Live in Ohio, work in Illinois
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Illinois takes
$2,825
on wages earned there
Ohio takes
$0
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,825
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$1,892
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
costs youIllinois charges more than Ohio would, and Ohio only credits you up to its own bill — so the difference stays with you. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Ohio bar is the credit it hands back. State income tax only — federal and payroll tax apply on top, and a city wage tax may too.
Which state taxes you, and what it costs
- Crossing this line costs money. Illinois taxes what you earn there. Ohio taxes you too, because you live there, and then gives you credit for what Illinois already took. The catch is the size of that credit. It stops at what Ohio would have charged on its own. So you end up paying the bigger of the two bills, which here means $2,825 a year instead of $934. The commute itself accounts for $1,892 of that.
- Counting only the larger flows, 6 states send workers into Illinois. Ohio comes in at number 6 with 6,034 jobs, so this crossing is common enough to be routine for payroll departments there.
- Illinois taxes wages earned inside its borders by non-residents, and Ohio taxes its residents on the same wages wherever they are earned. The resident credit resolves the overlap but does not erase it: Ohio credits tax paid to Illinois only up to what it would itself have charged on that income, so the commuter settles at the higher of the two liabilities rather than the sum. At the reference salary that is $2,825 against $934 for the same earner working at home — $1,892 attributable to the state line itself. ⚠️ The corollary is the part most readers have backwards: moving to a cheaper home state while keeping the job in Illinois changes the split between the two treasuries and not the total.
- Illinois draws commuters of this scale from 6 states, and Ohio ranks number 6 among them with 6,034 jobs. A work state pulling from that many directions tends to have a well-established non-resident filing routine, which is a practical convenience rather than a tax saving.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- State income tax$1,346
- Yours$60,246
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax1.79% | $1,346 |
| Yours80.33% | $60,246 |
Which rung you are on
A $75,000 salary
| This rung starts at | $66,500 |
|---|---|
| Next rung starts at | $121,800 |
| Room before it | $46,800 |
Federal only, measured on gross pay — so the first rung is what the standard deduction covers.
The arithmetic, step by step
| Illinois takes, on wages earned there | $2,825 |
|---|---|
| Ohio charges its residents | $934 |
| Less the credit Ohio gives | $934 |
| Total state tax | $2,825 |
| If you also worked in Ohio | $934 |
| Difference | $1,892 |
On a reference salary of $60,000 a year, single filer. Both states run progressive schedules, so the figures do not simply scale — use the tool above for your own salary.
What this page does not cover
- What you see here is state tax between Ohio and Illinois. Cities can charge their own tax on top, and a handful do. That layer is not modeled on this page, so treat these figures as the floor rather than the final bill.
- The figures take the simple case: one job, in Illinois, worked in person. Money from several states makes the credit a proportion instead of a cap. Working remotely from Ohio can pull you under a different rule entirely, depending on the state.
- Sixty thousand a year is the assumption behind these amounts, chosen because nobody publishes average pay for a route between two states. At your own salary the numbers shift. The conclusion about which of Ohio and Illinois takes more usually does not, but the size of the difference can.
- These figures cover the STATE layer only. City and municipal wage taxes sit on top of them and are not included: a commuter into Philadelphia pays its wage tax on top of anything here, and Ohio's municipalities run their own credit system, which this site models in its own families. New York City, by contrast, taxes only its residents, so a commuter into it adds nothing at the city level. Whether Illinois or Ohio carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Illinois and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Ohio limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Illinois portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Illinois rather than remotely — several states tax a non-resident's remote days as though they were worked at the employer's location, which reverses the usual expectation and is handled on this site's reciprocity pages.
- Dollar amounts are computed at a stated reference salary of sixty thousand rather than a corridor wage average, which no published source provides per state pair. Because both states' liabilities and the credit between them are functions of the same income, the direction of the Ohio to Illinois comparison holds at other salaries even though the amounts do not — with one qualification worth stating, that a progressive schedule can change the SIZE of the gap at higher incomes, and in Illinois's case a bracket crossed on one side and not the other is exactly where that happens.
Questions people ask
Do I pay state tax twice, to Ohio and Illinois?
You file in both states, but you do not pay the full amount to both. Ohio credits the tax Illinois collected, capped at its own charge on that income. The practical result is one bill at the higher of the two levels: $2,825 for the year.
Would moving out of Ohio lower my state tax if I keep working in Illinois?
Moving rarely helps while the job stays in Illinois. The work state takes its share first and does not care where you live. A cheaper home state simply means it has less of its own tax to credit, and you still pay Illinois the same. The saving people imagine here mostly is not there.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Ohio and Illinois?
Two returns is the normal outcome here, even when only one state ends up taking anything. Illinois generally wants to see a non-resident return from people who work there, and Ohio wants your whole picture. It is paperwork rather than extra tax.
What if I work from home in Ohio some days instead of going to Illinois?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of Illinois and into Ohio alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to Illinois, so if a lot of your week is at home the split will differ from what you see here.
How is liability allocated between residence and work state on the same wages?
Both jurisdictions assert a claim on the same wages — Illinois on a source basis, Ohio on residence. The residence state grants a credit for tax paid to the source state, limited to the residence state's own liability on that income. Net combined liability therefore equals the greater of the two liabilities rather than their sum, $2,825 at the reference salary, and the split between the two treasuries is the only thing the credit changes.
Does changing residence reduce combined liability while the work state is unchanged?
No, while the source state is unchanged. Illinois's claim arises from where the services are performed and is unaffected by residence. Because the residence credit is capped at the residence state's own liability, combined liability equals the greater of the two — so substituting a lower-tax residence reduces the residence-state component toward zero while leaving the total at Illinois's level. The binding variable is the work location, not the home one.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Ohio requires a resident return reporting all income; Illinois requires a non-resident return reporting the income sourced to it, which is also the mechanism by which the resident credit is substantiated. ⚠️ A filing obligation is distinct from a liability: a reciprocity exemption or a zero net position removes tax without necessarily removing the return, and the non-resident return is frequently what establishes the credit claimed on the resident one.
How do remote working days affect sourcing between these two states?
Ordinarily wages are sourced to where the services are performed, so days worked remotely from Ohio fall outside Illinois's jurisdiction and the source-state apportionment shrinks accordingly. ⛔ The exception is the "convenience of the employer" rule, which several states apply: a non-resident's remote days are sourced to the employer's location unless the remote work is required by the employer rather than chosen by the employee. The figures on this page model in-person attendance in Illinois throughout.