Figures last verified against primary sources on . See methodology and corrections.
Four states collect local income tax on the state return, and eight more send a separate bill
A $65,000 single filer who lives in Philadelphia pays the city $2,429 of wage tax for 2026, more than the $1,996 of income tax Pennsylvania charges on the same pay. The city's resident rate is 3.74% on wages paid through June 30 and 3.735% from July 1, 2026. Paid evenly across the year, that is $32,500 × 3.74% = $1,215.50 plus $32,500 × 3.735% = $1,213.88. The state figure is Pennsylvania's flat 3.07% on the same $65,000.
The Philadelphia bill never touches the PA-40. That is the split this piece is about. In 2026, four states print a local income tax as a line on the state return itself: Maryland, Indiana, Iowa and New York. Eight more let cities, counties or school districts tax income through a separate return or through city withholding that the state return never sees: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, Alabama, Delaware and Oregon. The difference decides whether "my state tax" is the whole bill, and it decides what TaxMath can print.
Where the local tax is a line on the state return
Maryland's layer reaches every resident. Every county and Baltimore City levies an income tax, the return computes it on the same taxable net income as the state tax, and the Local Tax Worksheet sends the result to line 28 of Form 502. For calendar 2026 the rates run from 2.25% in Worcester County to 3.30% in Dorchester and Kent; Baltimore City and most counties sit at 3.20%, Allegany rose from 3.03% to 3.20% this year, and Anne Arundel and Frederick have used graduated local brackets since tax year 2023.
Indiana charges a county income tax in all 92 counties. The rate depends on where you lived on January 1, and the Department of Revenue's withholding notice effective October 1, 2026 lists rates from 0.5% in Porter County to 3.0% in Randolph County, with Marion County (Indianapolis) at 2.02%. Schedule CT-40 figures it and Form IT-40 line 9 carries it.
Iowa builds its local layer differently: the school district surtax is a percentage of the state tax, not of income. Line 19 of the IA 1040 tells the filer to "multiply the amount on line 18 by the surtax rate", using the district of residence on the last day of the tax year, whether or not the filer has children in school. For the 2025 tax year (the return filed in 2026), the published table runs from 0% to 20%; Fremont-Mills, East Mills and Postville are at 20%, so a resident there owes a fifth more than the state tax alone. Six counties add an emergency medical services surtax through the same line.
New York puts two city taxes on Form IT-201. New York City's resident tax is line 47a, and for the 2025 tax year a single filer's rates run from 3.078% to 3.876% of New York taxable income. Yonkers charges residents a surcharge on line 55 equal to 16.75% of their net state tax. A Buffalo or Albany resident owes neither.
Where the local tax is a separate bill
In the other eight states the local levy is filed somewhere else: with a city, a county collector, a regional agency or, in Ohio's school district case, the state on a second form.
Ohio has two local layers. Municipalities tax income under Revised Code Chapter 718, and §718.04 bars a rate above 1% without a vote of the residents unless the higher rate was already in place in March 2015. Columbus's rate on its 2025 city return is 2.5%; at that rate $65,000 of wages costs a Columbus resident $1,625, against $1,012 of Ohio income tax for 2026. School districts are the second layer: the Department of Taxation lists 214 districts with an income tax for 2026, at 0.25% to 2%, 68 of them on an earned-income-only base. Westerville City Schools' 0.75% earned-income tax is new this year and adds $487.50 on the same $65,000. The school tax goes on Form SD 100, which is due with the IT 1040 but is its own return, and city tax withheld is kept off both state forms.
Pennsylvania has the broadest layer. The Local Tax Enabling Act limits the earned income tax it authorizes to 1% (§311(3)), and municipalities and school districts across the state levy it; Pittsburgh residents pay 3%, 1% to the city and 2% to the school district. Residents file a local earned income tax return by April 15 with the collector for their tax collection district, and that return lists interest, dividends and capital gains as non-taxable. Philadelphia's wage tax, from the lead, is levied on salaries, wages and other compensation and withheld by employers.
Michigan has 24 cities with an income tax. The uniform city ordinance sets 1% for residents and 0.5% for nonresidents, and a city of more than 600,000 may charge up to 2.40% and 1.20%. Detroit charges exactly that: its 2025 return multiplies resident income by 2.4% and nonresident income by 1.2%. Treasury administers Detroit's return; the other 23 cities run their own.
