Ohio SUTA Tax Calculator
Figure basis: Official U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment InsuranceState Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA) tax is the state unemployment insurance tax that employers pay to fund unemployment benefits in Ohio. This calculator estimates your Ohio SUTA liability for the 2026 tax year. Enter the average annual wages per employee, your number of employees, and your assigned SUTA rate to see the taxable wages, tax per employee, and total tax. SUTA is charged only on the first $9,000 of each employee's wages (the 2026 Ohio taxable wage base); wages above that per employee are not taxed. Your rate is set by the state based on your business's unemployment claim history (your "experience rating"); a new employer pays 2.7%. SUTA is separate from the federal FUTA tax and, in most states, is paid entirely by the employer and never deducted from employee wages. All wage-base and rate figures are sourced from U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance and verified for 2026. Replace the default rate with the rate on your state tax-rate notice for an exact figure.
In Ohio, employers pay SUTA on the first $9,000 of each employee's wages for 2026, and a new employer pays 2.7%. For 5 employees earning $50,000 each at 2.7%, the estimated annual SUTA tax is $1,215.00 ($243.00 per employee).
How Ohio SUTA tax works
Ohio charges state unemployment tax on each employee's wages up to the taxable wage base of $9,000 for 2026. Once an employee has earned that much in the year, no further SUTA is due on that employee. Your rate is assigned by the state from your experience rating; a new employer pays 2.7%.
taxable wages per employee = min(annual wages, $9,000)
SUTA tax per employee = taxable wages per employee x rate / 100
total SUTA tax = SUTA tax per employee x number of employees
Worked example: 5 employees each earning $50,000 in Ohio at 2.7%. Each employee's taxable wages are capped at $9,000, so the tax per employee is $243.00 and the total is $1,215.00.
Ohio SUTA figures (2026)
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable wage base | $9,000 | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| New employer rate | 2.7% | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
| Experience rate range | 0.4% to 10.1% | U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance |
The experience-rate range shown is the base statutory range. Most states add mandatory assessments on top (for example a fund-building, solvency, or administrative surcharge), so an employer's effective rate can be higher than the range shown, and the new-employer rate may exclude those add-ons. Your exact assigned rate is on your annual state tax-rate notice.
What a new Ohio employer should expect to pay
Ohio keeps one of the lowest taxable wage bases in the country: employers pay state unemployment tax on only the first $9,000 of each worker's annual wages, and nothing above that. A new Ohio employer is assigned the standard new-employer rate of 2.7% until enough payroll history builds up to earn an experience rating, so the most a new employer pays per worker in a full year is $9,000 times 2.7%, or $243.00 per employee. Multiply that by your headcount for a close estimate of your first-year liability.
Because the wage base is so low, Ohio SUTA is usually a small line in the payroll budget, but the experience-rated range is wide: from 0.4% at the floor to 10.1% at the ceiling once the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has claim history to work from. An employer that lays off often and generates unemployment claims can drift toward that ceiling, while one with steady employment settles near the floor. The rate on your annual tax-rate notice is the only figure that produces an exact number, so replace the 2.7% default with it once you receive it.
Remember that Ohio SUTA is entirely an employer cost: it is never withheld from employee pay, and it sits alongside, not inside, the separate federal FUTA tax. Budget the full 2.7% on the first $9,000 per head for planning, then reconcile against your assigned rate.
Ohio SUTA tax: frequently asked questions
What is the Ohio unemployment (SUTA) taxable wage base for 2026?
For 2026, Ohio employers pay state unemployment tax on the first $9,000 of each employee's wages. Wages above $9,000 per employee are not subject to SUTA.
What is the Ohio new employer SUTA rate?
New employers in Ohio pay a SUTA rate of 2.7% until they have enough history to be experience-rated. On the $9,000 wage base that is up to $243.00 per employee per year.
How is Ohio SUTA tax calculated?
Multiply each employee's wages, capped at the $9,000 taxable wage base, by your assigned experience rate, then add up across employees. SUTA is primarily an employer-paid tax and is not deducted from employee pay.
Is the Ohio SUTA rate the same for every employer?
No. After the new-employer period, Ohio assigns each employer an experience rate based on its history of layoffs and claims, generally ranging from about 0.4% to 10.1% for experience-rated employers before any state add-on surcharges. The rate field above defaults to the new-employer rate; replace it with the rate on your state tax notice for an exact figure.
Official sources
- Ohio unemployment taxable wage base and rates (tax year 2026): U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance, as at Jul 15, 2026.
Reviewed by the CalculatorHub team, edited by James Graham, 15 July 2026. See our methodology. General information, not tax or legal advice.