Take Home Pay by State

Why the same salary nets different pay

The federal half of your withholding is the same in every state. On $60,000 paid every two weeks, federal income tax is $193 a check and FICA is $177, in Dallas or in Sacramento. Every difference in the table comes from the lines under that: state income tax, state disability and paid leave deductions, and city or county taxes.

States fall into three groups. 9 take nothing out of wages for income tax, including Texas, Florida, Washington, Nevada and Tennessee. Flat rate states such as Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Colorado, Utah and North Carolina apply one percentage to taxable wages. Bracketed states such as California, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota and Oregon step their rates up as income rises, so the gap between them and the no tax states widens on bigger salaries. Standard deductions, exemptions and credits differ too, which is why two states with similar rates can still withhold different amounts.

Disability and paid leave deductions

Some states take a payroll deduction that is not income tax at all. State disability insurance is withheld in California, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Hawaii, and paid family leave contributions come out of paychecks in states including Washington, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, Colorado and New York. The Disability / leave column shows them. In California on $60,000 that is $780 a year on top of $1,803 of state income tax, which puts a California check at $1,839 against $1,938 in Texas.

City and county taxes are extra

Local income tax is withheld in parts of roughly a dozen states and is not in the table, because it depends on the city. Ohio has hundreds of city taxes, Pennsylvania has local earned income tax plus Philadelphia's wage tax, Kentucky cities and counties charge occupational taxes, Maryland counties ride along with the state return, and New York City taxes its residents on top of the state. Most run under 3% of wages, but Philadelphia's resident rate beats a few whole states. Each state's paycheck calculator lets you add the local tax for your city.

Which state taxes you when you work remotely

Wages are normally taxed where the work is physically done. If you live in one state and commute to another, your employer withholds for the work state and your home state gives you a credit. Reciprocity agreements between some neighboring states, mostly in the mid-Atlantic and the Midwest, let you have tax withheld for your home state instead. Fully remote workers are usually taxed where they sit, but a few states, New York the best known, keep taxing days you worked from home by choice. Ask a remote employer which state they will withhold for before you sign.