Kentucky taxes wages locally through occupational license taxes. Louisville Metro charges 2.2% for residents and 1.45% for nonresidents, which is $1,430 on $65,000 of a resident's wages, beside $2,157 of Kentucky income tax. Employers withhold it, and a worker whose tax was not fully withheld files Form OL-3 with the Louisville Metro Revenue Commission.
In Missouri, Kansas City and St. Louis each levy an earnings tax. Kansas City's is 1% of salaries, wages, commissions and tips, owed by residents wherever they work, and St. Louis collects the same one percent from residents and from people who work in the city. That is $650 on $65,000, paid to the city's revenue office.
Alabama cities levy occupational taxes on the pay of people who work in them. Birmingham's code sets the fee at "one percent (1%) of the gross receipts" of each employee, withheld by the employer and remitted to the city. State law caps any Jefferson County occupational fee on individuals at one-half of one percent and bars an increase without the Legislature's approval.
Delaware's one local income tax is Wilmington's city wage tax at 1.25%, handled on the city's own forms. On $65,000 it is $812.50.
Oregon's Portland-area taxes start above $125,000 of income, so the $65,000 filer owes none of them. Metro's Supportive Housing Services tax is 1% of Metro taxable income above $128,000 for a single filer in 2026, the first year that threshold is indexed to inflation. Multnomah County's Preschool for All tax is 1.5% above $125,000 and another 1.5% above $250,000. A single Multnomah County resident inside Metro with $185,000 of taxable income owes ($185,000 − $128,000) × 1% = $570 plus ($185,000 − $125,000) × 1.5% = $900, or $1,470. The Revenue Division states it plainly: "These taxes are not included on your Oregon tax return."
New Jersey's local tax lands on the employer
Newark's 1% payroll tax is figured on an employer's payroll, and the city's booklet says "The Employer is responsible for the Payroll Tax." It comes out of the business's pocket, not out of the worker's return. California sits at the far end: since 1965, Rev. & Tax. Code §17041.5 has barred every city, county and district from taxing income at all.
What the two cases mean for a TaxMath figure
The split is a rule in our state engine, not a footnote. Where the local tax is filed separately, the state figure is complete as a state figure, and the local tax is shown beside it as a caveat: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, Alabama and Oregon each declare theirs that way. Where the local tax is a line on the state return, leaving it out would understate the return, so the engine treats the missing line as a gap. It does not yet compute Maryland's county tax, Indiana's county tax or Iowa's surtax, which means those three states' totals are withheld rather than printed short, and they are not ranked on /compare. New York is computed: TaxMath's New York return asks whether you live in New York City, Yonkers or elsewhere, and adds the city tax the IT-201 would.
Whichever form it rides, a local income tax is one of the state and local income taxes an itemizer deducts on Schedule A, inside the same cap as the state tax; the 2026 cap has its own piece.
| State | Who levies it | Where it is filed |
|---|---|---|
| Maryland | Every county and Baltimore City | Form 502, line 28 |
| Indiana | All 92 counties | Form IT-40, line 9 (Schedule CT-40) |
| Iowa | School districts; six counties' EMS surtax | IA 1040, line 19 |
| New York | New York City; Yonkers | Form IT-201, lines 47a and 55 |
| Ohio | Municipalities; 214 school districts | City return; Form SD 100 |
| Pennsylvania | Municipalities and school districts; Philadelphia | Local EIT return to the district collector; city withholding |
| Michigan | 24 cities | City return (Detroit's through Treasury) |
| Kentucky | Cities and counties (Louisville Metro) | Employer withholding; Form OL-3 |
| Missouri | Kansas City; St. Louis | City earnings tax return |
| Alabama | Cities (Birmingham) | Employer withholding to the city |
| Delaware | Wilmington | City wage tax forms |
| Oregon | Metro; Multnomah County | Return filed with the Portland Revenue Division |
The next scheduled change on this map is in Multnomah County, where the Revenue Division notes that the Preschool for All rate "will increase by 0.8% in 2028".
Sources
Ordered by authority — the law and the agencies administering it first. Every link is checked for rot; see all sources.
