Respiratory Therapist Salary in Ohio: Pay by Experience, City & Take-Home

A respiratory therapist in Ohio earns a median of $79,920 a year, or about $38.42 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025). Most of the field lands between $65,580 at the 10th percentile and $97,030 at the 90th. That median runs a little below the national figure, but Ohio’s lower cost of living changes the math once you look at take-home pay.

How Ohio compares to the national median

The national median for respiratory therapists sits at $82,280, per the BLS (2025). Ohio’s median of $79,920 trails that by $2,360 a year. That’s a gap of roughly 3 percent, which is small enough that it rarely shows up in a single paycheck, but it’s real.

The more useful way to read it: Ohio pays close to the national rate while its housing and daily costs run below the U.S. average. A respiratory therapist who’d clear the national median in a coastal market keeps more of an Ohio paycheck after rent and groceries. The headline number is slightly lower here, but the spending power behind it tends to be higher. We get into the exact after-tax figures in the take-home section below.

Ohio’s mean (average) wage for the role is $81,240, which sits above the state median of $79,920. When the average runs higher than the median, it usually means a cluster of senior and specialized therapists at the top is pulling the average up. The median is the better gauge of what a typical respiratory therapist actually earns, so that’s the number to anchor on.

It’s also worth putting the percentile range next to the national picture. Ohio’s 10th percentile of $65,580 and 90th percentile of $97,030 frame the realistic floor and ceiling for the role in this state. The bottom of that band is roughly what a new graduate earns in their first staff job, and the top reflects senior, specialized, and supervisory therapists. Because Ohio’s median tracks within $2,360 of the national median, a therapist anywhere along that percentile ladder is earning close to what the same percentile would pay nationally, just with a cheaper cost base behind it.

Respiratory therapist salary in Ohio by experience

Pay climbs steadily with years on the unit, charge-shift responsibility, and specialty credentials. The BLS percentile bands give a clean picture of that progression. Entry-level pay tracks the 10th percentile, a typical mid-career therapist sits near the median, and the most experienced therapists land at the 75th and 90th percentiles.

The jump from entry to median is $14,340, and most therapists cover that ground in the first several years as they move off orientation, pick up night and weekend differentials, and add credentials. Going from the median to the 90th percentile is worth another $17,110 a year. That top band is where you find lead therapists, ICU and NICU specialists, educators, and people who’ve stacked advanced certifications. The hourly figures are derived from the annual numbers at a standard 2,080-hour year, so they’re a guide rather than a contracted rate, but they show the same arc.

One thing worth flagging: the spread from the 10th to the 90th percentile in Ohio is $31,450. That’s a wide band for a single license, and almost all of it is within reach through setting, shift, and specialty choices rather than leaving the profession. The how-to-earn-more section breaks down the concrete moves.

Look at the steps individually and the path gets concrete. From the 10th percentile to the 25th is $9,700, the climb a new therapist makes simply by getting off orientation and onto a regular staff line with differentials. From the 25th to the median is another $4,640. From the median to the 75th is $10,460, which is usually where a specialty credential or a charge role enters the picture. And from the 75th to the 90th is $6,650 more, the senior tier. No single move covers the whole $31,450 gap, but each rung is reachable, and they compound. A therapist who specializes, works premium shifts, and takes on lead duties can realistically travel most of that distance over a career without ever changing license.

The early percentiles also tell you something about Ohio’s entry market. A 25th-percentile salary of $75,280 is already a solid wage in most Ohio housing markets, which means even early-career therapists here aren’t starting from a squeezed position the way they might in a high-cost coastal state. The middle of the distribution, between the 25th percentile at $75,280 and the 75th at $90,380, is where the bulk of the workforce sits, a $15,100 spread that most therapists move through over their first decade or so.

Respiratory therapist salary in Ohio by metro

Where you work inside Ohio shifts the median by a few thousand dollars. The five largest metro areas for the role cover most of the state’s 6,640 respiratory therapists. Columbus and Cincinnati pay the most; Akron sits at the lower end of the group.

Columbus leads at $81,860, which is $2,920 above the Akron median of $78,940. That’s the full spread across these five metros, and it’s narrower than what you’ll see in many states. Ohio’s large hospital systems set fairly consistent pay scales across their regions, so the metro you pick matters less here than the setting and shift you choose.

Cleveland employs the most respiratory therapists of any Ohio metro at 1,380, driven by its concentration of major hospital systems and academic medical centers. Cincinnati follows at 1,300 and Columbus at 1,220. If you want the most open positions and the easiest path to specialty roles, those three metros carry the deepest job markets. Note that several of these metro medians sit above the statewide median of $79,920, which tells you the rural and small-town parts of the state pull the overall figure down a bit.

These five metros together account for 4,860 of Ohio’s 6,640 respiratory therapists, or roughly three out of every four jobs in the state. That concentration matters when you’re job hunting: the major systems in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus run the largest respiratory departments, which means more shift options, more specialty units, and more room to move into critical care or education without relocating. Dayton, at 610 therapists, is a smaller but well-paid market with a median of $81,420, second only to Columbus and Cincinnati among the five. Akron rounds out the group with 350 therapists and the lowest median at $78,940, though even that figure is within $940 of the statewide median.

Because the metro medians sit so close together, location alone won’t dramatically change your pay inside Ohio. The bigger levers are the setting you work in and the percentile you climb to. A senior therapist in Akron at the 90th percentile of $97,030 will out-earn a median therapist in Columbus by a wide margin, so don’t over-index on which city you choose. Use the metro data to find the deepest job markets, then focus on the specialty and shift choices that actually move your number up the percentile scale.

