How Much Money Gets Taken Out of Your Paycheck in Every State
Jami Farkas
5 min read
RyanJLane / Getty Images/iStockphoto
Ah, payday, the very best day of the week — or every two weeks depending on when you receive your check. Anyone who’s ever held a job knows the sweet relief of opening your bank statement to see that direct deposit hit. Or, if you’re old school, opening that check and glancing down at the commas and zeros that mean your bills will be paid. There just might be enough for a bit of fun, too.
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But with every payday, the taxman cometh. Studying your paycheck, whether it’s in your hands or on your screen, you’ll see the payroll taxes taken out. How much is taken out depends on where you live.
Here, GOBankingRates lists at the average amount of taxes taken out of the bi-weekly income for individual filers and married couples filing jointly in every state, breaking down exactly how much is coming out of your paycheck every payday.
Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates analyzed each state to find out how much is taken out of a bi-weekly paycheck. GOBankingRates found the median annual income for each state as sourced from the US Census American Community Survey. Using the federal income tax data, FICA tax data, and state income tax data, all sourced from Tax Foundation’s 2023 Tax Brackets, and using in-house calculations to find the tax brackets that each state’s median earner falls in. The total taxes paid, marginal tax rate, and effective tax rate can be calculated. Using the total taxes paid and assuming there are 26 bi-weekly pay periods in a year, the taxes taken out of each bi-weekly paycheck can be calculated. The states are sorted to show the most to least taxes paid bi-weekly. All data was collected and is up to date as of June 14, 2024.
