Ohio Real Estate Transfer Tax Calculator

Ohio's transfer tax has two components with very different footprints. The mandatory state conveyance fee, set at $1.00 per $1,000 (0.1%) under R.C. 319.54(G)(3), applies everywhere without exception. The much larger piece is the county's permissive real property transfer fee, capped at $3.00 per $1,000 (0.3%) under R.C. 322.02, and 87 of Ohio's 88 counties have chosen to levy that maximum rate, making the 0.3% county add-on the practical norm rather than an outlier.

Combined, a typical Ohio transaction owes roughly 0.4% total, split between the mandatory state fee and the near-universal county maximum. By common practice, the seller pays the conveyance fee at closing, though the purchase contract can specify a different arrangement. Because all but one county sits at the ceiling, Ohio's real variation is narrower than a state like Maryland, where local rates span a full 0% to 1.5% range.

On the calculator's $380,000 baseline, that combined rate produces $1,520 in total conveyance fees due, a figure that holds steady across 87 of Ohio's 88 counties regardless of whether the sale closes in Columbus, Cleveland, or a rural township.

Ohio's mandatory state conveyance fee is small, $1.00 per $1,000, and the permissive county fee that sits on top of it is three times larger. Eighty-seven of the 88 counties charge the maximum.

The engine applies the 0.1% state fee under R.C. 319.54(G)(3) plus the 0.3% county fee under R.C. 322.02 to the whole sale price in exact decimal arithmetic. Both are flat, so there is no bracket to cross and the effective rate reads 0.400% at any price. The one county not at the maximum is the exception to check before relying on the local component.

Ohio's conveyance fee is a small mandatory state charge plus a much larger permissive county one. The engine computes them separately.

Step 1 -- The consideration. Contract sale price = $380,000

Step 2 -- The mandatory state conveyance fee. R.C. 319.54(G)(3), $1.00 per $1,000 (0.1%): $380,000 x 0.001 = $380.00

Step 3 -- The permissive county fee at the common maximum. R.C. 322.02, $3.00 per $1,000 (0.3%): $380,000 x 0.003 = $1,140.00

Step 4 -- Total conveyance fee due. $380.00 + $1,140.00 = $1,520.00

Step 5 -- Net proceeds after the fee. $380,000.00 - $1,520.00 = $378,480.00

Step 6 -- The effective rate. $1,520.00 / $380,000 = 0.400%

The calculator's $1,500,000 scenario, same two components.

Step 7 -- State portion on the luxury sale. $1,500,000 x 0.001 = $1,500.00

Step 8 -- County portion on the luxury sale. $1,500,000 x 0.003 = $4,500.00

Step 9 -- Total on the luxury sale. $1,500,000 x 0.004 = $6,000.00

The ratio in Steps 2 and 3 is the interesting part of Ohio's structure: the state's own mandatory fee is only a quarter of the total, and the county's permissive fee does three quarters of the work. Eighty-seven of Ohio's eighty-eight counties levy the full $3.00 permitted, which is why 0.4% combined is a sound baseline, but a transaction in the one county that has not adopted the maximum would fall somewhere between the $380 of Step 2 and the $1,520 of Step 4. The seller customarily pays. Ohio grants a conveyance-fee exemption for transfers between spouses and several other categories, none of which the engine tests for.

Ohio's conveyance fee is a mandatory state charge of $1.00 per $1,000 plus a permissive county fee of up to $3.00 per $1,000, and because 87 of 88 counties levy the maximum the engine applies a combined 0.4% with no bracket in it.

The marginal cost of the next unit. Raising the sale price from $380,000 to $390,000 moves the total conveyance fee from $1,520.00 to $1,560.00. Every additional $10,000 of consideration costs exactly $40.00, and the effective rate output holds at 0.400% at every price. At $1,500,000 the fee is $6,000.00.

The reverse question: what price sits behind a given fee? Multiply by 250. A $1,520.00 conveyance fee corresponds to $380,000 of consideration; a $6,000.00 fee to $1,500,000. There is no threshold, no mansion surcharge and no minimum anywhere in Ohio's schedule, so the inversion is exact at every price.

Net proceeds. On the $380,000 baseline the engine reports $378,480.00 of net proceeds after the fee, and on the $1,500,000 sale $1,494,000.00. At 0.4% the fee costs an Ohio seller less than a single month of property tax on the same home.

Right method against wrong method. The error that matters is quoting only the mandatory state conveyance fee. The state's own 0.1% charge is one quarter of the combined rate the engine applies; the county's permissive 0.3% does the other three quarters. A quote built on the state fee alone would come to a quarter of the $1,520.00 the engine reports, understating the seller's cost by three quarters of it. Because 87 of 88 counties sit at the maximum, that shortfall is the normal case rather than the exception.

Where the engine is wrong in the other direction. One Ohio county has not adopted the maximum permissive fee. For a sale closing there, the $1,520.00 overstates the actual charge, and the true figure lies between the state minimum and the combined total. The engine holds a single statewide average local rate of 0.3% and no county table, so it cannot distinguish that county at all.

What is not computed. Ohio exempts several transfer categories from the conveyance fee under R.C. 319.54(G)(3), including transfers between spouses and certain corrective and governmental conveyances; the engine tests for none of them. County recorder filing fees, which are flat per-page charges unrelated to consideration, are separate and not included, and no title insurance, settlement charge or agent commission appears in any figure above.

• The one Ohio county that has not adopted the maximum permissive fee. This calculator models the common 0.4% combined rate that applies in 87 of 88 counties; confirm your specific county's adopted rate if it is the outlier.
• Exemptions for certain transfers. Ohio law exempts specific transfer types, including transfers between spouses and certain governmental conveyances, from the conveyance fee.
• Title insurance and settlement fees. These closing costs are separate from the state and county conveyance fees modeled here.
• Real estate commissions. Agent commissions are negotiated separately and are typically the largest single cost at closing.
• Recording fees charged by the county recorder. These are distinct, flat per-page fees for filing the deed itself, unrelated to the conveyance fee.

• Using only the 0.1% mandatory state rate. This dramatically understates the real cost in the 87 counties that add the full 0.3% permissive fee, for a combined 0.4%.
• Assuming the permissive fee is optional or rarely used. In practice it is used almost everywhere in Ohio, so treating it as an edge case produces inaccurate estimates for the overwhelming majority of transactions.
• Confusing the conveyance fee with recording fees. Ohio counties charge separate, flat recording fees to file the deed itself, on top of the percentage-based conveyance fee.
• Assuming the buyer pays the conveyance fee. By common Ohio practice, the seller pays the conveyance fee, though the purchase contract ultimately governs the allocation.
• Assuming every county's permissive rate is identical. While 87 of 88 counties use the $3.00 per $1,000 maximum, the outlier county's rate should be verified directly rather than assumed to match.

Also consulted: Ohio Department of Taxation, Real Property Conveyance Fee (R.C. 319.54(G)(3) and R.C. 322.02).