- Primary lawAla. Code §45-37-200.02 — Jefferson County occupational license feeAlabama Legislature · checked 2026-10-21Limits any Jefferson County occupational license fee on individuals to one-half of one percent of income, wage or salary, and bars an increase without the Legislature's approval.Other articles citing this source
- Primary lawCal. Rev. & Tax. Code §17041.5 — local income taxes prohibitedCalifornia Legislature · checked 2026-10-21No city, county, district or other subdivision "shall levy or collect … any tax upon the income, or any part thereof, of any person, resident or nonresident." Amended by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1319.Other articles citing this source
- Primary lawMCL 141.503 — City income tax act: levy, ratesMichigan Legislature · checked 2026-10-21Subsection (2)(d): a city of more than 600,000 may levy not more than 2.40% on resident individuals and 1.20% on nonresidents from January 1, 2013.Other articles citing this source
- Primary lawMCL 141.611 — Uniform city income tax ordinance, section 11 (rate)Michigan Legislature · checked 2026-10-21The uniform ordinance imposes 1% on corporations and resident individuals and 1/2% on nonresident individuals, or a lower rate the city adopts.Other articles citing this source
- Primary lawOhio Rev. Code §718.04 — authority for tax on income and withholding taxOhio Legislative Service Commission · checked 2026-10-21Division (C)(2): no municipal corporation may levy an income tax above one per cent without approval of a majority of its electors; (B) grandfathers rates above 1% in effect on March 23, 2015.Other articles citing this source
- Primary lawThe Local Tax Enabling Act (Act of Dec. 31, 1965, P.L. 1257, No. 511)Pennsylvania General Assembly · checked 2026-10-21Section 311(3) limits the tax "on wages, salaries, commissions and other earned income of individuals" to one percent; Chapter 5 (Act 32 of 2008) consolidates collection in county tax collection districts.Other articles citing this source
- Primary lawPerry v. City of Birmingham (In re Perry)U.S. Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Alabama · checked 2026-10-21Quotes Birmingham's Occupational Tax Code, art. I, §5.1: the fee is "one percent (1%) of the gross receipts" of each person working in the city as an employee, withheld by the employer and remitted to the city.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentInstructions for Form IR-25, Columbus Individual Return (2025)City of Columbus Income Tax Division · checked 2026-10-21"The Columbus tax rate is 2.5%." Residents pay 2.5% on all income wherever earned, with credit for tax paid to another city up to 2.5%.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentTax FAQsCity of Kansas City, Missouri Revenue Division · checked 2026-10-21The earnings tax is "a one percent tax on an individual's earned income such as salaries, wages, commissions, tips and other compensation"; residents owe it wherever they work, and self-employed residents file a profits return with the Revenue Division.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentCity of Newark Payroll Tax Booklet 2026City of Newark Division of Tax Abatement and Special Taxes · checked 2026-10-21Tax due is payroll multiplied by "the Payroll Tax Rate of 1% (.01)"; "The Employer is responsible for the Payroll Tax."Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentWage Tax (employers)City of Philadelphia Department of Revenue · checked 2026-10-21Rate table: resident 3.74% and non-resident 3.43% from July 1, 2025; resident 3.735% and non-resident 3.425% from July 1, 2026. All employed Philadelphia residents owe the tax wherever they work, and employers withhold it.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentTaxesCity of Pittsburgh Department of Finance · checked 2026-10-21Earned income tax: "Residents pay 1% city tax and 2% school tax for a total of 3%," collected by Jordan Tax Service.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentPersonal Income Tax Filing and Payment InformationCity of Portland Revenue Division · checked 2026-10-21Metro SHS: 1% of Metro taxable income above $128,000 single / $205,000 joint for 2026 (inflation-indexed from 2026). Multnomah PFA: 1.5% above $125,000 / $200,000 plus 1.5% more above $250,000 / $400,000. "These taxes are not included on your Oregon tax return and must be filed with and paid to the City of Portland Revenue Division."Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentIndividual Earnings Tax InformationCity of St. Louis Collector of Revenue · checked 2026-10-21The one percent earnings tax is collected from residents of the City of St. Louis regardless of where their employer is located, and from nonresidents working in the city.Other articles citing this source
- Government2025 Form WCWT-5, Application for Refund of Wilmington City Wage TaxCity of Wilmington Department of Finance · checked 2026-10-21Line 11a applies the city wage tax rate of .0125 (1.25%) to earned income; the city administers the tax on its own forms.Other articles citing this source
