Marketing Specialist salary in Cincinnati, OH-KY

Pay in Cincinnati against Ohio and the US

The middle half of marketing specialists in Cincinnati earns $56,950–$100,780. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $134,270, only 3.0 times the bottom tenth, against 3.6 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. The mean ($84,620) is 12% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $43,830 wide, against $45,650 across Ohio and $49,960 nationally: employers in Cincinnati pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a marketing specialist here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $18,800 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $25,030, or about $32,297 once benefits are added. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $78,760 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Cincinnati, and the Ohio statewide median of $72,790 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Cincinnati

At the $75,750 median, a local hire costs about $97,742 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $21,992 here. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for marketing specialists we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Cincinnati

Of the 17 roles we track in Cincinnati, this one ranks #3 by median pay, between accountants ($80,640) and recruiters ($73,010). Project Coordinator is the highest at $95,380.

Measured against the US median, marketing specialists rank #12 of the 17 roles we track in Cincinnati (-3.8%), between accountants (-3.6%) and recruiters (-3.9%). The typical role here is at -1.3%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Marketing specialists hold 6.6% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Cincinnati, 5.3% across Ohio and 5.7% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Ohio

Across the 16 areas of Ohio with data for this job, the median runs from $56,550 in Mansfield to $77,010 in Columbus, a gap of $20,460 a year. No other area in Ohio has as many marketing specialists, and 14 of the other 15 pay less.

Cincinnati against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Cincinnati is #23 of 514 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job and one of the better-paying ones. Outside Ohio, Pittsfield and Buffalo-Cheektowaga pay just above Cincinnati and Niles and Hickory-Lenoir just below. All four are within $300 a year of the median in Cincinnati. Of the three markets with about as many marketing specialists, one pays more.

Questions

Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.