Ohio, and NE Ohio in particular has actually become one of the highest tax states. I was recently offered jobs in SFO, Seattle, and NYC. I had assumed that the taxes everywhere else were much higher -- but, it turns out not to be true...

I am not a tax expert. However, I did a quick evaluation of the taxes in Cleveland, Seattle, and NYC. This is an exerpt from CAUSE.

Although I am certainly not a tax expertt, here are my tax notes (gathered from the web and various real estate agents):

Tax Type Jurisdiction Rate

State Income Tax
Ohio .7% - 7.5% (100k is 6.9%)
Washington State 0%
New York State 4% - 6.85 (100k is 6.85%)

-- Conclusion, I would pay about the same state tax in New York as I do in Ohio. However, if I moved to Seattle, I would save a substantial amount on state income taxes (because Washington has a "zero rate" state income tax).

Sales Tax
OH/Cleveland 6% - 8% (8% in Cleve & Cuy)
WA/Seattle 6.5% - 8.9% (8.8% in Seattle)
NY/NYC 4% - 8.5% (8.5% in NYC)

-- Conclusion, I would pay roughly the same sales tax in Seattle and New York. And I save a very small amount in Cleveland (between 0.5% and 0.8%). This is roughly the same to me.

As a side note, I understand that a fair number of people in Seattle purchase their goods in Oregon, which has a 0% sales tax rate. And, a fair number of Clevelanders shop in Pennsyvania for clothing, which has a 0% sales tax rate on clothing. All three states have enacted "use taxes" to recapture lost sales taxes on internet purchases.

City Income Tax
Cleveland 2% (.5% credit avail)
NYC ~3.6%
Seattle 0%

-- Conclusion, I would pay significantly less in Seattle than either Cleveland or NYC. I would save some local income tax by staying in Cleveland, versus living in NYC. I do note that local income tax rates in Ohio vary substantially with the community (most communities in Geauga, Medina, Portage, etc. have a 0% local income tax rate).

Property Taxes

OH/Cleveland 1.5% - 3%
WA/Seattle .8% - 1.5% (1.1% in Seattle)
NY/NYC 1.45%

-- Conclusion. First property taxes are the most difficult to cross compare because of the large number of taxing jurisdictions. And, property tax rates are measured in millage and not percentages. But, they can be converted to percentage of property value. My rough estimate is that property taxes are a lot lower in Washington and somewhat lower in New York City than in Ohio.

Of course, I do note that the home values in Seattle and New York are generally higher than in Ohio, so if the house was more expensive, the amount paid would be more.

** Note, federal tax, social security tax, medicare/medicade taxes are the same in each jurisdiction.

Overall conclusion, it would seem that Ohio's tax rates are not as low as most claim. High tax rates tend to limit growth and investment.

I have been out west for 10 years.

For every 3 dollars i spent out west, i spend 1 in cleveland.

Now, if we could get the telcos to get off their asses and stop gouging us in the midwest, then cost of living, cost of living and cost of living will be the three best reasons for me to stay.

but what do i know, i live in a basement.

I live in Akron and got out to Highland Square finally. It was nice to find a nice little hip strip of culture there. this weekend I am going to make it to Cleveland to go and see some music by myself, since I don't know anyone here. Can anyone suggest some good places to go where people would be friendly and where I won't get knocked down or anything?

Since I know nothing about Ohio, except I have a lot of Italian and Welsh family roots here, and have visited family in Youngstown on and off, I am going to have to make the best of it. It was not a place I ever considered moving but have done so because an accident had messed up my world a while back and I am getting back on my feet again and my mother wants to help me get ahead a little. I will be going to school next semester, so I can hopefully get an online teaching job, and will plan to move out of Ohio after that.

The only thing that worries me about Ohio is the gloomy weather and the wet cold. Other than that, most of the people here seem to be really friendly compared to Denver.
But anywhere is what you make of it and I plan to take advantage of the gloomy and cold weather to turn myself into a computer geek again and upgrade my skills.

I am also a VJ and hope I can find gigs and some fun with that around here.
I have never leaved in a more eastern state so if nothing else, I will have fun exploring the history here. I find that when a person lives somewhere long enough, thier vision about the place narrows and they don't get out and explore alternatives after a while. It happens to everyone - the complacent routine thing. But as a person just getting here, knowing nothing, I figure I have a lot more to find out and be thrilled with.