Take-home pay after tax in Ohio

Gross salary isn’t what lands in your account. Ohio levies a state income tax, and federal tax plus FICA come out of every paycheck. Here’s the breakdown at four points along the pay scale, using 2026 tax rules for a single filer taking the standard deduction.

At the median salary of $79,920, an Ohio respiratory therapist keeps $63,128 after federal tax, FICA, and state tax, which works out to $5,261 a month. The effective tax rate at that level is about 21 percent. Notice how light the Ohio state tax line is: just $1,481 on a median salary. Ohio’s income tax brackets are low and have been trimmed in recent years, so the state’s bite is modest compared to high-tax states.

Here’s the cross-state comparison that matters most. Take that same $79,920 median and run it through Texas, a state with no income tax. A Texas respiratory therapist on the same gross keeps $64,610 net, versus $63,128 in Ohio. That’s a gap of $1,482 a year in Texas’s favor, purely from the state income tax line. It’s a real difference, but it’s smaller than people assume, and it ignores the other half of the equation.

That other half is housing. Net pay minus your local housing cost is the number that actually decides how you live. A $1,482 tax advantage evaporates fast if rent or a mortgage runs a few hundred dollars more a month in the comparison market. Ohio’s housing costs sit well below the national average, so the median respiratory therapist here often has more left over after the mortgage than a higher-paid peer in a pricier state. Always compare net pay against the rent you’d actually pay, not gross against gross.

The take-home table also shows how the tax bite grows as you climb. At the entry level of $65,580, the effective rate is about 18.5 percent and you keep $53,434, or $4,453 a month. By the median, the effective rate rises to 21 percent. At the 75th percentile of $90,380, it’s 22.3 percent with $70,199 net, and at the 90th percentile of $97,030 it reaches 23 percent with $74,695 net, or $6,225 a month. So a senior therapist earning $31,450 more in gross than an entry-level one ($97,030 versus $65,580) takes home $21,261 more after tax ($74,695 versus $53,434). The progressive federal brackets mean you keep a smaller slice of each raise as you move up, but you still keep the clear majority of it.

Notice how steady the Ohio state tax line stays across all four stages: $1,087 at entry, $1,481 at the median, $1,769 at the 75th percentile, and $1,952 at the 90th. Even at the top of the scale, Ohio’s income tax takes under $2,000, which is part of why the gap to a no-tax state like Texas stays modest. The federal line and FICA do the heavy lifting in your total tax bill, and those are the same wherever you live.

Want your own numbers instead of the median? Run your exact salary, filing status, and deductions through the Ohio paycheck calculator. When tax season comes, software like TurboTax can handle the multi-bracket math and any side income automatically.

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How to earn more as a respiratory therapist in Ohio

The $31,450 spread between the 10th and 90th percentiles is the opportunity. Here’s how Ohio respiratory therapists move up that scale:

• Specialize in critical care. ICU, NICU, and ECMO therapists sit at the top of the pay band. The NPS (Neonatal/Pediatric Specialty) and ACCS (Adult Critical Care Specialty) credentials from the NBRC signal that you can handle the most acute patients, and they’re the clearest path toward the $90,380 to $97,030 range.
• Move to the highest-paying metros. Working in Columbus ($81,860) or Cincinnati ($81,600) instead of Akron ($78,940) adds up to $2,920 to the median. If you’re flexible on location, start your search in those markets.
• Pick up shift differentials. Nights, weekends, and on-call rotations carry premium pay at almost every Ohio hospital system. A few differential shifts a month can close a meaningful part of the gap to the next percentile.
• Add the RRT and stack certifications. Advancing from CRT to RRT (Registered Respiratory Therapist) is the baseline expectation for the better-paying roles. Beyond that, sleep (SDS), pulmonary function (CPFT/RPFT), and asthma educator credentials open doors to specialized, higher-paid positions.
• Move into lead, education, or management. Charge therapist, clinical educator, and department supervisor roles carry the senior-tier pay near and above the 90th percentile.
• Keep your skills current. Online coursework through platforms like Coursera can sharpen the clinical and leadership skills that support a move into critical care or management.

Job outlook for respiratory therapists in Ohio

Ohio employs 6,640 respiratory therapists across its hospitals, long-term care facilities, and home-care providers, per the BLS (2025). Demand for the role is tied to an aging population and the ongoing burden of chronic respiratory conditions like COPD, both of which are steady tailwinds in Ohio’s large healthcare sector. The biggest metro job markets are Cleveland (1,380 RTs), Cincinnati (1,300), and Columbus (1,220), which is where new and specialized openings concentrate.

To see what’s live right now across Ohio’s major systems, a job board like ZipRecruiter aggregates respiratory therapist postings by metro and setting so you can compare pay and shifts side by side.

Related and higher-paying roles in Ohio

If you’re weighing your options, here’s how respiratory therapist pay stacks up against neighboring healthcare roles in Ohio, using the same BLS (2025) state medians. A registered nurse in Ohio earns a median of $82,510, which is $2,590 MORE than a respiratory therapist’s $79,920. An EMT or paramedic in Ohio earns a median of $40,220, which is $39,700 LESS than a respiratory therapist here. Respiratory therapy sits in a strong spot: close to nursing pay, and well above the entry-level emergency medical roles.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) 2025; ThePayGuide tax modeling for the 2026 tax year. Last updated 2026. See our methodology.