Sell Your Commercial Property In Toledo, OH

Who rents in Toledo

Toledo has 267,463 residents in the ACS 2020–2024 estimates. Of 118,662 occupied homes, 63,199 are owner-occupied and 55,463 are rented, a 46.7% renter share. That is well below Cincinnati (60.2%), Cleveland (58.3%) and Columbus (55.9%), and it shapes the market: Toledo has a large stock of single-family rentals competing with apartments. The median household income is $49,724, between Cleveland's $40,801 and Cincinnati's $52,909.

Rent burden is lower than in Ohio's other big cities but still significant. In Toledo, 23,676 renter households, 42.7%, spend 30% or more of income on rent, and 12,724, or 22.9%, spend half or more. In Cleveland the same figures are 47.9% and 25.2%.

The University of Toledo is one of the city's steady sources of renters. It reports 14,290 students in fall 2025, 10,810 undergraduates and 3,480 graduate students, along with 5,756 employees, including 1,241 faculty and 4,008 staff. Graduate students and the university's 507 graduate assistants add an older group of renters alongside undergraduates.

How Toledo compares

Set against Ohio's three larger cities in the same Census release, Toledo has the lowest median gross rent and the lowest renter share:

• Median gross rent: Toledo $901, Cleveland $945, Cincinnati $1,001, Columbus $1,295.
• Renter share: Toledo 46.7%, Columbus 55.9%, Cleveland 58.3%, Cincinnati 60.2%.
• Homes in buildings of five or more units: Toledo 20.0%, Cleveland 26.1%, Columbus 32.0%, Cincinnati 36.1%.
• Median year built: Cleveland 1941, Cincinnati 1951, Toledo 1955, Columbus 1980.

A household paying Toledo's $901 median rent needs about $36,000 a year to keep rent at 30% of income, well under the city's $49,724 median household income. That cushion is one reason Toledo's rent-burden rate is lower than Cleveland's.

Rents and affordability

Toledo's median gross rent of $901 includes utilities and averages five years of leases. HUD's FY2026 Fair Market Rents for the Toledo, OH MSA set the payment standards that most voucher holders use:

Toledo's FMRs run well below the Cleveland and Columbus metros at every size; the two-bedroom figure is $203 below Cleveland's and $354 below Columbus's. That gap matters for valuation. Rents, and therefore net income per unit, are lower in Toledo, so the same building trades for less per unit than it would in Columbus even at a similar cap rate.

Within Toledo, though, the two-bedroom FMR of $1,076 is about $175 above the city's median gross rent. For units that accept vouchers, that spread is income an owner can capture; for market-rate units, it shows where new leases can land once older leases turn over.

The apartment stock

Toledo's median year built is 1955. Of 132,728 housing units, 86,593, about 65%, are single-family detached homes, the highest share among Ohio's four largest cities. Another 4,015 are attached homes, 7,011 are in duplexes and 5,846 in three- and four-unit buildings. Toledo also has 2,715 mobile homes.

Apartment buildings hold a fifth of the city's housing. There are 7,186 units in buildings of five to nine units, 7,435 in buildings of 10 to 19, 4,091 in buildings of 20 to 49, and 7,782 in complexes of 50 or more, for 26,494 units, or 20.0% of the total. The mix is spread fairly evenly across building sizes. Large complexes are a smaller part of the stock than in Cleveland, where buildings of 50 or more units hold 13.6% of all housing against 5.9% in Toledo, so mid-size buildings of five to 49 units make up most of Toledo's apartment supply.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Lucas County

The Lucas County Auditor explains that assessed value is 35% of market value, as ORC 5715.01 requires, and that the tax is the assessed value times the rate, less credits. Apartments with four or more rental units are commercial property under Ohio's land-use codes, so the 10% rollback for homes and farms does not apply to them.

Lucas County's 2025 effective tax rates show how much location matters:

• Toledo City–Toledo CSD: 84.87 mills commercial, 62.12 mills residential. The commercial rate equals about 3.0% of market value a year.
• Oregon City–Oregon CSD: 75.99 mills commercial, about 2.7% of market value.
• Maumee City–Maumee CSD: 96.89 mills commercial, about 3.4% of market value.

On a building with a $1.5 million county value, the Toledo rate works out to about $44,600 a year, against about $39,900 in Oregon and $50,900 in Maumee. Buyers comparing a Toledo building with one in Maumee will price that difference in.

Toledo's commercial rate also sits in the middle of Ohio's big cities for tax year 2025: below Cleveland (103.44 mills) and close to Cincinnati (82.84 mills), but well above the main Columbus district (74.98 mills). The gap with Columbus is about 9.9 mills, or roughly 0.35% of market value a year, a difference a buyer comparing the two markets will notice.

Ohio resets values with a six-year reappraisal and a three-year update; check the Auditor's schedule for Lucas County's next cycle before you list. Board of Revision complaints are due by March 31 of the following year under ORC 5715.19, and since March 2026 school boards can only file counter-complaints rather than start their own challenges after a sale. The state's 2025–26 property tax laws, including House Bill 186, add levy limits that may change future reduction factors.

Landlord rules and local compliance

• Rent control: ORC 5321.19 bars Ohio cities from rent control.
• Lead safe: Toledo's lead-safe law requires residential rentals with one to four units built before 1978 to meet lead-safe standards and hold a Lead-Safe Certificate. The city puts a typical inspection at about $400, and non-compliant owners can be referred to housing court. Buildings of five or more units are not covered, but small properties sold alongside them are.
• Registration: Toledo directs owners to the Lucas County Auditor's rental registry, which state law requires under ORC 5323.02, with updates due within 60 days of any change.
• Deposits: under ORC 5321.16, the part of a deposit above the greater of $50 or one month's rent earns 5% interest once a tenant stays six months, and itemized deductions are due within 30 days. A tenant who gave a forwarding address in writing can recover double the amount wrongfully withheld plus attorney fees, so deposit records belong in any sale file.
• Evictions: nonpayment cases begin with a three-day notice to leave under ORC 1923.04.
• Transfer: Ohio's conveyance fee starts at $1 per $1,000 of price for the state, and counties may add more, so confirm Lucas County's total with the Auditor.

What this means if you own a building here

Toledo values come down to modest rents against a heavy commercial tax line. A buyer will start from trailing net operating income, apply a tax bill near 3% of value, and look at how far your rents sit below HUD's FMRs. Buildings with leases well under $1,076 for two-bedrooms show upside a buyer can underwrite. Owners with larger units should also note that the three-bedroom FMR, $1,380, is $304 above the two-bedroom figure, which favors family-sized units leased to voucher households. Five-plus buildings avoid the city's lead-safe certificate process, which narrows due diligence compared with a portfolio of duplexes.

Skyline buys 5+ unit buildings across Toledo, including West Toledo, and in Sylvania, Maumee and Oregon, stabilized or value-add. To test value, try the apartment building value calculator or the cap rate calculator, or start at sell my apartment building.