ohio worker earned $48,060 in 2024, 2.9% below the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators | 3.62× | $48,100 |
| Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians | 3.13× | $76,750 |
| Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders | 3.08× | $50,790 |
| Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | 3.02× | $49,460 |
| Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | 2.94× | $43,600 |
Property tax
The median Ohio homeowner pays $2,712 a year on a home worth $199,200, an effective rate of 1.36% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 88 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Ohio run at 92.8 where the national average is 100, ranking it #35 of 51. Goods sit at 93.7, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 73.0, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $48,060 therefore buys what $51,789 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Columbus (95.5) , Cincinnati (95.4) , Cleveland (93.9) , Akron (93.4) , Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek (92.7) .
Housing
House prices in Ohio rose 4.3% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +109.2%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Metro areas tracked here: Cleveland (+5.1%) , Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek (+4.2%) , Columbus (+3.6%) , Cincinnati (+3.2%) .
Who supplies the power
35 utilities report residential service in Ohio, together serving 2.0 million customers. Retail choice statewide.
Ohio: common questions
What does it cost to live in Ohio?
Prices overall run at 92.8 against a national average of 100, with rents at 73.0. The typical home is worth $199,200 and carries $2,712 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 1.36% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $157 a month at 19.52¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $48,060.
What is the property tax rate in Ohio?
The effective rate is 1.36% of home value, from a median bill of $2,712. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 88 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Ohio?
The median wage of $48,060 buys what $51,789 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line Ohio falls on.
Is Ohio expensive for electricity?
It ranks #18 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 19.52¢ per kilowatt-hour, +5.9% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 23 of 51, because households there use 878 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Ohio?
$48,060 across all occupations, about $23.11 an hour, covering 5,526,300 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Ohio?
35 utilities report residential service, the largest being Ohio Power Co with 550,768 customers. Retail choice statewide.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources