Ohio Sales Tax Calculator
Compute Ohio sales tax for any county in 2025. Add tax to a pre-tax price or strip it from a total.
๐ด What is Ohio Sales Tax?
Ohio sales tax is a transaction tax collected by retailers at the point of sale on most tangible personal property and certain enumerated services. It is administered by the Ohio Department of Taxation (ODT) and has two components: a statewide base rate of 5.75% and a county-level permissive tax that each of Ohio's 88 counties may impose on top of the state rate. Combined rates across Ohio range from 6.5% in Stark County (Canton) to 8.0% in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), Lorain County, and Lake County.
Ohio's county permissive tax system means the effective rate depends entirely on where the purchase occurs. Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland and its suburbs such as Parma, Lakewood, and Shaker Heights, levies the maximum allowable county rate of 2.25%, resulting in the 8.0% statewide high. By contrast, Stark County, which includes Canton and Massillon, levies only a 0.75% county tax, yielding a comparatively low 6.5% combined rate. The difference can produce meaningful savings on large purchases: a $10,000 purchase at 6.5% costs $150 less in tax than the same purchase at 8.0%.
This calculator is useful in many everyday situations. As a shopper in Columbus preparing to buy a $1,000 laptop, you want to know the checkout total before you reach the register. As a small business owner in Cincinnati, you need to collect the correct 7.8% Hamilton County rate and remit it quarterly to the Ohio Department of Taxation. As an accountant reconciling travel expenses, you need to reverse-calculate the pre-tax base from receipts that show only a tax-inclusive total. As a consumer comparison-shopping across the Columbus and Cleveland metro areas, you may prefer purchasing a high-value item in a lower-rate county.
A frequent misconception is that Ohio has a uniform sales tax rate. Ohio exempts groceries intended for home preparation entirely from the sales tax, making food purchases affordable across the state regardless of county. Prescription drugs are similarly exempt. Prepared restaurant meals, however, are fully taxable at the local combined rate. Another common source of confusion is the use tax, which Ohio requires residents to pay on purchases made out of state when the seller does not collect Ohio sales tax โ this is essentially the consumer's equivalent of the sales tax.