Ohio median wages fall short
Still working for too little in 2026
CORRECTION (July 1, 2026): Where indicated, the shares of Ohioans employed in 2025 and 2005 have been corrected. The original claim — that a smaller share of Ohioans were employed in 2025 than in 2005 — remains correct.
A full-time job should pay enough to afford the basics. But in Ohio, too many employers get away with paying a lot less: Four of the 10 most common occupations[1] in the state paid so little last year that the median worker would qualify for food assistance.[2] Ohioans in just those four occupations make up 9.2% of the jobs across the state, employing 510,890 workers. Additionally:
- Nine occupations pay their median worker less than what’s required to afford the basic cost-of-living for an Ohio family of three: $85,945.[3]
- Those nine occupations employ 1,076,000 Ohioans, accounting for 19.4% of the total workforce.
- Out of all the 5.6 million jobs in Ohio in 2025, 84.5% were in occupations that pay the median worker below the cost-of-living for a small family.[4]
Employment data by MSA
The most common occupation in Ohio in 2025, Fast Food and Counter Workers, shrunk by 2.4% since 2024, shedding 4,090 jobs. The median annual earnings for that job dropped by 2.0%, as a share of the federal poverty measure. This means that even as overall employment and nominal wages grew, workers in this field lost ground relative to what it takes to stay above the poverty line. Nine out of the top 10 most common occupations saw wages for the median worker fall relative to the poverty line. This confirms what many Ohioans are feeling day-to-day: rising prices and insufficient wages.
This report analyzes the May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), released annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It covers the ten most populous jobs in Ohio, ranked by number of workers employed in those occupations. More than 22% of all Ohio jobs — 1.2 million — are in one of these 10 categories. As these data show, too many of these jobs pay too little to get by.
This report also looks back to 2005, when Ohio legislators began a campaign they said would improve Ohio’s economy by cutting taxes for Ohio’s wealthiest and corporations.[5] That campaign has failed. Ohio has fallen behind the nation in terms of economic growth and job creation, and a smaller share of our population is employed now than in 2005.[6] These tax cuts did not cause every job loss of the last 20 years — nor have they changed the fact that Ohioans are still working for too little.
Legislators can change that, by putting working people at the center of their economic policy, in part by:
- Raising the wage floor with an indexed minimum wage of at least $15 per hour.
- Supporting working people by strengthening union protections.
- Shoring up the state budget by returning to a progressive income tax, where the wealthiest Ohioans and corporations pay their fair share.
- Fully funding the public goods that are the bedrock of shared economic prosperity, like education, childcare, health care, and a strong unemployment system.
Overall state job outlook between 2024 and 2025
Between 2024 and 2025, the number of jobs in Ohio’s 10 most common occupations grew by 35,050. Retail Salespeople experienced the most growth, adding 10,300 jobs – an increase of 8.1%. Fast Food and Counter Workers remained the state’s most common occupation, despite losing 4,090 jobs. Cashiers suffered the greatest reduction, losing 9,630 jobs.
Figure 1
For the first time since 2021, Office Clerk was among the 10 most common occupations, adding 1,190 jobs. Heavy Tractor-Trailor Truck Drivers fell out of the top 10, losing 8,030 jobs between 2024 and 2025, an 8.8% decrease.
Also, for the first time since 2021, Retail Salespeople rank higher than Stockers and Order Fillers due to respective gains and losses in the occupations. This is a change from the previous trend, which suggested Ohioans were shifting their consumer behavior toward online and delivery-based shopping following the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the pandemic (2019-2021), Retail Salespeople held the number two position among the top occupations. The number of jobs decreased every year until 2022, maintaining its position as other occupations also lost employment. Stockers and Order Fillers officially surpassed Retail Salespeople in 2022 and have maintained a lead until 2025 when Retail Salespeople surpassed Stockers and Order Fillers once again — though the number of retail sales jobs has not returned to its 2019 level. Figure 2 below shows the change.
