State Income Tax Calculator
Pick a state and see what it takes from a paycheck in 2026 — the state tax, any local tax, and the federal and payroll tax alongside it, so the take-home figure is the whole answer rather than one piece of it.
On this page
Which states this covers
Six so far: New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, which tax wage income, and Texas, Florida, and Washington, which do not. Each was added only once its 2026 figures could be checked against that state's own revenue department.
That is a deliberately short list. There is no technical obstacle to generating fifty pages; the obstacle is that a rate schedule nobody has verified looks exactly as authoritative on screen as one that has been, and a reader has no way to tell them apart. The tax calculators hub lists what is published, and the state tax update checklist records what each remaining state is waiting on.
Why the state figure is not the whole answer
State income tax is usually the smallest of the three deductions on a paycheck. Federal income tax is larger for most people, and Social Security and Medicare together take 7.65% of wages before either income tax is applied.
So this calculator shows all of them. The state tax is the headline because that is what you came for; the take-home figure underneath it is the number that actually matters, and comparing two states on state tax alone will mislead you about both.
States differ in what they tax, not just how much
The rate gets the attention and the base does the damage. Three examples from the states here:
New York starts from federal adjusted gross income, allows a standard deduction, and applies a graduated schedule with nine bands. A New York City resident pays a second income tax on top, on its own schedule.
Illinois applies one flat rate to everyone, with no standard deduction at all — an exemption allowance per person does that job instead.
Pennsylvania does not begin from federal AGI. It taxes eight classes of income separately, and a 401(k) contribution that reduces your federal wages does not reduce your Pennsylvania compensation. Two people with identical federal returns can therefore have very different state taxable income.
The calculator applies each state's own structure rather than a common one with different numbers plugged in, which is why the deduction fields behave differently depending on what you select.
A worked example
$85,000 of gross income, single, with $6,000 into a 401(k) and $2,400 of health premiums.
In New York, the pre-tax deductions bring income to $76,600, the $8,000 standard deduction leaves $68,600 of state taxable income, and the schedule gives $3,539.80 — an effective state rate of 4.16%. A New York City resident adds $2,533.94 on top.
In Illinois, the same deductions leave $76,600, one exemption allowance of $2,925 comes off, and 4.95% of $73,675 is $3,646.91.
In Pennsylvania, the 401(k) does not reduce the base. Compensation of $82,600 at 3.07% is $2,535.82, plus whatever local earned income tax the municipality levies.
Same income, same deductions, three structures, three answers — and the lowest headline rate does not produce the lowest bill in every case.
What this does not do
- Credits. State earned income credits, child credits, property tax credits, and dependent care credits are not applied, and several are substantial.
- State-specific additions and subtractions. Retirement income exclusions, municipal bond adjustments, and state 529 deductions are not modelled.
- Part-year and non-resident returns. The calculation assumes a full year of residence in one state.
- Reciprocity. Several states have agreements that change where wages are taxed for cross-border commuters.
- Withholding. What comes out of your paycheck follows your state withholding certificate, not this calculation.
For the federal side in full, use the federal income tax calculator; for the whole paycheck, the take-home pay calculator. See our sources for every state publication behind these figures.
Frequently asked questions
Which states does this calculator support?
New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, and Washington for tax year 2026. More are added as their figures are confirmed against the state revenue department.
A state appears in the dropdown only when its data has been verified, so an unsupported state is absent rather than silently wrong.
Why are some states missing?
Because their 2026 rate schedules had not been published or confirmed when this was built. California is the clearest case: the Franchise Tax Board indexes its brackets annually and had not yet released the 2026 schedules, and its own 2026 estimated tax form directs filers to the 2025 tables.
Publishing a state on last year's rates under this year's heading would be the kind of small inaccuracy this site exists to avoid.
Does living in a state with no income tax mean paying no tax?
No. Federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare apply everywhere and are unaffected by which state you live in. States without an income tax raise revenue through sales and property taxes instead, and those can be high.
The pages for Texas, Florida, and Washington set out what a resident does pay rather than stopping at a zero.
Why does my paycheck withholding not match this?
Withholding is calculated from the certificate you filed with your employer — allowances, extra withholding, and a formula designed to approximate your annual liability across pay periods. This calculates the annual tax itself.
The two are meant to land close by the end of the year, and they rarely match at any single point in it.
Are 401(k) contributions deductible for state income tax?
In most states, yes, because they start from federal adjusted gross income and the contribution has already reduced it. Pennsylvania is the notable exception here: elective deferrals do not reduce Pennsylvania compensation.
This calculator applies each state's own rule and says so in the results when a deduction you entered was not allowed.
Does it handle local income taxes?
Where the state has them and they can be verified. New York City and Yonkers are modelled from their published schedules. Pennsylvania local earned income tax rates are set by each municipality and school district, so the rate is entered by you.
States with no local income tax do not show the field at all.
Related calculators
This calculator is provided for general educational and estimation purposes only and is not tax advice. It estimates state income tax; it does not prepare a return, and credits, additions, and subtractions specific to your circumstances are not applied. Only states whose 2026 figures have been confirmed against the state revenue department are offered.