Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Ohio (2026)

The cheapest place to buy in Ohio is also the best place to collect rent on it. Youngstown closed at a median of $90,000 and asks $1,095 a month, which is 14.6 percent gross before any cost. Volume and yield part ways: Cleveland closes about 487 homes a month, more than any other city here, and ranks fifth on yield at 13.0 percent. For three of these cities the page also shows a confirmed-close median; in Cleveland, 144 confirmed lease closes carry a median of $1,400 against a $1,300 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so the gap describes the samples, not the same homes. The median city on this list closed at $133,500, well below the Ohio statewide median of $258,500. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 96 Ohio cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown. Fifteen more cities clear the closings bar but not the rental one and appear in a second table with entry price only.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Youngstown, 14.6 percent gross

At $90,000 to buy and $1,095 a month to rent, Youngstown yields 14.6 percent gross on 407 tracked closings. The Youngstown market page carries the monthly figures.

2. Maple Heights, 14.5 percent gross

Maple Heights ranks second on yield but only sixth on entry price: the $1,495 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $123,700 median closed price across 187 closings, $1,495 median asking rent across 311 listings, 14.5 percent gross. Full detail is on the Maple Heights market page.

3. Lima, 13.6 percent gross

The numbers: $114,900 median closed price across 227 closings, $1,300 median asking rent across 333 listings, 13.6 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $88 per square foot. Full detail is on the Lima market page.

4. Garfield Heights, 13.2 percent gross

Rent is what puts Garfield Heights fourth here; on price alone it would sit tenth of 20. Homes in Garfield Heights closed at a median of $132,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,450, a gross yield of 13.2 percent. Houses there closed at about $89 per square foot. Full detail is on the Garfield Heights market page.

5. Cleveland, 13.0 percent gross

Cleveland also carries a confirmed-close median: 144 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,400, 8 percent above the $1,300 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. The numbers: $120,000 median closed price across 2,920 closings, $1,300 median asking rent across 8,912 listings, 13.0 percent gross. The Cleveland market page carries the monthly figures.

6. Marion, 12.0 percent gross

The numbers: $125,000 median closed price across 289 closings, $1,250 median asking rent across 113 listings, 12.0 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $95 per square foot. Full detail is on the Marion market page.

7. Euclid, 12.0 percent gross

Euclid also carries a confirmed-close median: 50 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,398, 3 percent below the $1,445 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. The numbers: $145,000 median closed price across 416 closings, $1,445 median asking rent across 465 listings, 12.0 percent gross. See the Euclid page for the property mix and the price band.

8. Canton, 11.5 percent gross

Canton is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: second on price, eighth on yield, because a $114,600 home there rents for only $1,095. At $114,600 to buy and $1,095 a month to rent, Canton yields 11.5 percent gross on 585 tracked closings. See the Canton page for the property mix and the price band.

9. Dayton, 11.1 percent gross

Homes in Dayton closed at a median of $135,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,245, a gross yield of 11.1 percent. Houses there closed at about $96 per square foot. See the Dayton page for the property mix and the price band.

10. Toledo, 10.6 percent gross

At $125,000 to buy and $1,100 a month to rent, Toledo yields 10.6 percent gross on 2,035 tracked closings. The Toledo market page carries the monthly figures.

11. Akron, 10.4 percent gross

Akron is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 52 closes with a median of $1,225 beside a $1,175 asking median, a 4 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. At $135,678 to buy and $1,175 a month to rent, Akron yields 10.4 percent gross on 1,508 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Akron market page.

12. Springfield, 10.1 percent gross

The numbers: $148,250 median closed price across 510 closings, $1,250 median asking rent across 271 listings, 10.1 percent gross. Full detail is on the Springfield market page.

13. Warren, 9.9 percent gross

Warren is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fifth on price, thirteenth on yield, because a $121,800 home there rents for only $1,000. At $121,800 to buy and $1,000 a month to rent, Warren yields 9.9 percent gross on 258 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Warren market page.

14. Ashtabula, 9.5 percent gross

Ashtabula is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: ninth on price, fourteenth on yield, because a $129,900 home there rents for only $1,025. At $129,900 to buy and $1,025 a month to rent, Ashtabula yields 9.5 percent gross on 279 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $97 per square foot. The Ashtabula market page carries the monthly figures.

15. Plain City, 9.2 percent gross

Plain City ranks fifteenth on yield but only twentieth on entry price: the $3,499 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. Homes in Plain City closed at a median of $455,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $3,499, a gross yield of 9.2 percent. Houses there closed at about $216 per square foot. The Plain City market page carries the monthly figures.

16. Parma, 9.1 percent gross

Homes in Parma went under contract in a median of 6 days, so a buyer chasing its 9.1 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. Homes in Parma closed at a median of $223,500 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,700, a gross yield of 9.1 percent. Houses there closed at about $134 per square foot. The Parma market page carries the monthly figures.

17. Franklin, 8.8 percent gross

Homes in Franklin went under contract in a median of 7 days, so a buyer chasing its 8.8 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. At $191,280 to buy and $1,400 a month to rent, Franklin yields 8.8 percent gross on 217 tracked closings. The Franklin market page carries the monthly figures.

18. Sandusky, 8.8 percent gross

Read Sandusky's $1,117 rent as an apartment figure: 65 percent of its listings are apartments or condos, and the house median is $1,600. Homes in Sandusky closed at a median of $153,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,117, a gross yield of 8.8 percent. Houses there closed at about $109 per square foot. The Sandusky market page carries the monthly figures.

19. Lorain, 8.6 percent gross

The numbers: $160,000 median closed price across 451 closings, $1,150 median asking rent across 559 listings, 8.6 percent gross. See the Lorain page for the property mix and the price band.

20. Barberton, 8.6 percent gross

Barberton moves fast, 9 days from listing to contract at the median, which matters more than its 8.6 percent yield if you cannot close quickly. The numbers: $167,900 median closed price across 245 closings, $1,200 median asking rent across 125 listings, 8.6 percent gross. Full detail is on the Barberton market page.

Priced, but too few rentals to rank

Resideline can price these cities but cannot yet rank them on rent: each has 100 or more closings and fewer than 50 rental listings in the window.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every Ohio city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since September 10, 2025: 96 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $258,500 across 94,326 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated September 10, 2026) and rental listings since September 10, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More Ohio rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in Ohio ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the Ohio cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The Ohio housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest Ohio markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.