Figure 2
General and Operations Managers have seen job gains every year since 2019; the occupation has more than doubled its number since then.[7] The growth between 2024 and 2025 (+6,300) is slower than immediately following the pandemic (+27,480); however, it remains the second most populous occupation in the state.
Home Health and Personal Care Aides added 8,630 jobs, possibly driven by increased demand as Ohio’s population ages. However, a proposed federal rule change to the Fair Labor Standards Act would strip minimum wage and overtime protections from some domestic service workers—including Home Health and Personal Care Aides. This will weaken job quality across the sector and threaten the future availability of workers willing to forgo reasonable pay and their labor rights for the job.[8]
Median wage changes between 2024 and 2025
Four of the top occupations pay a median wage so low that a full-time, year-round worker with a family of three would qualify for food assistance. In both 2024 and 2025, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespeople, Cashiers, and Home Health and Personal Care Aides all had median wages below the threshold for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).[9]
Accounting for inflation with FPL
This report tracks wages through time by comparing them to the federal poverty level, which changes annually to reflect inflation. The federal poverty level (FPL) is used to determine household eligibility for public assistance by the size of the household. The poverty guideline for a single individual is approximately equal to working a full-time job at the federal minimum wage: $7.25 per hour. In Ohio, where the minimum wage is $11.00 per hour, a full-time position would be 146% FPL for a single person, and 86% FPL for a family of three.
In this report, we determine relative changes in wages across years by converting median annual wages to a share of the FPL to better demonstrate the value of wages against the government’s measure of poverty.
Families are eligible for SNAP if their household income is 130% of the federal poverty level or lower, and if they meet work requirements or qualify for an exemption.[10] For a family of three in 2025, total household income must be below $34,645 to qualify.[11] Employers pay Fast Food and Counter Workers a median wage of $13.67 per hour, meaning a “typical” full-time, year-round employee with a family of three would qualify for SNAP. It is worth noting that the median wage is the middle of the range: Half of Ohio’s Fast Food and Counter Workers make less.
Wages fell for Fast Food and Counter Workers, Cashiers, and Retail Salespeople as a share of the FPL: Relative to poverty, these workers were further behind in 2025 than in 2024. Home Health and Personal Care Aides were the only top-10 occupation to see wage growth last year — of 8.8%, to $16.57 per hour at the median. Even with that welcome increase, they are still among the four occupations paid under the threshold for SNAP. This was in part due to a successful policy provision[12] in the fiscal year 2024-2025 state budget mandating increased pay for home- and community-based direct service workers. This required pay raise was long overdue. In 2023, Home Health and Personal Care Aides made $14.08 per hour, only 118% of the federal poverty level for a family of three.[13]
The chart below shows the gap between an occupation’s nominal (not inflation adjusted)[14] median annual wages and the threshold for food assistance in the corresponding year. Low-paid workers are seeing some improvement in their wages relative to the threshold for food assistance, but not nearly enough.
Figure 3
General and Operations Managers’ wages remain the highest among the top occupations, with the median annual wage being $97,698 in 2025. Registered Nurses are the next highest paid, with a median annual wage $15,000 less than that of General and Operations Managers at $82,514. With more nurses organizing unions, we may see this wage increase in the near future, as a result of greater bargaining power.[15]
20 years of tax cuts have not worked for working people
Cumulative tax changes to Ohio’s personal income, sales, excise, and business taxes since 2005 have come at a staggering cost: $17 billion in lost revenue a year.[16] The “flat” income tax policy included in Ohio’s latest budget is the most recent step in a decades-long pattern of tax cuts and loopholes that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest households, do little or nothing to reduce everyday Ohioans’ taxes and leave our public services underfunded.
Figure 4 shows the estimated impact of major tax changes since 2005 on Ohioans in different income groups, reflecting the combined impact of both categories of tax changes discussed above.
Figure 4
Twenty years into Ohio’s tax-cut campaign, the state continues to lag the nation in terms of economic growth and job creation.[17] Advocates of this strategy have suggested that these cuts would give working Ohioans a better deal. They have not.
