MASSACHUSETTS PAYCHECK CALCULATOR

Flat 5% state tax, 9% once you clear roughly $1.08M

Massachusetts runs one of the simpler income tax systems in the Northeast for most workers: a flat 5% on wages, period. The complexity only shows up at the very top, where voters approved a 4% “Millionaire’s Tax” surtax in 2022 that kicks in once taxable income crosses roughly $1.08 million (the exact threshold adjusts for inflation each year), pushing the marginal rate on that slice to 9%. For the overwhelming majority of people reading their pay stub, though, the math stays refreshingly simple.

A Massachusetts paycheck runs through federal tax, the flat state tax, a small Paid Family and Medical Leave contribution, Social Security, and Medicare. There’s no city or county income tax anywhere in the state. Massachusetts workers weighing a move or a remote job often compare notes with neighbors, so take a look at the New Hampshire paycheck calculator for the no-income-tax comparison, the Rhode Island paycheck calculator, the Connecticut paycheck calculator, or the New York paycheck calculator.

Every Deduction on a Massachusetts Paycheck

• Federal income tax: Based on the 2026 IRS brackets, 10% to 37%, after the $16,100 single / $32,200 joint standard deduction.
• Massachusetts state income tax: A flat 5% on most taxable income, after the state’s personal exemption of $4,400 for single filers. An extra 4% surtax applies once taxable income crosses roughly $1.08 million.
• PFML (Paid Family and Medical Leave): 0.46% of eligible wages for 2026, capped once earnings hit the Social Security wage base. This funds the state’s paid leave program.
• Social Security: 6.2% of gross wages up to $184,500 for 2026.
• Medicare: 1.45% of all wages, no cap, plus an extra 0.9% on wages above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married filing jointly).
• What’s NOT on a Massachusetts paycheck: no city or county income tax anywhere in the state, including Boston.

The Millionaire’s Tax, and Why 99% of Workers Never See It

In November 2022, Massachusetts voters approved a constitutional amendment known as the Fair Share Amendment, adding a 4% surtax on annual income above $1 million, effective for tax year 2023. The threshold adjusts for inflation each year, landing somewhere around $1.08 million for 2026 depending on the source (the exact Department of Revenue figure is worth confirming before relying on it for anything precise). Below that line, the system stays a flat 5%, which is part of why Massachusetts payroll withholding is genuinely simple compared to most of its Northeast neighbors. Above the line, the math works like this: the first $1.08 million or so still gets taxed at 5%, and only the excess above that gets the extra 4%, landing at an effective 9% marginal rate on that top slice. Short-term capital gains get their own separate treatment too, taxed at 8.5% rather than the standard 5%, which matters for anyone actively trading rather than holding long-term.

How the Surtax Actually Works

Taxable Income	Rate
Up to ~$1,083,150	5%
Above ~$1,083,150	9% (5% base + 4% surtax)

A filer with $1.5 million in taxable income, for example, would owe 5% on the first roughly $1.08 million and 9% on the remaining amount, not 9% on the whole sum. That distinction matters for anyone doing year-end tax planning around a bonus or a stock sale that might push them over the line.

Massachusetts vs. Its Neighbors: $70,000, Single Filer

Here’s how Massachusetts compares to three states people in New England actually weigh against each other, all at $70,000 in gross salary for a single filer.

State	State Tax Owed	Est. Net Pay*
Massachusetts	~$3,280	~$54,795
New Hampshire	$0 (no wage income tax)	~$58,075
Rhode Island	~$2,229	~$55,846
Connecticut	~$3,100	~$54,975

*Net pay is after federal tax, state tax, Social Security, and Medicare, before PFML, pre-tax deductions, or any surtax. Rhode Island’s and Connecticut’s figures are built from their published bracket structures and standard deduction or exemption rules, which involve some inflation-indexed or phase-out mechanics not fully detailed in every source, so confirm the exact numbers against each state’s Department of Revenue before publishing.

Massachusetts Tax Burden: The Full Picture

Tax Type	Massachusetts	National Average
Income tax	Flat 5% (9% above ~$1.08M)	~5.0%
State + avg. local sales tax	6.25% flat, no local add-on	~7.5%
Effective property tax rate	1.00%	~0.99%
Estate tax	Yes, above a $2 million exemption	Most states have none

Massachusetts lands close to the national average on income tax and property tax for most residents, and its 6.25% sales tax is a flat statewide rate with no local add-ons at all, the same in Boston as in the Berkshires. The real outlier is the estate tax: a $2 million exemption is low compared to the federal exemption of $15 million for 2026, so a family that owes nothing to the IRS can still face a real Massachusetts estate tax bill, and there’s no portability of the exemption between spouses.

The New Hampshire Question, for Remote and Border Workers

Massachusetts sits next to a state with no wage income tax at all, and that geography drives a lot of relocation conversations. New Hampshire fully repealed its old tax on interest and dividends, so as of now it taxes wages, interest, and dividends at 0%. But the savings aren’t automatic. Massachusetts still taxes income earned by work physically performed in Massachusetts, so an employee who lives in New Hampshire but commutes into a Massachusetts office, or works for a Massachusetts employer without genuinely relocating their life, doesn’t escape the 5% state tax on that wage income. The real savings from a New Hampshire move show up on investment income, side business income, and retirement account withdrawals, categories where residency actually determines who taxes it. New Hampshire’s property tax rates run considerably higher than Massachusetts on average too, which can eat into some of the gain for a homeowner.

Federal Tax: A Worked Example

Take a single filer earning $70,000 in 2026. Subtract the federal standard deduction of $16,100, and taxable income comes to $53,900. Here’s how that runs through the brackets:

• 10% on the first $12,400 = $1,240
• 12% on $12,400 to $50,400 ($38,000) = $4,560
• 22% on $50,400 to $53,900 ($3,500) = $770

Total federal tax: $6,570, an effective rate of 9.4% on the full $70,000. Add Massachusetts’s flat 5% on the smaller state taxable base after the personal exemption, and the two income taxes together still land well short of what several neighboring states would charge on the same salary.

Frequently Asked Questions

Massachusetts keeps its income tax simple for almost everybody and saves the complexity for the very top of the income scale and for estate planning further down the road. Anyone weighing a New England move should run both the paycheck numbers and the property tax numbers together, since a state with no income tax at all isn’t automatically the cheaper option once housing costs enter the picture.