Akron, Ohio Tax Rates: 2.5% Income, 6.75% Sales, Property

If you live or shop in Akron, you’re paying three main taxes: a 2.5% municipal income tax on earned income, a 6.75% combined sales tax on most retail purchases, and property taxes calculated from 35% of your home’s appraised value using a millage rate that varies by neighborhood. Tax rates in Akron, Ohio come from three different authorities — the city, Summit County, and the State of Ohio — and each has its own rules, exemptions, and deadlines.

Municipal Income Tax: 2.5%

Akron taxes wages, salaries, commissions, and net business profits at a flat 2.5%.¹ Ohio law requires municipal income taxes to be uniform, and any rate above 1% has to be approved by voters.²

Who owes depends on where you live and work:

If you live in Akron, you owe 2.5% on all your earned income, no matter where your job is located.
If you live outside Akron but work at a job site inside the city, you owe 2.5% only on income earned at that Akron location.
If you work in one of the four Joint Economic Development Districts (JEDDs) near Akron’s borders, the same 2.5% applies even though those zones sit technically outside city limits.¹

Every Akron resident 18 or older has to file an annual municipal return, even if no tax is owed.¹ Employers typically withhold the tax, but the filing obligation sits with you.

Credit for Taxes Paid to Another City

Akron gives residents a dollar-for-dollar credit against their Akron tax for municipal income tax paid to another Ohio city, up to the full 2.5% rate.¹ If you work in a city with a 2% rate, you’d owe Akron the remaining 0.5% on those wages. If the other city charges 2.5% or more, you’d owe Akron nothing on that income.

Ohio law lets municipalities offer this credit but doesn’t require it, so Akron’s full 100% credit is more generous than what some other Ohio cities provide.³ You’ll need to document the taxes withheld by the other city to claim it. Missing the credit line is one of the most common filing mistakes and leads to overpayment.

Filing Deadlines and Quarterly Payments

The annual return is due April 15, shifting a day or two when the date falls on a weekend or legal holiday.¹

If you expect to owe Akron $200 or more for the coming year, quarterly estimated payments are required on this schedule:

First quarter: April 15
Second quarter: June 15
Third quarter: September 15
Fourth quarter: January 15 of the following year

Quarterly payments mostly affect self-employed people, landlords, and anyone whose employer isn’t withholding Akron tax. If your paycheck already has Akron tax taken out, you probably don’t need to file estimates.¹

The interest rate on unpaid Akron income tax for 2026 is 9%, and it applies to both late payments and underpaid estimates.⁴ Penalties for failing to file stack on top of that.

Sales Tax: 6.75%

Retail purchases in Akron carry a combined 6.75% sales tax. That’s Ohio’s 5.75% base rate plus a 1% county tax levied by Summit County.⁵⁶ The city itself does not add a separate municipal sales tax. Merchants collect the full amount at checkout and remit it to the state, which routes the county share back to Summit County.

The tax covers most tangible goods: clothing, electronics, furniture, vehicles. Several categories are exempt:

Groceries bought for consumption at home
Prescription medications and insulin
Certain medical equipment⁵

Prepared food eaten on the premises, such as a restaurant meal, is still taxable. Some services, including telecommunications, also fall under the sales tax.

Property Tax: Varies by Parcel

Property taxes in Akron fund local schools, fire protection, libraries, and city services. The Summit County Fiscal Office handles appraisals and billing for every property, even though the revenue is split among several taxing authorities.⁷

Two numbers drive your bill. The first is your assessed value, which Ohio sets at 35% of the county’s appraised market value. A home appraised at $150,000 has an assessed value of $52,500, and tax is calculated from that lower figure. The second is the millage rate, where one mill equals one dollar of tax per $1,000 of assessed value. Total millage depends on which school district, fire district, and other jurisdictions cover your address, so two Akron homes can face different effective rates.

Rollbacks on Older Levies

Ohio historically applied two automatic reductions to property tax bills: a 10% rollback on most levies and an additional 2.5% credit for owner-occupied homes. Both were eliminated for newly approved levies, replacement levies, and the increased portion of any renewal levy starting in 2014. Only levies that were already on the books as of the August 2013 election still qualify.⁸ As older levies expire, the rollback covers a smaller share of the total bill each year.

Homestead Exemption

Qualifying homeowners can shave the first $29,000 of appraised value off their taxable amount through the Homestead Exemption. On a $150,000 home, that drops the appraised value used for tax calculation to $121,000 before the 35% assessment ratio is applied. Eligibility for 2026 applications breaks down this way:

Seniors: 65 or older by December 31 of the application year, with 2025 Modified Ohio Adjusted Gross Income (MOAGI) of $41,000 or less for the applicant and spouse combined.
Permanently and totally disabled homeowners: no age requirement, but disabled on or before January 1 of the application year. The $41,000 MOAGI limit applies, though disability income is excluded from the calculation.
Disabled veterans and surviving spouses of first responders: the exemption doubles to the first $58,000 of appraised value, with no age or income limits.

You must own and live in the home as your primary residence as of January 1 of the application year.⁹ Applications go through the Summit County Fiscal Office, and you can backfile for the prior tax year if you were eligible but missed the window.

When Property Tax Is Due

Summit County bills property tax in installments. For the 2026 pay year, at least one installment is due in July.¹⁰ Ohio counties generally split the annual bill into a first-half payment due in winter or early spring and a second-half payment in summer. Your exact dates are printed on the bill and listed in the Summit County Fiscal Office’s property lookup tool. Missing a deadline triggers penalty and interest, so check the schedule for your specific parcel rather than relying on a general timeline.

1
City of Akron. Individual/Joint Filers
2
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 718 – Municipal Income Taxes
3
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 718 – Municipal Income Taxes, Section 718.04
4
City of Akron. Income Tax
5
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5739.02 – Levy of Sales Tax
6
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 5739.021 – Additional Sales Tax Levied by County
7
Summit County Fiscal Office. Summit County Fiscal Office
8
Ohio Department of Taxation. Real Property Tax – 2.5% and 10% Rollbacks
9
Summit County Fiscal Office. Homestead Exemption Application for Senior Citizens, Disabled Persons and Surviving Spouses
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Summit County Fiscal Office. Property Tax and Appraisal – Taxes Due