Ohio

How Ohio ranks among the states

Ohio lands in the middle today after swinging from near the top of the list. From mid-2006 through 2007 it was the 3rd most distressed state. In early 2025 it was still tied for 13th. It fell to 28th as unemployment dropped from 4.9% in February 2025 to 3.3% in August 2026 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Collections and bankruptcy remain its highest-scoring part. Ohioans owe less per person than people in most states, yet more have a debt with a collector or file for bankruptcy (see behind on bills).

Ohio’s score has risen and fallen with its jobless rate, from near the top of the states to the middle

What is Ohio’s unemployment rate? The lowest in decades, but fewer Ohioans are working

In August 2026, 3.3% of Ohio’s labor force was out of work, tied for 13th lowest among the 50 states and D.C. The national rate was 4.1% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, seasonally adjusted). That is the lowest monthly rate for Ohio in the bureau’s figures, which start in 1976, though August’s number is preliminary and can be revised. As recently as February 2025 the rate was 4.9%, and over 2025 as a whole it averaged 4.6%, above the U.S. average of 4.3%.

Filing for unemployment benefits? Claims go through Ohio’s job and family services department →

The drop isn’t a hiring wave. From February 2025 to August 2026, the number of Ohioans counted as unemployed fell by 94,874, but the number with a job fell too, by 17,990. The labor force shrank by 112,864. So the rate fell mostly because fewer people were counted as looking for work, not because more of them found it. The share of Ohioans 16 and older with a job slipped from 59.8% to 59.2% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, seasonally adjusted; the differences are our calculation). The state estimates don’t say why people dropped out of the count.

Ohio’s yearly rate was above the nation’s every year from 2003 through 2010, again from 2016 through 2020, and every year from 2022 through 2025. The monthly rate has been under the U.S. rate since February 2026, a gap the bureau counted as statistically significant in August, and that turn is what moved Ohio down the State Distress Index (see how it ranks).

Unemployment is highest in Pike County and lowest in Holmes County

Ohio’s minimum wage rises with prices every January

Ohio’s minimum wage is $11.00 an hour in 2026 for most workers and $5.50 plus tips for tipped workers, up 2.8% from 2025. Voters added it to the state constitution in 2006, with a raise each Jan. 1 to match inflation. Businesses with yearly gross receipts of $405,000 or less, and workers 14 and 15 years old, are held to the federal minimum, $7.25 (Ohio’s commerce department). The state’s 2027 poster lists $11.40 (see what to watch). The poorest and most distressed counties →

Which Ohio counties are poorest, and which are most distressed?

Athens County, home of Ohio University, is the poorest by the Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates: in 2024, 25.3% of its people were below the poverty line, the highest rate of Ohio’s 88 counties. The most distressed on our County Distress Index, which measures how strained household budgets are in every U.S. county, is Scioto County, on the Ohio River, at 92, followed by its neighbors Pike and Adams. No Ohio county ranks among the 100 most distressed in the country (see the national list), while Mercer, Delaware, Putnam, Geauga and Union rank among the 100 least distressed. Mercer County, in western Ohio, is the state’s least distressed and the 40th least distressed of all 3,144.

Every county, by score

Scioto, Pike, Adams, Jackson, Ross and Gallia in the southern hills, and Mahoning, home to Youngstown, are the only counties that score 80 or more. Together they hold 4.2% of Ohioans. Of the 31 counties that score 60 or more, 23 are on the Appalachian Regional Commission’s list of Appalachian counties (see Appalachian Ohio).

All 88 Ohio counties, ranked →

Is Ohio a poor state? Poorer than most, and above the U.S. poverty rate since 2007

Somewhat. In 2024, 12.6% of Ohioans lived below the poverty line, tied for 16th highest among the 50 states and D.C. The U.S. rate was 12.1%. Ohio’s typical household earned $72,259, 12th lowest, against $81,604 nationwide (Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates). Spread across every resident, Ohioans’ total income came to $64,464 a person, 14th lowest (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis).

