Columbus local tax guide
Who pays Columbus's local tax
Three groups pay Columbus. Anyone whose job site is in Columbus has 2.5% withheld, including commuters from Dublin, Westerville, Hilliard, and Grove City. Columbus residents owe 2.5% on wages earned elsewhere, less a full credit for the work city's tax up to 2.5%, so a resident working in a 2% suburb owes Columbus the difference. And residents whose employer is in an untaxed township or another state owe the full 2.5% themselves. Your home address matters only for the residence balance; withholding follows the work address.
How the Columbus income tax works
Columbus, the state capital and Ohio's largest city with about 906,000 residents, levies a flat 2.5% on wages, salaries, commissions, and business net profit. The Columbus Income Tax Division administers it directly, so Columbus is not part of RITA or CCA.
The base is Medicare wages, so a traditional 401(k) deferral lowers federal and Ohio tax but not the Columbus tax. The city does not tax Social Security, pensions, interest, or dividends.
Columbus sprawls across Franklin County and reaches into Delaware and Fairfield counties, and its borders weave around suburbs with their own rates. Check whether an address is inside Columbus before you sign a lease: a street in the Columbus city limits and one in the Dublin limits can sit a mile apart.
Worked example: $75,000 in Columbus
At $75,000, a single filer owes $7,670 in federal income tax, $1,288 to Ohio, $4,650 in Social Security, and $1,088 in Medicare. The Columbus tax adds $1,875, for take-home pay of $58,429 a year, about $2,247 every two weeks.
Without a city tax the same worker would keep $60,304. The city tax is larger than the state tax at this salary: $1,875 to Columbus against $1,288 to Ohio.
The credit decides what suburban jobs cost Columbus residents. A resident earning $75,000 in Dublin has $1,500 withheld for Dublin and pays Columbus the other $375, so the total local tax matches a job inside Columbus.
Withholding, remote work, and filing
Columbus employers withhold 2.5% and remit it to the Income Tax Division. If you live in Columbus and work for a company in a lower-rate suburb, ask payroll whether it can withhold the Columbus difference as well, since employers are required to withhold only for the work city.
If you live outside Columbus and work from home on some days for a downtown employer, the home days are not Columbus work days. Keep a log and request a refund of the Columbus tax withheld for them after the year ends.
Residents who owe a balance file a Columbus return by the April deadline. Paying throughout the year avoids a large bill from the residence-city difference.
How Columbus compares with other Ohio cities
Columbus shares the 2.5% rate with Cleveland, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Parma, Canton, Warren, and Lorain, the second-highest rate among the cities on this site behind Youngstown's 2.75%. Cincinnati's 1.8% costs $1,350 at $75,000, which is $525 less than Columbus.
Some central Ohio suburbs charge less, though Hilliard, Gahanna, and Upper Arlington match Columbus. Dublin charges 2%, or $1,500 at $75,000, and Newark in Licking County charges 1.75%, or $1,313. Living in one of those suburbs while working in Columbus still costs the full $1,875, because the Columbus rate is withheld at work.
Tips for Columbus paychecks
Confirm the city limits
Many Columbus mailing addresses are in Dublin, Hilliard, or unincorporated townships. Your city tax follows the municipality, not the ZIP code.
Ask for the residence difference to be withheld
If you live in Columbus and work in a 2% suburb, request withholding of the Columbus balance so the year-end bill is not $375 or more.
Log days away from the office
Nonresident hybrid workers can recover Columbus tax for days worked from home outside the city, but only with a record of those days.