Live in Ohio, work in Pennsylvania
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Pennsylvania takes
$0
on wages earned there
Ohio takes
$934
after the credit it gives
Both together
$934
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$0
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
agreementPennsylvania does not tax you at all — the two states have an agreement, and you file a certificate with your employer. 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
- Of all the ways two states can handle a commuter, this is the kindest. Ohio and Pennsylvania have agreed that only your home state taxes your wages. Your bill is $934, the same as someone working down the road from their house. Hand your employer the non-residence certificate, named in the panel beside this page, so Pennsylvania knows not to withhold.
- Counting only the larger flows, 7 states send workers into Pennsylvania. Ohio comes in at number 5 with 29,083 jobs, so this crossing is common enough to be routine for payroll departments there.
- Ohio and Pennsylvania hold a reciprocity agreement covering wages, so Pennsylvania does not tax this commuter at all and no resident credit is needed. The commuter files the work state's non-residence certificate with the employer — it is named in the panel beside this page — which stops Pennsylvania withholding at source, and owes Ohio alone — $934 at the reference salary, identical to an earner who never crosses the line. ⚠️ The agreement covers WAGES. Other income sourced to Pennsylvania is outside it, and an employee who does not file the certificate has Pennsylvania tax withheld and must reclaim it on a non-resident return.
- Pennsylvania draws commuters of this scale from 7 states, and Ohio ranks number 5 among them with 29,083 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
| Pennsylvania takes, on wages earned there | $0 |
|---|---|
| Ohio charges its residents | $934 |
| Less the credit Ohio gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $934 |
| If you also worked in Ohio | $934 |
| Difference | $0 |
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
- One thing this page leaves out: city taxes. Some cities charge their own tax on people who work there, and it sits on top of everything above. Philadelphia is the well-known one. New York City only charges its own residents, so commuting in adds nothing. Check whether the city you work in is one that charges, because the Pennsylvania state figure is not the whole story if it does.
- These numbers assume the job in Pennsylvania is your only income, and that you actually go there to work. Both matter. If you earn money in more than one state, the credit Ohio gives is worked out as a share rather than the simple cap used here. And if you work from home some days, some states have rules that treat those days as worked at the office anyway.
- Every dollar figure here uses a salary of sixty thousand a year. It is a stated benchmark, not a guess at what people on this route earn. Scale them to your own pay. Which state ends up dearer, Ohio or Pennsylvania, generally holds at other salaries — though the gap between them can widen or narrow as you cross tax brackets.
- 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 Pennsylvania or Ohio carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania'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 Pennsylvania?
Both states tax the same wages, and then one of them backs off. Pennsylvania taxes what you earn inside it. Ohio taxes you on everything, then subtracts what Pennsylvania already took, up to the size of its own bill. You end up paying the larger of the two, which is $934 a year on this route.
Does working in Pennsylvania cost me anything extra?
No. The state line is real on a map and invisible on your pay stub here. Your total is $934 either way. Keep the paperwork in mind though: crossing a line usually means filing twice even when it changes nothing.
What do I give my employer so Pennsylvania stops taking tax?
One certificate, given to payroll. It is the piece that makes the agreement between Ohio and Pennsylvania actually show up in your paycheck rather than only on a return months later.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Ohio and Pennsylvania?
Expect two. Living in Ohio means filing there on everything you earn. Working in Pennsylvania usually means filing there as well, on the part you earned inside it. The second one is often how the credit gets claimed, so skipping it can cost you money you are owed.
What if I work from home in Ohio some days instead of going to Pennsylvania?
Normally, days worked at home in Ohio belong to Ohio, and only the days you spend in Pennsylvania are taxed there. That is the ordinary rule. The exception is real though: some states count your remote days as worked at the employer's location anyway. That flips the answer completely, so check Pennsylvania's rule rather than assuming.
How is liability allocated between residence and work state on the same wages?
Both jurisdictions assert a claim on the same wages — Pennsylvania 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, $934 at the reference salary, and the split between the two treasuries is the only thing the credit changes.
Why is the marginal state-tax cost of this crossing zero?
Marginal cost is zero because the binding liability is the residence state's. Ohio's own charge on this income equals or exceeds Pennsylvania's, so the resident credit absorbs the source-state tax entirely and combined liability equals residence-only liability, $934. ⚠️ Zero marginal tax is not zero obligation: a non-resident return may still be required in Pennsylvania.
What administrative step gives effect to the reciprocity exemption?
The exemption is self-executing only on filing: the employee furnishes the work state's non-residence certificate to the employer, which relieves the employer of the obligation to withhold Pennsylvania tax. Absent the certificate the employer withholds, and the employee recovers the amount by filing a Pennsylvania non-resident return — the liability position is identical, the cash-flow position is not.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Ohio requires a resident return reporting all income; Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania'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 Pennsylvania throughout.