What Home Health and Personal Care Aides earn in Brown County, OH
According to the latest federal wage data for the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metropolitan area, the median pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Brown County, OH is $35,210 a year, or $16.93 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $30,234 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Brown County, OH.
The mean wage is $35,740, which is 1.5% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 16,470 people working in this occupation across the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Brown County, OH has roughly 43,845 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $29,020 a year ($13.95 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $45,890 or more ($22.06 an hour). That is a gap of $16,870 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $30,820 at the 25th percentile and $37,200 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $16.93 an hour or $35,210 a year at the median for Brown County, OH. Before any deductions, that is $2,934 a month, $1,354 every two weeks and $677 each week. After taxes the same job pays $14.54 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Home Health Aides this way: "Monitor the health status of an individual with disabilities or illness, and address their health-related needs, such as changing bandages, dressing wounds, or administering medication. Work is performed under the direction of offsite or intermittent onsite licensed nursing staff. Provide assistance with routine healthcare tasks or activities of daily living, such as feeding, bathing, toileting, or ambulation. May also help with tasks such as preparing meals, doing light housekeeping, and doing laundry depending on the patient's abilities."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Maintain records of patient care, condition, progress, or problems to report and discuss observations with supervisor or case manager"; "Provide patients with help moving in and out of beds, baths, wheelchairs, or automobiles and with dressing and grooming"; "Provide patients and families with emotional support and instruction in areas such as caring for infants, preparing healthy meals, living independently, or adapting to disability or illness"; "Entertain, converse with, or read aloud to patients to keep them mentally healthy and alert".
This BLS pay category covers several related O*NET occupations, among them Home Health Aides, Personal Care Aides, so the wage figures describe the group as a whole.
Job outlook for Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 4,677,100 jobs in 2025 to 5,524,400 in 2035, a change of +18.1%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 760,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 16.3% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $35,800 for this occupation; the Brown County, OH median of $35,210 is 1.6% below it.
How pay in Brown County, OH compares
Compared with the Ohio average
A worker in this occupation in Brown County, OH earns $1,093 more than the Ohio average of $34,117, a premium of 3.2%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,093 before tax and roughly $939 after tax. Within Ohio, Brown County, OH already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
Nationally, Home Health and Personal Care Aides earn an employment-weighted average of $34,899 across the contiguous United States, so $35,210 in Brown County, OH is essentially average. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Brown County, OH
Among the 582 occupations with published wages in Brown County, OH, Home Health and Personal Care Aides ranks number 543 by median pay, ahead of about 7% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $121,420 a year, which is $86,210 more than the median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Home Health and Personal Care Aides earning the Brown County, OH median of $35,210, they add up to $4,976. The result is $30,234 of take-home pay a year ($2,519 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $14 goes to taxes and $86 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 14.1%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $19,460. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $2,097, an effective 6.0% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,183 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $511. FICA totals $2,694, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Ohio
Ohio income tax on this salary is $186 a year, or 0.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 9% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $15 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Brown County, OH
IRS Statistics of Income data for Brown County, OH show an average adjusted gross income of $61,818 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 9.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.0%, compared with the 6.0% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Brown County, OH
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Brown County, OH: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $30,234 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Brown County, OH, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $849 a month ($10,188 a year), and at $1,030 for two bedrooms. For Home Health and Personal Care Aides, a one-bedroom absorbs 33.7% of take-home pay and 28.9% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 9.8% of gross pay for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Brown County, OH. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Ohio residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,689 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $525, for $2,214 in total. Gasoline in Ohio averages $3.25 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,504.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $17,342 a year in Brown County, OH. Subtract that from $30,234 of take-home pay and $12,892 remains, which is $1,074 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 36.6% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Brown County, OH
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Brown County, OH: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Brown County, OH, set beside the Ohio and national medians.
Property taxes in Brown County, OH
Homeowners in Brown County, OH pay a median of $1,600 a year in real estate taxes, 43% below the Ohio median of $2,822 and 49% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $196,200, the median tax bill is 0.82% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,210, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.5% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Brown County, OH
Renters in Brown County, OH pay a median gross rent of $817 a month in the Census survey, 21% below the Ohio median of $1,034. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $849 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $196,200, 9% below the Ohio median of $214,800. Median household income is $71,270, in line with the Ohio median of $71,389, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 14.3% of that income.
Commuting in Brown County, OH
Workers in Brown County, OH who travel to a workplace spend an average of 33.9 minutes each way, 45% above the Ohio average of 23.4. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 6.5% of workers in Brown County, OH work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Home Health and Personal Care Aides afford to live in Brown County, OH?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $35,210 that ceiling is $880 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $849 is $31 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $16.33 an hour; the median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $16.93, which is 4% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.54 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 13.5 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,030 a month means $515 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $4,008 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $16,900.
How fast you can save
At $1,074 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 10 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 20 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Home Health and Personal Care Aides pay in Brown County, OH
How much do Home Health and Personal Care Aides make per hour in Brown County, OH?
The median is $16.93 per hour, based on $35,210 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $13.95 at the 10th percentile to $22.06 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Home Health and Personal Care Aides take home after taxes in Brown County, OH?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $35,210 becomes $30,234 a year. That is $2,519 a month, $1,163 every two weeks or $581 a week.
How much tax do Home Health and Personal Care Aides pay in Brown County, OH?
Total taxes are $4,976 a year, an effective rate of 14.1%: $2,097 federal income tax, $2,694 FICA and $186 Ohio income tax.
Do Home Health and Personal Care Aides earn more in Brown County, OH than elsewhere in Ohio?
Yes. The local median of $35,210 is +3.2% versus the Ohio average of $34,117, a difference of $1,093 a year.
Can Home Health and Personal Care Aides afford a one-bedroom apartment in Brown County, OH?
A one-bedroom costs $849 a month against take-home pay of $2,519, which is 33.7% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $880 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Brown County, OH?
About $1,074 a month ($12,892 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $17,342 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Brown County, OH at the 30% guideline?
$16.33 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $10,188 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Home Health and Personal Care Aides is $16.93.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Ohio rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.