Manufacturing workers were especially harmed by the lack of action on the part of our policy makers. Following trade deals that incentivized outsourcing production to other countries, employers in Ohio’s manufacturing sector have cut more than 135,000 workers since 2005 — the most of any sector. These losses resulted in part from advances in automation and federal policy enabling companies to shift production overseas. Both hit the Transportation Equipment Manufacturing industry especially hard, driving a 25.5% reduction in jobs, including the closures of the Ford Cleveland Casting Plant in 2008[18] and the Lordstown General Motors plant in 2019.[19]
Evolving data
OEWS data cannot be used to examine the impact of tax cuts on Ohio’s job mix, because OEWS job categories have changed in the 20 years since the legislature began cutting taxes. For example, Registered Nurses have been among the top occupations in Ohio for decades. However, what job duties are categorized under the RN occupational code have changed.* Before 2012, the RN occupational code included nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, and nurse midwives. After 2012, RNs became their own separate occupational code.
In the absence of one-to-one OEWS data to compare, we used Current Employment Statistics data, sorted by major industry code, to explore changes in Ohio’s job mix over the 20 years of tax cuts.
*Up until 2012, the occupational code for RNs (29-1111) included Registered Nurses (now 29-1141), Nurse Anesthetists (29-1151), Nurse Practitioners (29-1161), and Nurse Midwives (now 29-1171). In 2012, Registered Nurses were disaggregated as a separate occupational code: 29-1141. In 2011, 29-1111 had 124,790 employed and in 2012, 29-1141 had 120,460 (29-1151 with 1,610 employed; 29-1161 with 170 employed; and 29-1171 with 3,890 employed). See: OCC AND OCCSOC: Codes for Occupation (OCC) and SOC Occupation (OCCSOC) in the 2000 Census and the ACS/PRCS Samples from 2000 Onward.
Figure 5
The Information sector lost an even greater shareof its workforce, 27.7%, with Publishing Industries and Telecommunications taking substantial hits. The reduction of workers in these industries results from technological shifts: a change to streaming services and cellphones over cable and landlines for the Telecommunications industry and online journalism and books over print for the Publishing Industry.
In the last 20 years, Private Education and Health Services saw the greatest increase in both number of workers and percent change across all sectors, adding 232,800 jobs – a 30.7% increase. The Health Care and Social Assistance industry led the charge, accounting for 89.9% of the total increase in jobs. While this may be due, in part, to Home Health and Personal Care Aides becoming more necessary as Ohio’s population ages, another important aspect is the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Ohio Medicaid expansion went into effect in 2014[20] — between 2013 and 2025 the Health Care and Social Assistance industry grew 15.4% — total employment only grew 7.5%.[21]
While Ohio gained employment in the Federal and State Government, Local Government lost 19,000 jobs, primarily driven by a 17,700 decrease in Local Government Educational Services. Notably, despite the Federal Government adding 4,700 workers between 2005 and 2025, the U.S. Postal Service lost 28.2% of its employment — with most losses occurring around the Great Recession.[22]
Ohio has experienced far slower job growth in the 20 years since legislators began their campaign of tax cuts than in the 20 years before that. From 1985 to 2005, the number of jobs in Ohio grew by 24.1% — more than five times the 4.4% growth we’ve seen in the 20 years since. [23] (Nationally, job growth stayed well ahead of Ohio’s rate, hitting 37.4% from 1985 to 2005, and 18.2% since — in both cases, over 13 percentage points higher than Ohio’s job growth.)
In fact, as a share of the state population, there were fewer Ohioans employed in 2025 (59.7%) than in 2005 (62.7%).[24] The data make it clear: Proponents of tax cuts have failed to deliver the shared prosperity they claimed would result from their campaign.
Recommendations
For years, Policy Matters has been analyzing the wages of the top occupations in Ohio, and the conclusion remains the same: Working people are paid too little. The Ohio statehouse can take steps to improve wages for workers across the state by:
- Raising the wage floor with an indexed minimum wage of at least $15 per hour.
- Supporting working people by strengthening union protections.
- Shoring up the state budget by returning to a progressive income tax, where the wealthiest Ohioans and corporations pay their fair share.
