Moving to Ohio: The Perfect Place To Do Business

Big companies are leaving traditional business hubs such as New York and California to set up elsewhere. The Silicon Valley exodus to Texas, Arizona and Florida has been well documented, but Ohio is the latest region to attract attention from large organizations looking for better growth and profitability.

The Buckeye State is home to three of America’s Top-10 tech cities: Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. There are several incentives in place to attract technology sector companies, including Ohio’s Entrepreneurial Services Program, which has recently allocated $75.6 million of funding to tech startups. It is no surprise then that Ohio is the only state to have two cities (Columbus and Cincinnati) featured in Forbes’ Top-10 Rising Cities for Startups.

It is not just tech companies that are benefiting from Ohio’s resurgence. The state’s overall economy is seeing growth, with local businesses and service providers thriving once more thanks to an influx of new customers. Despite the pandemic, Ohio’s unemployment rate actually fell below 5% in 2021.

$2 billion of Infrastructure improvements are happening too. The Ohio Department of Transport (ODOT) has 956 construction projects planned, making thousands of new positions available to local job seekers.

Ohio businesses are growing at an unprecedented pace. In 2020, Ohio’s venture capital growth rate was 3x higher than California’s, and 5x higher than Washington’s. There are three major factors driving the state’s rapid growth – lower taxes, cheaper rent, and outstanding talent all make it a good place to do business.

Lower taxes

Ohio has a combined state and federal corporation tax rate of just 21%. According to the Tax Foundation, this is the lowest among all fifty states.

In fact, Ohio is one of only six states that imposes no state income tax on corporations. Consequently, businesses in Ohio are paying around 5-10% less tax than they would in most other states. This kind of cost saving can dramatically improve the profitability of an organization, meaning that any relocation costs can be recouped in no time at all.

Cheaper rent

Ohio was named as America’s Most Affordable State by US News in 2020, with Moody’s ranking the state at No. 3 in their House Affordability Index in the same year.

Office space is a prime example of where organizations can cut costs – equivalent office rentals in Ohio are 75% cheaper than in New York or San Francisco.

Cheaper rents not only allow businesses to set up workplaces at a fraction of the cost, it also gives them the opportunity to significantly expand their operations with minimal investment.

Top-rated talent

The influx of big tech corporations such as Facebook, Google, IBM and Amazon Web Services has helped Ohio develop a large pool of skilled STEM professionals. As well as being well-qualified, these individuals cost less to employ. For example, software engineers in Ohio earn around 40% less than their Californian counterparts.

The candidate pool continues to grow, but competition to land the best talent is intensifying as more companies arrive in the state. Recruiters in the region have their work cut out if they are to capitalize on Ohio’s renaissance.

Staffing and recruitment agencies can use technology to maximize candidate engagement and fill vacancies promptly. With Mindscope’s comprehensive suite of applicant tracking software and CRM tools, the whole hiring process is managed from one place:

Source candidates using integrated job boards and social media platforms
Effortlessly search through candidate profiles in a synchronized database that is always up to date
Filter and screen applicants based on information parsed from their resume
Automate communication through built-in email and text messaging functions
Schedule interviews from a synchronized outlook account
Onboard employees quickly with the document upload feature
Review the recruitment process with a customizable analytics dashboard