VERMONT PAYCHECK CALCULATOR

Own standard deduction, far smaller than the federal one

Vermont runs its income tax on a completely separate track from the federal government’s, and the gap shows up right where it matters most: the standard deduction. While the federal standard deduction sits at $16,100 for a single filer in 2026, Vermont’s own version is just $7,000, less than half. That means a much bigger slice of a Vermont paycheck ends up as state-taxable income than most people expect walking in.

A Vermont paycheck runs through federal tax, Vermont’s own four-bracket state tax, Social Security, and Medicare. There’s no city or county income tax anywhere in the state. Vermont residents often compare their tax bill to nearby New England states, so check out the New Hampshire paycheck calculator for the no-income-tax comparison, the Massachusetts paycheck calculator, or the New York paycheck calculator.

Every Deduction on a Vermont Paycheck

• Federal income tax: Based on the 2026 IRS brackets, 10% to 37%, after the $16,100 single / $32,200 joint federal standard deduction.
• Vermont state income tax: Four brackets from 3.35% to 8.75%, after Vermont’s own, much smaller standard deduction ($7,000 single / $14,050 joint) and personal exemption ($4,500 single / $9,000 joint).
• 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 Vermont paycheck: no city or county income tax anywhere in the state.

Vermont’s Bracket Table, and Why It Bites Earlier Than You’d Think

Vermont’s top bracket is only the fourth-highest headline number in New England, but it kicks in at a lower income than most people assume, and the small standard deduction is a big reason why. Here’s the full single-filer table for 2026:

Taxable Income (Single)	Rate
$0 – $45,400	3.35%
$45,400 – $110,050	6.60%
$110,050 – $229,550	7.60%
Above $229,550	8.75%

Married couples filing jointly get roughly double these thresholds at every step. The real story, though, is what happens before the brackets even apply. Most states that run their own bracket system still borrow the much larger federal standard deduction. Vermont doesn’t. A single filer subtracts just $7,000 as a standard deduction plus a $4,500 personal exemption, a combined $11,500, compared to the federal government’s $16,100 standard deduction alone. That difference, roughly $4,600 of extra taxable income, pushes real dollars into Vermont’s 6.60% bracket for plenty of middle-income earners who’d otherwise expect to stay in the bottom bracket.

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

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

State	State Tax Owed	Est. Net Pay*
Vermont	~$2,386	~$55,689
New Hampshire	$0 (no wage income tax)	~$58,075
Massachusetts	~$3,280	~$54,795
New York	~$3,197	~$54,878

*Net pay is after federal tax, state tax, Social Security, and Medicare, before any pre-tax deductions. All figures assume the standard deduction and no dependents.

Vermont Tax Burden: The Full Picture

Tax Type	Vermont	National Average
Top income tax rate	8.75%	~5.0%
State + avg. local sales tax	6.39%	~7.5%
Effective property tax rate	1.51%	~0.99%
Estate tax	Yes, above a $5 million exemption	Most states have none

Vermont’s sales tax actually runs below the national average, a genuine bright spot. Where the state stands out less favorably is property tax, among the highest per-capita in the country according to the Tax Foundation, and the combination of a relatively high top income tax rate with that property tax burden is a big reason Vermont lands in the bottom 10 of the Tax Foundation’s State Tax Competitiveness Index. There’s also a state estate tax above a $5 million exemption, well below the federal exemption of $15 million, so a mid-size Vermont estate can owe state tax while owing nothing to the IRS.

Vermont Will Pay Remote Workers to Move There

Vermont has run an unusual incentive for years now: the New Arrivals program, which offers grants of up to $10,000, paid out as $5,000 in the first year and $5,000 in the second, to people who move to Vermont, establish their primary home there, and work remotely for an employer or clients based outside the state. It’s aimed squarely at remote workers who could live anywhere and are weighing Vermont’s quality of life against its tax bill. For someone in that position, the grant can meaningfully offset a few years of the state’s income tax difference compared to a no-tax neighbor like New Hampshire, even if it doesn’t erase it permanently.

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. Vermont’s own smaller standard deduction means the state calculation starts from a bigger taxable base than the federal one did, which is the detail most people miss until they actually run the numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Vermont’s tax code rewards reading the fine print more than most, the headline bracket numbers tell only part of the story once you factor in how much smaller the state’s own deduction really is. Anyone moving to Vermont for the scenery and the remote-work grant should run the actual state tax math first, not just compare the top rate to wherever they’re leaving.