Ohio public school teachers do not pay into Social Security for their teaching work. Instead, 14% of every paycheck is withheld and sent to the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS Ohio), and the employing district contributes another 14% on top of that. Teaching earnings generate no Social Security credits, and no Social Security tax is withheld. Medicare tax is a separate matter, and so is any Social Security you may have earned through other jobs.
Why Teaching Is Outside Social Security in Ohio
The Social Security Act of 1935 excluded state and local government workers from the program entirely, on the view that the federal government could not impose payroll taxes on state entities.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Act of 19352Social Security Administration. Chapter 8 Coverage of Social Security Congress later gave states the option to bring public workers in through Section 218 agreements. Ohio signed a limited agreement covering some public employees, but it has never extended Social Security coverage to teachers in STRS Ohio.3Social Security Administration. SSR 77-16
When you’re hired into an Ohio teaching position, your employer is required to give you a written notice explaining that the job isn’t covered by Social Security.4STRS Ohio. Social Security Fairness Act Update
What the 14% Buys You
Participation in STRS Ohio is mandatory under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3307. You can’t opt out and you can’t redirect the money elsewhere. Since July 2016, the rate has been 14% from the teacher and 14% from the employer, for a combined 28% of gross pay flowing into the system.5STRS Ohio Employer. Contribution Rates For comparison, Social Security’s combined payroll tax is 12.4%. Investment returns on the pooled contributions historically fund the largest share of benefits paid out.6STRS Ohio. STRS Ohio at a Glance
The Three Plan Options
New members choose among three plans, and the choice locks in a lot about how retirement will look.7STRS Ohio. Retirement Plan Choices and Benefits
- The Defined Benefit Plan is the traditional pension. Your monthly check is calculated from years of service and salary, not investment performance. It’s the only STRS plan that lets you buy additional service credit and the only one with a cost-of-living adjustment.
- The Defined Contribution Plan works like a 401(k). Your 14% goes into an individual account you invest yourself, and your benefit depends on how those investments perform. No guaranteed monthly payment for life.8State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio. Investment Options Guide for STRS Ohio Defined Contribution Plan and Combined Plan
- The Combined Plan is a hybrid, splitting your contribution between a smaller defined benefit and a self-directed account. It includes health care eligibility but no COLA.
If you don’t make an active election, you default into the Defined Benefit Plan, which is what most Ohio teachers use. Switching plans later is restricted.
How the Pension Is Calculated
Under the Defined Benefit Plan, your annual pension equals 2.2% times years of service times your final average salary, which is the average of your five highest-earning years in Ohio public employment.9STRS Ohio. Service Retirement and Plans of Payment A teacher retiring with 30 years of service and a $70,000 final average salary would draw roughly $46,200 a year, or about $3,850 a month before taxes.
Through May 2030, an unreduced benefit requires either 32 years of service at any age, or five years of qualifying service and age 65. A reduced benefit is available at 27 years of service at any age, or five years of service and age 60.10STRS Ohio Employer. Service Retirement Teachers who joined STRS on or after July 1, 2013, vest after five years; earlier members vested after one and a half.
You Still Pay Medicare Tax
Being outside Social Security doesn’t mean being outside Medicare. Ohio teachers hired after March 31, 1986, pay the 1.45% Medicare tax on every paycheck. The Social Security Administration classifies these workers as Medicare Qualified Government Employees.11Social Security Administration. Mandatory Medicare Coverage Those payments earn credits toward premium-free Medicare Part A at 65, but they do not build eligibility for Social Security retirement benefits.12Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Original Medicare Part A and B Eligibility and Enrollment
If you haven’t hit 40 quarters of Medicare-covered work by 65, you can still buy Part A, but the 2026 premium runs $311 or $565 a month depending on how many quarters you’ve earned.13Medicare. Costs
The Part B Enrollment Trap
Retirees who receive Social Security are enrolled in Medicare Part B automatically. Retired Ohio teachers usually aren’t drawing Social Security, so nobody signs them up. You have to enroll yourself during the initial enrollment window around your 65th birthday. Miss it and the Part B premium goes up 10% for every full year you could have enrolled but didn’t, and that penalty lasts for the rest of your life.12Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Original Medicare Part A and B Eligibility and Enrollment
Social Security From Other Jobs
Plenty of Ohio teachers earn Social Security credits outside the classroom, through summer work, part-time jobs, or a private-sector career before or after teaching. Any job that withholds the 6.2% Social Security tax builds credits.14Internal Revenue Service. Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare Withholding Rates In 2026, one credit is earned for every $1,890 in covered wages, with a maximum of four per year and 40 needed to qualify for retirement benefits.15Social Security Administration. Social Security Credits and Benefit Eligibility
What changed recently, and materially, is how those benefits are calculated when you also draw an STRS pension. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed January 5, 2025, repealed both the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset retroactive to January 2024.16Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) Update WEP had reduced a teacher’s own Social Security benefit; GPO had reduced spousal and survivor benefits by two-thirds of the STRS pension amount, which for many teachers wiped the spousal benefit out entirely. Neither reduction applies to benefits payable from January 2024 forward. The SSA began issuing adjusted monthly payments in spring 2025 and is sending one-time lump sums covering the retroactive period.
If you skipped applying for a spousal or survivor benefit in the past because GPO would have zeroed it out, file now. Standard retroactivity rules still cap back payments on new applications at six months.16Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) Update
How Retirement Income Is Taxed
STRS pension payments are ordinary income for federal tax purposes, and STRS withholds based on the W-4P you file with the system.17Internal Revenue Service. Publication 575, Pension and Annuity Income Ohio also taxes STRS income, though the state offers a retirement income credit and an additional senior citizen credit for taxpayers 65 and older.18Ohio Department of Taxation. Senior Citizens and Ohio Income Tax Any Social Security benefits you do receive through other employment are fully exempt from Ohio income tax.