Cleveland, OH: value in the neighborhoods, risk in the job market

Cleveland's value case is strongest when you choose the neighborhood carefully. Specialized occupations clear the metro mean by a wide margin: May 2025 mean hourly wages reached $62.36 in management, $52.35 in healthcare practitioners and technical work, and $48.38 in computer and mathematical work, against $31.88 across all occupations. 1

Taxes: Ohio's 2025 taxable-income rates run from 0% to 3.125%, Cleveland's municipal income-tax rate is 2.50%, and Cleveland's combined sales tax was 8.00% in the Tax Foundation's 2024 city table. 2 3 4 Cuyahoga County's 1.80% effective property-tax figure is a directional benchmark, not a universal Cleveland bill. 5
Rent: The spread is large: the RentCafe pages show average apartment rent from $869 in Old Brooklyn to $2,030 in Tremont, with Downtown at $1,682 and Ohio City at $2,063. The card uses the pages' explicitly labeled March 2025 values where available, plus prior-year 2025 values for Edgewater and Ohio City. These are averages, not medians. 6 7 8 9 10 11
Mobility: Cleveland scores 57 for walking, 44 for transit, and 52 for biking. The RTA HealthLine gives the east-west spine bus rapid transit between Public Square and Louis Stokes Station at Windermere, but the citywide scores still point to a mostly car-oriented daily pattern. 12 13
Livability: U.S. News lists a 4.1/10 overall score, a 4.7/10 Value Index, and a 1.9/10 Job Market Index. The cheap housing is real, but the labor-market tradeoff is real too. 14

The practical takeaway is narrow but useful: Cleveland can work well for a specialized earner who is willing to match housing location to the RTA spine. A move built around a weak local job market, a long car commute, or a premium neighborhood needs a more careful budget.

Next city: Cincinnati, OH.

Cover photo: Pexels image by Jay Brand

Cleveland, OH - Wages, Rent, Taxes & Livability by the Numbers

Cleveland, OH: value in the neighborhoods, risk in the job market

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