Skip to content
Cost & Benefits

Compare / Baltimore to Cleveland

Baltimore, MD vs Cleveland, OH

Simple answer

You'd likely save $732 a month in Cleveland.

This is the HUD 2-bedroom fair-market rent for October 2026 through September 2027. It is not your lease.

The largest cost gap in this pair is Fair Market Rent. The 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent gap is $732: Baltimore is higher at $2,006 versus $1,274.

Maryland taxes wages at rates up to 6.50%. Ohio taxes wages at a flat 2.75%. Combined sales tax differs by 1.3 percentage points, higher in Ohio. The effective property tax gap is 0.27 percentage points, higher in Ohio.

After a move from Maryland to Ohio, those two example households keep the same benefit status labels. A different income can still split Medicaid and marketplace credits.

A $75,000 salary in Baltimore lines up with about $67,417 in Cleveland on the 2024 all-items price parity. Census median gross rent and the commute figures are 2024. Fair Market Rents are fiscal year 2027.

Baltimore

Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD

2-bedroom Fair Market Rent
$2,006
HUD area
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD MSA
Census median gross rent
$1,633
All-items price parity
104.5
Goods price parity
102.4
Utilities price parity
110.2
Mean commute
30.3 min
Median household income
$98,666

Cleveland

Cleveland, OH

2-bedroom Fair Market Rent
$1,274
HUD area
Cleveland, OH HUD Metro FMR Area
Census median gross rent
$1,087
All-items price parity
93.9
Goods price parity
93.6
Utilities price parity
96.0
Mean commute
24.0 min
Median household income
$72,532

Equivalent salary

The first number keeps the same place in the national price level. The second also runs 2026 federal income tax, employee Social Security and Medicare, and a simplified state income tax. Groceries use the BEA goods price parity, not a grocery receipt.

Same buying power

$67,417

Salary in Cleveland that matches the 2024 all-items regional price parity.

After state and federal tax

$62,709

Gross salary in Cleveland whose after-tax pay buys the same basket, using price parities.

Rent only

$47,632

Scales the salary by the ratio of HUD 2-bedroom Fair Market Rents. Rent is not the whole budget.

Taxes on the two sides of the move

TaxMarylandOhio
State income tax on wagesup to 6.50%2.75% flat
Combined sales tax, Jan 1, 20266.0%7.3%
Effective property tax, ACS 2024 median / median0.95%1.22%

On a $400,000 home, the state median effective rate implies about $3,799 a year in Maryland and $4,899 in Ohio. That illustration is not a local bill. Childcare prices are not in the verified dataset for these metros.

Benefits if you land in Ohio

Same household, $40,000 a year, scored once in Maryland and once in Ohio. This is an illustration, not your application.

  • Food stamps (SNAP)

    BaltimoreLikely eligible

    ClevelandLikely eligible

  • Medicaid and CHIP

    BaltimoreLikely eligible

    ClevelandLikely eligible

  • WIC

    BaltimoreLikely eligible

    ClevelandLikely eligible

  • School meals

    BaltimoreLikely eligible

    ClevelandLikely eligible

  • LIHEAP

    BaltimoreMaybe

    ClevelandMaybe

  • Earned Income Tax Credit

    BaltimoreLikely eligible

    ClevelandLikely eligible

  • Child Tax Credit

    BaltimoreLikely eligible

    ClevelandLikely eligible

  • Marketplace premium tax credits

    BaltimoreUnlikely

    ClevelandUnlikely

  • Lifeline phone and internet

    BaltimoreLikely eligible

    ClevelandLikely eligible

  • SSI

    BaltimoreUnlikely

    ClevelandUnlikely

At $40,000 the status labels match. A single adult around $18,000 is where Medicaid expansion and the marketplace coverage gap usually split.

Medicaid guide for Ohio · SNAP guide

Related comparisons

From Baltimore

The eight largest 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent gaps from Baltimore.

Nearby metros

How the salary and tax math works · The reverse city order redirects to this address.