OHIO — Federal Data, September 2026
The Best Trade Schools in Ohio, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
7 accredited institutions in Ohio report enough federal data to be compared. They are ranked here on a single measure: how many months of gross pay it takes a graduate to cover the median debt.
See The Ohio RankingU.S. Department of Education data. No school paid to be listed.
Across the 7 ranked trade schools in Ohio, the median graduate needs 4.1 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $12,000, against median earnings of $41,277 one year after completion.
That puts Ohio slower than the national median of 3.6 months measured across the 153 institutions in our national ranking. The best performer in the state is Butler Technology and Career Development Schools in Monroe, at 1.8 months.
Only schools that are currently operating, accredited, predominantly certificate or associate granting, and reporting both debt and earnings on at least four trade programs appear here. That is why this list is short: most institutions do not publish enough for a fair comparison.
OHIO At A Glance
What the federal data says about trade schools in Ohio
The Ranking
7 trade schools in Ohio, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion | Programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Butler Technology and Career Development SchoolsMonroe, OH | Public | 1.8 | $6,724 | $45,002 | 76% | 4 |
| 2 | Great Oaks Career CampusesCincinnati, OH | Public | 2.7 | $8,250 | $41,277 | 90% | 7 |
| 3 | Cincinnati State Technical and Community CollegeCincinnati, OH | Public | 3.8 | $13,581 | $53,558 | 16% | 6 |
| 4 | Ohio Technical CollegeCleveland, OH | for-profit | 4.1 | $12,000 | $34,932 | 90% | 4 |
| 5 | Ohio State University Agricultural Technical InstituteWooster, OH | Public | 4.2 | $12,000 | $34,468 | 43% | 4 |
| 6 | University of Northwestern OhioLima, OH | nonprofit | 4.5 | $15,250 | $42,514 | 54% | 4 |
| 7 | Stautzenberger College-MaumeeMaumee, OH | for-profit | 7.0 | $15,605 | $29,770 | 55% | 6 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts by Field of Study and by Institution (published 9 June 2026). Debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of completers; earnings are median earnings one year after completion; both are medians across the school’s trade programs. Completion is the institution’s published rate.
The Top Five, In Detail
The five fastest payback schools in Ohio, one by one
Butler Technology and Career Development Schools
Monroe, OH
Butler Technology and Career Development Schools is a public institution in Monroe. Across its 4 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $6,724 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $45,002 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.8 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 2.3 months faster than the Ohio state median of 4.1. It reports a 76% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Fire Protection.
Great Oaks Career Campuses
Cincinnati, OH
Great Oaks Career Campuses is a public institution in Cincinnati. Across its 7 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $8,250 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $41,277 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 2.7 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and 1.4 months faster than the Ohio state median of 4.1. It reports a 90% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Precision Metal Working.
Cincinnati State Technical and Community College
Cincinnati, OH
Cincinnati State Technical and Community College is a public institution in Cincinnati. Across its 6 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $13,581 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $53,558 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 3.8 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and 0.3 months faster than the Ohio state median of 4.1. It reports a 16% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Fire Protection.
Ohio Technical College
Cleveland, OH
Ohio Technical College is a private for-profit institution in Cleveland. Across its 4 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $12,000 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $34,932 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 4.1 months of gross pay: fourth in the state, and right on the Ohio state median of 4.1. It reports a 90% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Precision Metal Working.
Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute
Wooster, OH
Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute is a public institution in Wooster. Across its 4 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $12,000 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $34,468 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 4.2 months of gross pay: fifth in the state, and right on the Ohio state median of 4.1. It reports a 43% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Animal Sciences.
Read It Carefully
Why this list is short, and what it does not measure
Absence from this page is not a verdict. Most trade schools in Ohio are missing because the Department of Education suppresses figures for programs with small cohorts, not because they scored badly. A small, excellent school will often have no publishable data at all.
The measure is also a ratio, not a repayment plan, and it counts federal loan debt only. Cash payments, private loans and employer sponsorship are invisible here. Local wages shape earnings as much as the school does, which is exactly why comparing within a state, as this page does, is more informative than comparing across the country.
By Trade
Or narrow it down to one trade in Ohio
For OHIO School Operators
Want to know how your school ranks, program by program?
We run this analysis for individual schools against their own federal data and show them where they sit against both the Ohio median and the national one. Where the answer is good, it is the strongest recruitment argument a school owns.
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