Typical comp shape
Database engineers usually earn rsu + espp. Common employers include MongoDB, Snowflake, Oracle. Database-vendor ESPPs with 15% discounts are worth maxing, but concentration risk compounds fast against RSU vests.
What Ohio changes
In Ohio, every RSU vest, NSO exercise, and ESPP purchase carries 3.5% state tax on top of federal. For a senior database engineer with $300k+ of equity income, the state layer routinely adds $25-45k to the annual bill.
Planning cadence
For a database engineer in Ohio, the three planning windows are: after each RSU vest (withholding check and sell-vs-hold), before any ISO exercise (AMT model at federal only), and in Q4 (estimated tax top-up to clear the safe harbor).