Two Census measures, two poverty rates

Ohio’s Legislative Service Commission puts the state’s 2024 poverty rate at 12.7%, the 14th highest of the 50 states, using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. This page uses the bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, which it makes every year for each state and county, so the state and county rates here share one source. Programs that decide who qualifies for help use yet another yardstick, the federal poverty guideline, which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sets each year.

The richest counties are among the least distressed

By median household income, Delaware County, north of Columbus, was Ohio’s richest in 2024, at $136,215, followed by Union, at $119,133, and Warren, between Cincinnati and Dayton, at $113,333 (Census Bureau). Delaware and Union are two of the five least distressed counties, and Warren ranks 80th of 88. In Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland, the typical household earned $66,081. The poorest and most distressed counties →

What changed in Ohio in the past year

1. April 24, 2026

   A parts maker put off part of two plant closings in northwest Ohio

   First Brands Group told the state on Feb. 27 that it would close its TMD plants in Tiffin, in Seneca County, and Bowling Green, in Wood County, for good on April 30, affecting 407 and 302 workers. On April 24 it said it now expected to keep 345 of the Tiffin workers and 263 in Bowling Green through May 31 while it tried to sell some of its U.S. plants; the others would leave on the original date. These are the company’s own notices; we didn’t check what happened after May 31.

   First Brands Group notices to Ohio’s job and family services department: Tiffin; Bowling Green

2. April 1, 2026

   Regulators cut AEP Ohio’s yearly revenue under new delivery rates

   The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved a settlement giving AEP Ohio $11 million more a year in base delivery revenue, against the $97 million it asked for. With about $105 million returned to customers over 18 months for a federal tax change, the company’s yearly revenue falls by about $58.7 million. The order covers the part of the bill that pays for poles, wires and upkeep, not the power itself.

   Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, April 1, 2026

3. March 20, 2026

   A law limiting school property tax growth took effect

   The governor signed House Bill 186 on Dec. 19, 2025, and it took effect March 20, 2026. As the legislature describes it, the law lets school district property taxes that are held at a minimum rate, known as the floor, be reduced so they grow no faster than inflation, and it changes property tax reductions for homes. The bill’s official page gives no estimate of what it saves a household.

   Ohio Legislature, House Bill 186

4. Jan. 25, 2026

   Fewer noncitizens qualify for SNAP under the federal budget law

   The federal budget law signed July 4, 2025, narrowed which noncitizens can get SNAP, the federal food benefit. Ohio’s job and family services department ended, from Nov. 1, 2025, benefits for noncitizens who no longer qualified, but its shutdown-era benefit runs put many of them back on; its Dec. 4 notice to caseworkers said its system would apply the change from Jan. 25, 2026, with some cases ending Feb. 28. Nothing changed for U.S. citizens (see SNAP).

   Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Food Assistance Change Transmittal 106-A, Dec. 4, 2025

5. Jan. 1, 2026

   The minimum wage rose with inflation

   Ohio’s minimum wage went from $10.70 to $11.00 an hour, and to $5.50 plus tips for tipped workers, a 2.8% increase set by the yearly inflation adjustment in Ohio’s constitution (see the minimum wage).

   Ohio commerce department, Dec. 31, 2025; U.S. Department of Labor state table, July 1, 2026

6. Nov. 19, 2025

   New delivery rates for FirstEnergy’s three Ohio utilities

   The utility commission set delivery rates that raise the three companies’ combined yearly revenue by about $34 million, against the $190 million they sought. Cleveland Electric Illuminating’s revenue rises by $75.9 million, while Ohio Edison’s falls by $17.4 million and Toledo Edison’s by $24.4 million. The commission told the utilities to file rates carrying out the order; we didn’t confirm the date they took effect. FirstEnergy has since asked for more (see what to watch).

   Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Nov. 19, 2025

Is Ohio cheap to live in? Rent is well below the U.S. median

For housing, yes. Half of Ohio’s renters paid less than $1,034 a month in the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, 12th lowest among the 50 states and D.C., against a U.S. median of $1,413. A full year of that rent equals 17.2% of what the typical Ohio household earned in 2024; for the U.S. it equals 20.8% (our calculation). We hold no prices for food, gas or electricity and no figures for single cities, so we can’t rank Ohio’s whole cost of living.

