Guide · Cost by state

How much does it cost to start a home care agency in Ohio?

The state lines

In Ohio, the state fee for the Nonmedical Home Health Services License is $250. The bond picture: a $20,000 bond (Surety bond of $20,000 required ONLY if the applicant was NOT providing nonmedical home health services on or immediately prior to September 30, 2021 (3701-60-03(B)(3)(k)(ii)). Skilled applicants in the same position need a $50,000 bond (3701-60-03(A)(3)(e)(ii)). Items are waived in part for providers certified by the Ohio Department of Aging under ORC 173.391 or nationally accredited (3701-60-03(E)-(F)).). Insurance: State sets no minimum Timeline to budget against: State does not publish a processing time in the rule; renewal must be filed at least 90 days before the license expires

The lines the state doesn't set

Formation (~$300 planning figure), a policies-and-procedures manual ($0–$2,500), screening at roughly $75 per hire, and — the line that decides whether the opening works — payroll runway: your caregivers' weekly pay multiplied by the weeks your clients and Medicaid take to pay you. At 3 caregivers, 30 hours a week, $17 an hour and a 30-day payment lag, the runway alone is about $7,650.

Your number, computed

Run the true-cost calculator with Ohio selected. It uses this state's published fees from the dataset — checked October 22, 2026 against Ohio Department of Health — and prints every assumption next to its line, so you can argue with the inputs instead of with a stranger's blog total.

Against the anchors

For this state as for every state: the ~$3,000–$4,000 'fully legitimate' PDF figure omits payroll; the $40,000–$80,000 consultancy range assumes an office-first model plus the consultant. Your computed number will land where your model puts it — which is the entire point.

Dataset pages behind this guide: Ohio state page · the full 50-state dataset (checked October 22, 2026).