What Medical Assistants earn in Lorain County, OH
According to the latest federal wage data for the Cleveland, OH metropolitan area, the median pay for Medical Assistants in Lorain County, OH is $43,830 a year, or $21.07 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $36,916 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Lorain County, OH.
The mean wage is $43,700, which is 0.3% below the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 5,180 people working in this occupation across the Cleveland, OH metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Lorain County, OH has roughly 317,129 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Medical Assistants in the Cleveland, OH metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $37,110 a year ($17.84 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $54,840 or more ($26.37 an hour). That is a gap of $17,730 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $38,830 at the 25th percentile and $47,440 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.5 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: $21.07 an hour or $43,830 a year at the median for Lorain County, OH. Before any deductions, that is $3,653 a month, $1,686 every two weeks and $843 each week. After taxes the same job pays $17.75 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Medical Assistants
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Medical Assistants this way: "Perform administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a physician. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and administering medications as directed by physician."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Interview patients to obtain medical information and measure their vital signs, weight, and height"; "Show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician"; "Record patients' medical history, vital statistics, or information such as test results in medical records"; "Prepare and administer medications as directed by a physician".
Job outlook for Medical Assistants
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 833,900 jobs in 2025 to 941,500 in 2035, a change of +12.9%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 109,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $45,690 for this occupation; the Lorain County, OH median of $43,830 is 4.1% below it.
How pay in Lorain County, OH compares
Compared with the Ohio average
A worker in this occupation in Lorain County, OH earns $1,290 more than the Ohio average of $42,540, a premium of 3.0%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,290 before tax and roughly $1,087 after tax. Within Ohio, the highest median we track for this job is $44,340 in Hamilton County, OH.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Medical Assistants is $45,253 across the contiguous United States. At $43,830, Lorain County, OH pays $1,423 less, which is 3.1% below that benchmark. 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 Lorain County, OH
Among the 549 occupations with published wages in Lorain County, OH, Medical Assistants ranks number 433 by median pay, ahead of about 21% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Financial Managers at $157,900 a year, which is $114,070 more than the median for Medical Assistants.
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 Medical Assistants earning the Lorain County, OH median of $43,830, they add up to $6,914. The result is $36,916 of take-home pay a year ($3,076 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $28,080. 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 $3,131, an effective 7.1% 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 $2,717 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $636. FICA totals $3,353, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Ohio
Ohio income tax on this salary is $430 a year, or 1.0% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 14% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $36 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 Lorain County, OH
IRS Statistics of Income data for Lorain County, OH show an average adjusted gross income of $78,000 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.1% 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 7.1% 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 Lorain County, OH
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Lorain County, OH: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $36,916 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Lorain County, OH, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,050 a month ($12,600 a year), and at $1,274 for two bedrooms. For Medical Assistants, a one-bedroom absorbs 34.1% of take-home pay and 28.8% 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 7.8% of gross pay for Medical Assistants in Lorain 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 $19,754 a year in Lorain County, OH. Subtract that from $36,916 of take-home pay and $17,162 remains, which is $1,430 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 39.2% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Lorain County, OH
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Lorain 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 Lorain County, OH, set beside the Ohio and national medians.
Property taxes in Lorain County, OH
Homeowners in Lorain County, OH pay a median of $3,055 a year in real estate taxes, 8% above the Ohio median of $2,822 and 2% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $223,200, the median tax bill is 1.37% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Medical Assistants median of $43,830, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Lorain County, OH
Renters in Lorain County, OH pay a median gross rent of $966 a month in the Census survey, 7% 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 $1,050 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 $223,200, 4% above the Ohio median of $214,800. Median household income is $73,347, 3% above the Ohio median of $71,389, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 17.2% of that income.
Commuting in Lorain County, OH
Workers in Lorain County, OH who travel to a workplace spend an average of 25.4 minutes each way, 9% above the Ohio average of 23.4. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 11.7% of workers in Lorain County, OH work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Medical Assistants afford to live in Lorain 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 $43,830 that ceiling is $1,096 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,050 is $46 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $20.19 an hour; the median for Medical Assistants is $21.07, which is 4% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $17.75 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 13.7 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,274 a month means $637 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $4,956 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $22,118.
How fast you can save
At $1,430 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 7 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 14 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Medical Assistants pay in Lorain County, OH
How much do Medical Assistants make per hour in Lorain County, OH?
The median is $21.07 per hour, based on $43,830 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $17.84 at the 10th percentile to $26.37 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Medical Assistants take home after taxes in Lorain County, OH?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $43,830 becomes $36,916 a year. That is $3,076 a month, $1,420 every two weeks or $710 a week.
How much tax do Medical Assistants pay in Lorain County, OH?
Total taxes are $6,914 a year, an effective rate of 15.8%: $3,131 federal income tax, $3,353 FICA and $430 Ohio income tax.
Do Medical Assistants earn more in Lorain County, OH than elsewhere in Ohio?
Yes. The local median of $43,830 is +3.0% versus the Ohio average of $42,540, a difference of $1,290 a year.
Can Medical Assistants afford a one-bedroom apartment in Lorain County, OH?
A one-bedroom costs $1,050 a month against take-home pay of $3,076, which is 34.1% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,096 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Medical Assistants in Lorain County, OH?
About $1,430 a month ($17,162 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $19,754 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Lorain County, OH at the 30% guideline?
$20.19 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $12,600 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Medical Assistants is $21.07.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Cleveland, OH 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.