On renters’ housing costs, Ohio sits in the middle of the states. In 2024, 24.6% of Ohio renter households paid half or more of their income for rent and utilities, 25th highest among the states. The U.S. share was 26.1% that year. Ohio’s share has been under the national share in every Census estimate since 2011.

Are Ohioans behind on their bills? A little more often than Americans, though they owe less

A little more than the country. Early in 2025, 17.4% of Ohioans with a credit record had a debt 90 or more days late. That was 20th highest among the 50 states and D.C. in the Philadelphia Fed figures. The U.S. share was 17.2%, our population-weighted average of the states (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia). That comes with lighter borrowing: at the end of 2025 Ohioans with a credit report owed $46,780 each in household debt, 7th lowest among the states, against $63,200 nationwide (Federal Reserve Bank of New York). These are households’ debts; the state government’s own borrowing isn’t counted.

Early in 2025, Ohioans were a little more likely than Americans overall to be far behind on cards and car loans or to have a debt in collections, and a little less likely to be far behind on a mortgage

Of Ohioans and Americans with each kind of loan, the share 90 days or more behind, plus the share of people with a debt in collections, first quarter of 2025.

People with a debt in collections

Ohio 14.6% U.S. 13.2%

Card borrowers 90+ days late

Ohio 13.8% U.S. 13.5%

Auto borrowers 90+ days late

Ohio 9.0% U.S. 8.5%

Mortgage borrowers 90+ days late

Ohio 1.1% U.S. 1.2%

Counting from the largest share among the 50 states and D.C., Ohio is 17th on collections, 18th on cards, tied for 21st on car loans and tied for 23rd on mortgages. Each U.S. bar is our average of the states, with bigger states weighted more.

Card trouble has grown since 2019: the share of Ohio card borrowers 90 or more days late went from 9.5% at the end of 2019 to 13.8% early in 2025. Collections moved the other way, from 23.1% to a low of 13.6% at the end of 2023, and have edged up since. More of that drop came after early 2022, when the share stood at 18.9%, than before it. That stretch is when the three big credit bureaus stopped reporting many medical debts, and a debt left off a credit report hasn’t necessarily been paid. Nationwide, the share of people with a medical collection on their report went from about 14% in March 2022 to about 5% in June 2023 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).

Bankruptcy in Ohio: more filings per person than in most states, and fewer under Chapter 13

Ohioans filed 26,110 bankruptcy cases in 2025, 219.4 for every 100,000 residents (2025 population), 13th highest among the 50 states and D.C., against 166.3 nationwide (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts). Filings rose 5.4% from 2024, less than the 11.1% rise across the country. They have climbed every year since 2022, the year with the fewest in U.S. Courts records since 2001, and 2025 brought the most since 2020, when Ohioans filed 26,751.

Only 23.5% of Ohio’s cases in 2025 were filed under Chapter 13, 20th lowest among the states, against 35.9% nationally. Chapter 13 sets up a court-approved plan, usually three to five years, to repay part of the debts, and filers usually keep their property. In Chapter 7, the kind most Ohioans file, many debts are wiped out and property the law doesn’t protect can be sold.

SNAP in Ohio: the count has dropped since late 2025

SNAP, the federal food benefit once known as food stamps, reached 1,317,208 Ohioans in June 2026, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s count. That is 11.1% of the state’s 2025 population, tied for 16th highest among the 50 states and D.C., against 10.6% nationwide. The count was 119,904 fewer people than in June 2025, a drop of 8.3%, and fewer than the 1,374,426 Ohio averaged from October 2019 to February 2020, before the pandemic.

Nearly all of the fall came after October 2025. The count held close to its October level of 1,426,605 for most of the year before, then dropped by 40,684 in November alone and by 109,397 in all by June 2026 (U.S. Department of Agriculture; the differences are our calculation).

