DSCR Loans in Clark County, Ohio
Clark County's effective property tax rate runs 1.10% — below Ohio's 1.36% statewide average — which is a modest but real advantage on a DSCR file. Here's what that means on an actual property, and what else moves financing in Springfield and the rest of the county.
01
Clark County at a glance
- County seat
- Springfield
- Population
- 135,340 (2025 est.)
- Effective property tax rate
- 1.10%
- Median home value
- $169,900 (ACS 2020-2024 5yr)
- Median gross rent
- $872/mo (ACS 2020-2024 5yr)
02
Why investors look at Clark County
Springfield anchors a manufacturing-legacy market; Wittenberg University sits in the county seat.
03
The tax-drag math for Clark County
Ohio's 88 counties span from under 1% effective property tax to over 2.3% in parts of Cuyahoga and Montgomery — a range wide enough to move a deal from cash-flowing to underwater on identical rent and price. Clark County sits on the favorable side of that range.
A $169,900 property here — Clark County's own median home value, 20% down ($33,980), renting for $872/mo — financed at an observed Ohio DSCR average of 7.20% (Q2 2026)¹:
- Gross rent
- $872
- Clark County property tax ($169,900 × 1.10% ÷ 12)
- $156
- Landlord insurance ($1220 ÷ 12)
- $102
- Principal & interest, $135,920 loan at an observed 7.20% Ohio average¹, 30-yr fixed
- $923
- PITIA (tax + insurance + P&I)
- $1,180
- DSCR (rent ÷ PITIA)
- $872 ÷ $1,180 = 0.74
At these countywide figures, a 0.74 lands under the 1.00 floor most DSCR programs require — see the methodology note below for why a whole-county median often understates what a targeted rental-grade property actually clears. At the statewide average tax rate of 1.36% instead of Clark County's lower 1.10%, this same property's monthly tax bill would run about $193 instead of $156 — Clark County's below-average rate is worth roughly $37/month here.
This worked example deliberately uses Clark County's own ACS-reported median home value against its ACS-reported median gross rent — a blended, whole-county pairing that includes higher-priced owner-occupied housing on the value side and apartment/multifamily rents on the rent side. That's a more conservative starting point than a matched, rental-grade single-family purchase. Run your own address and rent number through the DSCR calculator for a property-specific result instead of this countywide blend.
A countywide average under 1.00 doesn't mean Clark County doesn't work — it means the median deal isn't the deal. Investors clear DSCR here by buying below the county median, renting above it, or putting more down, and the spread between the average and what's achievable is where the opportunity sits.
¹ Ohio DSCR long-term-rental loans averaged 7.20% in Q2 2026 (Private Lender Link), inside the broader 6.5%–8.75% range lenders were publishing for DSCR product nationally. This is a market observation, not an offer — your rate depends on your DSCR, credit, LTV and loan purpose, and is set by the lender, not by us.
04
Cities in Clark County
Clark County's populated places, largest first. Each city page below carries its own population and housing facts, plus this county's tax math.
- Springfield → — pop. 58,662
- New Carlisle → — pop. 5,559
05
Nearby counties
Other SW Ohio counties, for comparison:
06
Get your Clark County DSCR quote
The math above uses Clark County's median home value. Run your own address and rent number to see where your file actually lands.
07
Sources for this page
- Wikipedia, "List of counties in Ohio" (county seat, population, 2025 est.) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_counties_in_Ohio
- SmartAsset, ACS-based estimate (effective property tax rate)
- CostByCounty, "Cost of Living in Ohio by County" (median home value and rent, ACS 2020-2024 5yr) — https://costbycounty.com/ohio
- Private Lender Link (Ohio DSCR rate average, Q2 2026) — https://privatelenderlink.com/region/usa/ohio/residential-long-term-rental-ohio-usa/
Last updated 2026-08-25. County tax rates and home-value figures are refreshed periodically from the sources above, each with its own as-of date.