How Massachusetts taxes a paycheck
Massachusetts has taxed wages at a single rate since its income tax began in 1916, and its constitution requires uniform rates on each class of income. The rate reached 5% in 2020 after a series of scheduled cuts from 5.3%. In 2023 voters added the Fair Share surtax: an extra 4% on income above $1 million, indexed ($1,083,150 for 2026), which the calculator shows as a 9% top bracket.
There is no standard deduction. A $4,400 personal exemption ($8,800 married) and $1,000 per dependent are subtracted, along with a deduction for up to $2,000 of Social Security and Medicare tax paid, which is not modelled. Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave takes about 0.46% of wages from employees up to the Social Security wage base as a separate payroll line. No Massachusetts city or town taxes wages.
How much taxes are taken out of paychecks in Massachusetts?
On a $60,000 salary in 2026, a single filer in Massachusetts pays about $5,020 in federal income tax, $4,590 in Social Security and Medicare, and about $2,780 in Massachusetts income tax, leaving roughly $47,610 a year or $1,831 every two weeks. Paid leave would take a further $280. The state share is 4.6% of gross.
Because the rate is flat and the exemption small, the effective rate is almost constant: 4.85% on $150,000 and 4.9% on $300,000. Only above $1,083,150 does the surtax change the picture.
Massachusetts compared with its neighbours
Massachusetts borders New Hampshire, which taxes no wages, and four states that do: Connecticut ($2,550 on a $60,000 single salary), Rhode Island ($1,630), Vermont ($1,580) and New York ($2,640 before New York City's tax). Massachusetts's $2,780 is the highest of the group at that salary because the others have larger deductions or lower entry rates.
The New Hampshire border is the one people act on. A $60,000 earner in Lowell pays about $2,780 that a resident of Nashua does not; Massachusetts taxes non-residents who work in the state on those wages, so the saving belongs only to people who both live and work in New Hampshire.
Withholding forms and filing status in Massachusetts
Massachusetts employers withhold from Form M-4, on which employees claim exemptions; because the rate is flat, withholding is 5% of wages above the exemptions. Married couples filing jointly get an $8,800 exemption, double the single figure, and the same rate, so a joint return shelters more but pays the same rate on the rest. The 4% surtax is applied on the return once income passes $1,083,150, and employers are not required to withhold for it.
Massachusetts has no reciprocal agreements. New Hampshire residents who work in Massachusetts pay Massachusetts tax on those wages; a 2021 dispute over remote workers during the pandemic went to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear it. Massachusetts residents working in Rhode Island or Connecticut pay those states and credit the tax at home.