Cincinnati, Baltimore and Cleveland offer the most favorable tax structures for businesses among U.S. cities/locations with populations exceeding 2 million, according to a study released Tuesday by KPMG International.

Of the 55 large international cities highlighted in the study, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Cleveland all ranked in the top 20 – 16th, 17th and 18th, respectively. Among the 14 countries in the study, the United States ranked eighth in terms of favorability of its overall tax structure for business.

The KPMG study compared total tax burden that may be faced by companies in 113 cities throughout 14 countries including corporate income taxes, capital taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, miscellaneous local business taxes and statutory labor costs.

According to the study, Cincinnati had a total tax index of 80.8, representing tax costs 19.2 percent below the U.S. baseline of 100. Baltimore and Cleveland followed at 83.3 and 85.2, respectively.