Most paycheck calculators use one flat state rate or stale tables. This one pulls the live 2026 database: graduated brackets for all 50 states + DC, local taxes where they apply, and the official federal tables (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32). Federal numbers compute instantly in your browser; the state result loads live and cites its sources.
Taxable income = gross − standard deduction (2026: $16,100 single / $32,200 joint / $24,150 HoH) − pre-tax deductions. Federal tax applies the 2026 IRS brackets (10–37%). FICA = 6.2% Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base + 1.45% Medicare + 0.9% additional Medicare above $200k. State tax comes from the live 2026 state database — nine states (TX, FL, WA, NV, SD, WY, TN, AK, NH) charge no income tax on wages.
Most paycheck tools bake one flat state percentage or a stale bracket table into the page and quietly rot when legislatures act. This one splits the computation: the federal side runs instantly in your browser from the official 2026 tables, IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, applying the $16,100 single, $32,200 joint and $24,150 head-of-household standard deductions, the 10 to 37 percent brackets, and FICA at 6.2 percent Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base plus 1.45 percent Medicare with the 0.9 percent surtax above the income thresholds. The state side calls the free estimatetax.net API, a live 2026 database covering all 50 states plus DC with graduated brackets, standard or itemized deductions per state's own rules, and local income taxes where they apply, such as New York City, Pennsylvania municipal taxes and Ohio school district levies. Each state result cites its sources so you can verify rather than trust. The practical effect: a California filer sees the real marginal structure peaking above 10 percent, a Texas filer sees zero, and both see it computed against the same federal baseline.
The two numbers this calculator reports answer different questions, and conflating them drives bad decisions. Your marginal rate is what the next dollar of income pays: a single filer at $85,000 in 2026 sits in the 22 percent federal bracket, so a $1,000 bonus loses about $220 federal, plus state marginal rate, plus 7.65 percent FICA, before it reaches your account. Your effective rate is total tax divided by gross income, and it is always lower, that same filer pays roughly 11 to 13 percent federal effective after the standard deduction and the progressive brackets absorb the first dollars at 10 and 12 percent. Add a 5 percent state and the effective all-in rate lands near 20 to 22 percent while marginal runs past 30. The decision rule: use marginal rates for evaluating extra income, side hustles, bonuses and Roth-versus-traditional contributions; use effective rates for take-home budgeting and job-offer comparisons. Both are shown here so neither question needs a second tool.
The eight states with zero wage income tax fund government through other channels, and the totals sometimes exceed what a taxed state would collect. Washington pairs no income tax with the nation's highest combined sales tax rates near 9.5 percent plus a capital-gains tax on high earners; Texas leans on property taxes that rank among the heaviest, so a $400,000 home can carry $7,000-plus in annual property tax; Tennessee and Florida stack high sales taxes on everything, with Florida also charging some of the highest insurance premiums in the country, a quasi-tax on coastal risk. The comparison that decides a move is the full ledger: state income tax from this calculator, sales tax on your spending, property tax on your home, and insurance. A $120,000 remote salary in Oregon, with a top marginal rate near 9.9 percent but modest property tax, can net out close to the same take-home plus living costs as $120,000 in Texas once property and sales taxes enter. Run the state result here first, then price the rest of the ledger in the cost-of-living calculator before packing boxes.
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming have no state income tax; New Hampshire taxes only interest and dividends (phasing out). Pick them in the dropdown — state tax shows $0.
Single: 10% to $12,400, 12% to $50,400, 22% to $105,700, 24% to $201,775, 32% to $256,225, 35% to $640,600, 37% above. The standard deduction is $16,100 single / $32,200 married filing jointly.
Yes, where the state database has them — e.g. New York City, Pennsylvania municipal taxes, Ohio school district taxes show as a separate local line.
State figures load live from the free estimatetax.net API, which maintains current-year tax tables for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and cites its sources per state. Federal figures come from the official 2026 tables, IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, covering brackets, the standard deduction and the FICA wage base. Because the state side is a live 2026 database rather than a hard-coded snapshot, results stay current when states adjust rates or brackets mid-cycle.
Nine states levy no broad income tax on wages, Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming, and New Hampshire taxes only interest and dividends, with that tax phasing out. The trade is usually elsewhere: Washington funds itself with high sales and property taxes, Texas with property taxes, Tennessee likewise. A zero state-tax line does not mean a low-tax state, it means the burden moved, which is why the cost-of-living comparison matters alongside this calculator.
You owe where you earn, and if they differ, both. Reciprocity agreements, common around DC, Philadelphia and Cincinnati, let commuters pay only their home state. Otherwise you file a nonresident return for the work state and a resident return for home, claiming a credit for taxes paid to the work state so the income is not taxed twice. Remote workers should confirm which state their employer reports wages to before assuming the answer.