- Fully funding the public goods that are the bedrock of shared economic prosperity, like education, childcare, health care, and a strong unemployment system.
[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Survey, May 2025. Updated May 15, 2026.
[2] The threshold for food assistance for a three-person family is $34,645.
[3] Weighted averaged from each county in the state. See: Economic Policy Institute Family Budget Calculator. The cost-of-living is calculated using housing, food, childcare, transportation, healthcare, and other necessitated costs, like taxes. This number is meant to represent a “modest yet adequate standard of living.”
[4] Determined using the median annual earnings for detailed occupations reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Survey, May 2025. This number assumes a three-person family with two adults and one child, with one adult working. Many families have two working parents, and the cost-of-living varies for each family. Total employment for detailed occupations (5,533,340) does not add up to total employment across the state (5,550,180) due to limits in reporting for occupations with low sample sizes.
[5] “The Great Ohio Tax Shift, 2026,” A. Srivastava. Policy Matters Ohio. February 19, 2026.
[6] See this report’s section: “Promised gains from 20 years of tax cuts not materializing.”
[7] In 2019, Ohio had 62,150 General and Operations Managers jobs.
[8] Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic Service. Proposed rule by the Wage and Hour Division on July 2, 2025. 29 CFR Part 552. RIN 1235-AA51.
[9] “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” U.S. Department of Agriculture. Updated February 20, 2025.
[10] “Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility,” United States Department of Agriculture. Updated February 19, 2025.
SNAP Work Requirements. United States Department of Agriculture. Updated August 29, 2025.
[11] “2025 Poverty Guidelines: 48 Contiguous States (all states except Alaska and Hawaii),” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. 2025.
[12] Impact of the state budget on older adults and direct care workers. Natasha Takyi-Micah. The Center for Community Solutions. September 18, 2023.
[13] Not inflation-adjusted. Still working for too little, 2024. Michael Shields. Policy Matters Ohio. May 1, 2024.
[14] We do not inflation-adjust the wages from prior years in order to accurately compare wages to the federal poverty line during those years.
[15] Ohio falls behind on union representation. Heather Smith. Policy Matters Ohio. April 29, 2026.
[16] “The Great Ohio Tax Shift, 2026,” A. Srivastava. Policy Matters Ohio. February 19, 2026.
[17] The U.S. experienced 18.2% growth in total nonfarm industry employment from 2005 to 2025. Ohio experienced only 4.4%. In terms of Gross Domestic Product, the U.S. experienced 49.2% growth from 2005 to 2025, while Ohio experienced 25.6% growth.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, “SAGDP1 State annual gross domestic product (GDP) summary” (accessed Wednesday, June 24, 2026).
Current Employment Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accessed May 20, 2026.
[18] Ford foundry in Brook Park to close after 58 years of service. Robert Schoenberger, Cleveland.com. October 23, 2010.
Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Consolidated Petitions Database. Public Citizen. Washington, DC.
[19] “A quarter century of working in Ohio.” H. Smith, H. Halbert., A. Smith. Policy Matters Ohio. September 11, 2025.
Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Consolidated Petitions Database. Public Citizen. Washington, DC.
[20] AHCA threatens Ohio’s growing health care sector. Kate Sopko. Policy Matters Ohio. May 23, 2017.
[21] Total nonfarm employment in Ohio grew 4.4% from 2005 to 2025 AND from 2015 to 2025. This is because the change in employment in Ohio from 2005 to 2015 was effectively null with a decrease of 2,700 jobs over 10 years, while 240,300 jobs were added between 2015 and 2025.
Current Employment Statistics. Ohio Labor Market Information. Accessed May 20, 2026.
[22] In 2008, the U.S. Postal Service had 29,400 workers employed in the industry. By 2013, there were 22,700. Current Employment Statistics. Ohio Labor Market Information. Accessed May 21, 2026.
[23] Current Employment Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accessed May 20, 2026.
[24] Economic Policy Institute, State of Working America Data Library, “Employment by demographics – Employment-to-population ratio,” 2026.