DSCR Loans in Cuyahoga County, Ohio

A rental property in Cuyahoga County carries a heavier tax bill than most of Ohio: 1.80% effective, against a 1.36% statewide average. That gap shows up directly in a DSCR calculation, so we've worked it below on a property at the county's own median value.

Cuyahoga County at a glance

County seat: Cleveland
Population: 1,232,925 (2025 est.)
Effective property tax rate: 1.80%
Median home value: $195,400 (ACS 2020-2024 5yr)
Median gross rent: $1,060/mo (ACS 2020-2024 5yr)

Why investors look at Cuyahoga County

Cleveland anchor — Ohio's largest metro by density; carries the highest county effective property tax rate in the state, offset by the state's deepest rental yields.

The tax-drag math for Cuyahoga County

Property tax is the single input most Ohio rental-market content skips, and it's the one that varies most by county — from under 1% to over 2.3% across the state's 88 counties. In Cuyahoga County it runs meaningfully above the middle of that range.

A $195,400 property here — Cuyahoga County's own median home value, 20% down ($39,080), renting for $1,060/mo — financed at an observed Ohio DSCR average of 7.20% (Q2 2026)¹:

Gross rent: $1,060
Cuyahoga County property tax ($195,400 × 1.80% ÷ 12): $293
Landlord insurance ($1220 ÷ 12): $102
Principal & interest, $156,320 loan at an observed 7.20% Ohio average¹, 30-yr fixed: $1,061
PITIA (tax + insurance + P&I): $1,456
DSCR (rent ÷ PITIA): $1,060 ÷ $1,456 = 0.73

At these countywide figures, a 0.73 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 Cuyahoga County's 1.80%, this same property's monthly tax bill would run about $221 instead of $293 — a difference of roughly $72/month that moves straight into the DSCR numerator.

This worked example deliberately uses Cuyahoga 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, which is why the ratio here often reads lower than the specific submarket example on the Cleveland market page — the metro page hand-picks a real submarket property instead of a countywide blend.

0.73 on the county median isn't a verdict on Cuyahoga County — it's a description of the middle of the market. Below-median purchase price, above-median rent, or a larger down payment are the three levers that move a specific deal back over 1.00; the gap between the average and the achievable is the opportunity, not a warning.

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.

Cities in Cuyahoga County

Every city and village in Cuyahoga County with its own page is listed here, largest by population first.

Cleveland → — pop. 372,624
Parma → — pop. 81,146
Lakewood → — pop. 50,942
Euclid → — pop. 49,692
Strongsville → — pop. 46,491
Cleveland Heights → — pop. 45,312
Westlake → — pop. 34,228
North Olmsted → — pop. 32,442
North Royalton → — pop. 31,322
Garfield Heights → — pop. 29,781
Shaker Heights → — pop. 29,439
Solon → — pop. 24,262
Maple Heights → — pop. 23,701
South Euclid → — pop. 21,883
Rocky River → — pop. 21,755
Parma Heights → — pop. 20,863
Mayfield Heights → — pop. 20,351
Broadview Heights → — pop. 19,936
Brook Park → — pop. 18,595
Berea → — pop. 18,545
Fairview Park → — pop. 17,291
Bay Village → — pop. 16,163
Middleburg Heights → — pop. 16,004
Lyndhurst → — pop. 14,050
Beachwood → — pop. 14,040
University Heights → — pop. 13,914
East Cleveland → — pop. 13,792
Warrensville Heights → — pop. 13,789
Brecksville → — pop. 13,635
Bedford → — pop. 13,149
Seven Hills → — pop. 11,720
Brooklyn → — pop. 11,359
Bedford Heights → — pop. 11,020
Richmond Heights → — pop. 10,801
Highland Heights → — pop. 8,719
Olmsted Falls → — pop. 8,582
Independence → — pop. 7,584
Pepper Pike → — pop. 6,796

Nearby counties

Nearby in NE Ohio:

The Cleveland metro connection

Cuyahoga County hosts one of Ohio's three major metros this site covers in depth — see the Cleveland DSCR market page for submarket-level rents, prices, and a separate worked example.

Get your Cuyahoga County DSCR quote

County-level tax math is the start of underwriting a Cuyahoga County rental, not the end of it. Compare DSCR quotes on your specific property next.

Compare DSCR quotes for a Cuyahoga County property →

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.