- Government2025 Maryland resident income tax bookletComptroller of Maryland · checked 2026-10-21Minimum filing levels, Table 1: a single person under 65 files if Maryland gross income (federal gross income plus Maryland additions, Social Security excluded) is $15,750 or more.Other articles citing this source
- Government2025 IT-40 instruction bookletIndiana Department of Revenue · checked 2026-10-21Schedule 2 deducts Social Security and railroad retirement. Deduction 632: military retirement and survivor benefits, the entire amount for 2022 and later. Deduction 601: civil service annuity at 62 or older, up to $16,000 minus Social Security and railroad retirement received.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentDepartmental Notice #1 — How to Compute Withholding for State and County Income TaxIndiana Department of Revenue · published 2026-10-01 · checked 2026-10-21County income tax rates for all 92 counties, effective October 1, 2026: Porter 0.5% lowest, Randolph 3.0% highest, Marion 2.02%. County is fixed by residence on January 1 of the tax year.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentTopic no. 503, Deductible taxesInternal Revenue Service · checked 2026-08-02What counts toward SALT — state income or sales tax, local income tax, and property tax.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentIowa Counties, School District Numbers, Surtax Rates for 2025Iowa Department of Revenue · checked 2026-10-21The 2025 surtax table by district, as a percentage of Iowa tax: from 0% to 20% (Fremont-Mills, East Mills and Postville at 20%).Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentLine 19: School District Surtax / Emergency Medical Services TaxIowa Department of Revenue · checked 2026-10-21"Multiply the amount on line 18 by the surtax rate and enter the result." The district is the one of residence on the last day of the tax year; Appanoose, Cass, Pocahontas, Sac, Shelby and Winnebago counties add an EMS surtax.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentForm OL-3 (Occupational License Return)Louisville Metro Revenue Commission · checked 2026-10-21Occupational tax of 2.2% (resident rate) or 1.45% (non-resident rate); an individual whose full occupational tax was not withheld and remitted to the Revenue Commission files Form OL-3.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentLocal Tax Rates in Maryland, FY 2026 / CY 2026Maryland Department of Legislative Services · checked 2026-10-21Local income tax rates by subdivision for calendar 2022 through 2026 (source: Office of the Comptroller). CY 2026: Worcester 2.25% lowest; Dorchester and Kent 3.30% highest; Baltimore City 3.20%; Anne Arundel and Frederick graduated since tax year 2023.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentCity of Detroit 2025 Individual Income Tax Returns: forms and instructionsMichigan Department of Treasury · checked 2026-10-21Line 34 of the part-year return: "Multiply line 33, Column A by 2.4 percent (0.024) and line 33, Column B by 1.2 percent (0.012)" — the resident and nonresident rates. Residents file Form 5118, a city return.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentWhich cities impose an income tax?Michigan Department of Treasury · checked 2026-10-21"Twenty-four Michigan cities levy municipality taxes related to income." Treasury administers Detroit's; the other 23 cities administer their own forms, filing and payment.Other articles citing this source
- Government2025 Form IT-201 instructionsNew York State Department of Taxation and Finance · checked 2026-10-21Lines 26 and 27 subtract New York State and local government pensions and federal pensions (including military) in full; Social Security is subtracted. Line 29: a pension and annuity exclusion of up to $20,000 per person 59½ or older, which includes IRA distributions.Other articles citing this source
- Government2025 Ohio IT 1040 instruction bookletOhio Department of Taxation · checked 2026-10-21Schedule of Adjustments line 16 deducts taxable Social Security; line 34 deducts uniformed services retirement income. The retirement income credit requires MAGI less exemptions under $100,000, with a maximum of $200 per return.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentSchool Districts With an Income Tax for 2026Ohio Department of Taxation · checked 2026-10-21The list of Ohio school districts levying an income tax effective January 1, 2026: 214 districts (68 on the earned-income-only base, 146 on the traditional base) at rates from 0.25% to 2%, with six new levies and two expirations for 2026.Other articles citing this source
- GovernmentTaxpayer Annual Local Earned Income Tax Return (CLGS-32-1)Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development · checked 2026-10-21The return "must be completed and filed by all persons subject to the tax on or before April 15", remitted "to the local earned income tax collector for every tax collection district in which you lived during the year." Interest, dividends and capital gains are listed as non-taxable.Other articles citing this source