How Kansas taxes a paycheck
Kansas rewrote its income tax in June 2024 after a long fight between the legislature and the governor over a flat tax. The compromise, SB 1, kept graduated rates but reduced them to two: 5.2% on the first $23,000 of taxable income for a single filer ($46,000 married) and 5.58% above. It also raised the personal exemption from $2,250 to $9,160 per filer ($18,320 married) and $2,320 per dependent, and the standard deduction to $3,605 single and $8,240 married.
The large exemption is what makes Kansas's numbers work. A single filer sheltering $12,765 between deduction and exemption pays an effective rate well under the headline; a family of four sheltering $30,880 pays less still. There are no local income taxes in Kansas.
How much taxes are taken out of paychecks in Kansas?
On a $60,000 salary in 2026, a single filer in Kansas pays about $5,020 in federal income tax, $4,590 in Social Security and Medicare, and about $2,550 in Kansas income tax, leaving roughly $47,840 a year or $1,840 every two weeks. The state share is 4.2% of gross pay.
A married couple on $100,000 pays about $3,920, since $26,560 comes off before the 5.2% rate applies and they stay below the $46,000 threshold for 5.58%. At $150,000 a single filer pays about $7,570, an effective rate of 5.0%.
Kansas compared with its neighbours
Kansas borders Nebraska (top rate 4.55% for 2026), Missouri (4.7%), Oklahoma (4.5%) and Colorado (flat 4.4%). On a $60,000 single salary the state tax is about $2,550 in Kansas, $1,850 in Nebraska, $1,650 in Missouri, $2,160 in Oklahoma and $1,930 in Colorado. Kansas is the highest of the five despite its exemption, because its rates are higher.
The Missouri line runs through Kansas City, and the comparison there is close once Missouri's local tax is added: a Kansas City, Missouri resident pays the 1% city earnings tax on top of state tax, bringing a $60,000 earner's total to about $2,250, still below Kansas's $2,550. Kansas's rate cuts and Nebraska's scheduled fall to 3.99% mean the region's rates are converging downward.
Withholding forms and filing status in Kansas
Kansas employers withhold from Form K-4, which asks for filing status and allowances; Kansas's tables reflect the 2024 exemption increase, so withholding fell for most employees that year. Married couples filing jointly get double the exemption ($18,320), double the 5.2% bracket ($46,000) and an $8,240 standard deduction, so a one-earner couple on $60,000 shelters $26,560 and pays about $1,740 against a single filer's $2,550 on the same salary.
Kansas has no reciprocal agreements. Missouri residents working in Kansas pay Kansas tax on those wages and credit it at home, and the reverse; the Kansas City metro's two-state workforce files in both states routinely. Kansas's rates are set by statute without a trigger, so any further change needs a bill in Topeka.