Cincinnati Economy: Consumer Brands and Logistics

The Cincinnati metro area — formally Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN, which stretches across the Ohio River into northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana — is one of the larger metros in the Midwest and the corporate hub for several of the country's best-known consumer brands. It is anchored by the headquarters of Procter and Gamble, Kroger, Macy's, and Fifth Third Bancorp, plus a long history of food, chemicals, and logistics tied to the river and the rail network that runs through it.

This is a plain-English tour of how the Cincinnati metro economy works. For the state-level picture, see Ohio Economy. For the country-level view, see The State of the U.S. Economy and the broader Economy hub and city cluster.

How big is the Cincinnati metro economy?

For example, recent metro GDP for Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN has run around $170 billion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Metro population is roughly 2.3 million, per the U.S. Census Bureau. That makes the Cincinnati metro larger by population than 12 of the 50 U.S. states.

The biggest industries

A handful of sectors do most of the work in the Cincinnati metro economy:

• Consumer brands and retail — Procter and Gamble is headquartered downtown, Kroger is the largest supermarket chain in the country and is also based in Cincinnati, and Macy's runs major operations in the metro. Together they anchor a deep cluster of brand, marketing, and product-development jobs.
• Banking and finance — Fifth Third Bancorp is headquartered downtown, and Western and Southern Financial Group, US Bank's regional operations, and several specialty lenders fill out the financial-services workforce.
• Healthcare — UC Health, TriHealth, Mercy Health, Christ Hospital, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center together employ huge numbers of workers across the metro.
• Aerospace and manufacturing — GE Aerospace's Evendale plant designs and builds commercial-jet engines, and a long supplier chain serves it. Specialty chemicals, packaging, and industrial production are still meaningful employers.
• Trade and logistics — the metro sits on the Ohio River with major rail and highway connections, and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) is one of the largest cargo airports in North America thanks to Amazon Air's main hub and DHL's Americas hub.
• Higher education — the University of Cincinnati, Xavier, and Northern Kentucky University anchor faculty and staff workforces.
• Tech and software — a quietly growing software, fintech, and back-office cluster, accelerated by the marketing-and-analytics needs of the metro's consumer-brand HQs.

Jobs and wages

Metro labor data is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Midwest region. For example, the Cincinnati metro unemployment rate has typically run close to the national average, helped by the steadiness of consumer brands, healthcare, and finance.

Ohio sets a statewide minimum wage that is above the federal floor of $7.25 and adjusts annually for inflation. Kentucky and Indiana use the federal minimum in their portions of the metro. The latest rates are at the Ohio Department of Commerce, the Kentucky Labor Cabinet, and the Indiana Department of Labor.

Cost of living

Cincinnati's cost of living is among the most affordable of any large U.S. metro. For example, recent HUD Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom in the metro has run around $1,200 a month, with Hyde Park, Mason, and downtown higher and parts of the West Side and the Kentucky-side counties lower. Current county-level numbers are at HUD User.

The federal government tracks region-specific inflation data through the BLS Midwest region. Cincinnati's CPI tends to track close to the national average month to month.

Taxes in Cincinnati

Ohio has a mildly progressive state income tax that has been flattening over the past decade, and the City of Cincinnati levies its own local earnings tax of 1.8% on residents and on people who work in the city. Combined sales tax in Hamilton County is 7.8%, made up of the state's 5.75% base plus city, county, and transit pieces. Kentucky and Indiana portions of the metro pay their own state income tax instead. State rules live at the Ohio Department of Taxation, and you can read more about how sales tax works in our glossary.

How the Cincinnati metro fits into the national picture

Cincinnati is one of the most concentrated consumer-brands metros in the country. P&G, Kroger, Macy's, and a long list of smaller brands together make the metro a national hub for brand management, supply chain, and marketing analytics. The metro's broad industry mix — consumer brands, banking, healthcare, aerospace, and logistics — gives it a steadier base than metros that lean on a single sector.

A logistics hub built around Amazon Air

CVG airport's transformation into Amazon Air's main hub has been one of the quietly biggest economic stories in the metro. Amazon's hub, plus DHL's Americas hub at the same airport, have driven a wave of warehouse and distribution-center construction in northern Kentucky and along Interstate 75. Federal data on cargo airports lives at the Federal Aviation Administration.

A note on the numbers

Numbers in this article change every quarter — always check the latest from BEA, BLS, and HUD User for the most current data on the Cincinnati metro.