Skip to content
Cost & Benefits

Compare / Cincinnati to Rochester

Cincinnati, OH vs Rochester, NY

Simple answer

You'd likely save $26 a month in Rochester.

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 goods prices. BEA goods prices, the groceries and goods comparison, are 5.9 index points higher in Rochester (99.7 versus 93.8).

Ohio taxes wages at a flat 2.75%. New York taxes wages at rates up to 10.90%. Combined sales tax differs by 1.2 percentage points, higher in New York. The effective property tax gap is 0.23 percentage points, higher in New York.

After a move from Ohio to New York, 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 Cincinnati lines up with about $76,309 in Rochester on the 2024 all-items price parity. Census median gross rent and the commute figures are 2024. Fair Market Rents are fiscal year 2027.

Cincinnati

Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN

2-bedroom Fair Market Rent
$1,442
HUD area
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN HUD Metro FMR Area
Census median gross rent
$1,203
All-items price parity
95.4
Goods price parity
93.8
Utilities price parity
91.0
Mean commute
25.1 min
Median household income
$81,489

Rochester

Rochester, NY

2-bedroom Fair Market Rent
$1,416
HUD area
Rochester, NY MSA
Census median gross rent
$1,172
All-items price parity
97.0
Goods price parity
99.7
Utilities price parity
133.2
Mean commute
20.8 min
Median household income
$76,453

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

$76,309

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

After state and federal tax

$80,541

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

Rent only

$73,648

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

TaxOhioNew York
State income tax on wages2.75% flatup to 10.90%
Combined sales tax, Jan 1, 20267.3%8.5%
Effective property tax, ACS 2024 median / median1.22%1.45%

On a $400,000 home, the state median effective rate implies about $4,899 a year in Ohio and $5,818 in New York. That illustration is not a local bill. Childcare prices are not in the verified dataset for these metros.

Benefits if you land in New York

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

  • Food stamps (SNAP)

    CincinnatiLikely eligible

    RochesterLikely eligible

  • Medicaid and CHIP

    CincinnatiLikely eligible

    RochesterLikely eligible

  • WIC

    CincinnatiLikely eligible

    RochesterLikely eligible

  • School meals

    CincinnatiLikely eligible

    RochesterLikely eligible

  • LIHEAP

    CincinnatiMaybe

    RochesterMaybe

  • Earned Income Tax Credit

    CincinnatiLikely eligible

    RochesterLikely eligible

  • Child Tax Credit

    CincinnatiLikely eligible

    RochesterLikely eligible

  • Marketplace premium tax credits

    CincinnatiUnlikely

    RochesterUnlikely

  • Lifeline phone and internet

    CincinnatiLikely eligible

    RochesterLikely eligible

  • SSI

    CincinnatiUnlikely

    RochesterUnlikely

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 New York · SNAP guide

Related comparisons

From Cincinnati

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

Nearby metros

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