Two federal changes came in the same months

During the federal shutdown, Ohio’s job and family services department said on Nov. 10, 2025, that federal guidance cut each household’s November maximum by 35%. Nearly all recipients would get less than 65% of their usual benefit (Nov. 10, 2025 release). Then the 2025 federal budget law narrowed which noncitizens qualify, a change Ohio first applied in November 2025 and fully from Jan. 25, 2026 (see what changed). We found no source that splits the drop between the two, and a smaller count isn’t proof of less need: the newest Census poverty figures are for 2024. Is Ohio poor? →

How foreclosure works in Ohio

Every home foreclosure in Ohio goes before a judge in the Court of Common Pleas of the county where the home sits; the state has no foreclosure without a court. Federal servicing rules generally keep a lender from starting foreclosure on a home the owner lives in until the loan is more than 120 days behind (12 CFR 1024.41). Once served with the lender’s complaint, the owner ordinarily has 28 days to file an answer (Ohio Civil Rule 12).

If the court orders a sale, notice must run in a local newspaper once a week for at least three weeks in a row. Written notice of the date goes to the parties in the case (Ohio Revised Code § 2329.26). Until the court confirms the sale, the owner can still redeem the home by paying the full judgment, interest and costs (§ 2329.33). The lender can seek a judgment for any balance the sale didn’t cover, but on a home for one or two families it can’t collect that balance more than two years after the court confirms the sale (§ 2329.08).

The Supreme Court of Ohio offers courts a model for foreclosure mediation, and each court decides whether and how to use it, so mediation varies from county to county (Supreme Court of Ohio). Cuyahoga County’s Court of Common Pleas, for one, runs a free foreclosure mediation program that homeowners can ask to join with a request form (court form). Save the Dream Ohio, the state’s program paid for by the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund, stopped taking applications for mortgage help on Oct. 31, 2023 (Ohio Housing Finance Agency).

Ohio was awarded $280.8 million from the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund and had helped 34,755 households with it through early 2026 (U.S. Treasury).

Ohio mortgage complaints: what homeowners tell the CFPB

Since 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has received 11,848 mortgage complaints from Ohio. The most common issues are trouble during the payment process (2,859); loan modification, collection or foreclosure (2,757); and problems with loan servicing, payments or escrow (2,333).

What to watch before the next edition

Coming up before the next edition, nearest first: a jobs report that could revise Ohio’s low August rate, a Medicaid work rule, the next minimum wage and a request for higher electric rates.

1. Oct. 20, 2026

   September unemployment rates for the states

   The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to publish state unemployment rates for September. Ohio’s August rate, 3.3%, was its lowest in the bureau’s figures going back to 1976, and it is preliminary, so the next release can revise it.

   Bureau of Labor Statistics, State Employment and Unemployment, August 2026 release

2. Jan. 1, 2027

   A Medicaid work rule for adults covered through the expansion

   Adults 19 to 64 who have Medicaid because their income is at or below 138% of the federal poverty level will have to show 80 hours a month of work, school, job training or community service unless they are exempt, Ohio’s Medicaid department says. Renewals for them move from once a year to every six months.

   Ohio Department of Medicaid, partner packet, August 2026

3. Jan. 1, 2027

   The minimum wage is set to rise again

   The commerce department’s 2027 poster lists a minimum wage of $11.40 an hour, and $5.70 plus tips for tipped workers. Employers grossing less than $419,000 a year, and workers under 16, stay at the federal $7.25.

   Ohio commerce department, 2027 minimum wage poster

4. From 2027, if approved

   FirstEnergy’s request for higher delivery rates

   FirstEnergy’s three Ohio utilities have asked the utility commission to raise delivery rates in three yearly steps from 2027 (case 26-0347-EL-AIR). The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, the state’s advocate for residential customers, estimates from the companies’ filing that each step would add about $4.26 to $5.30 a month for a home using 1,000 kilowatt-hours. Hearing dates hadn’t been set as of Oct. 17.

   Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, FirstEnergy rate case

Where Ohio ranks highest and lowest