How Missouri taxes a paycheck
Missouri's schedule has seven rates from 2% to 4.7%, but the brackets are tiny: the top rate applies from $9,436 of taxable income, so nearly all of a salary is taxed at 4.7%. The rate has fallen from 5.4% in 2022 through a series of trigger-based cuts, and the 2025 legislature eliminated tax on capital gains. Missouri adopts the federal standard deduction of $16,100 single and $32,200 married and has no personal exemption.
Missouri is one of three states that still let filers deduct federal income tax paid, capped at $5,000 for single filers and $10,000 for married couples. The calculator applies it. The state also allows a deduction for Social Security and other retirement income that does not affect wages.
Two cities tax earnings: Kansas City and St. Louis each levy a 1% earnings tax on everyone who lives or works in the city, withheld by employers. Voters in both cities renewed the tax in 2021 and it comes up for renewal every five years. It is not included here.
How much taxes are taken out of paychecks in Missouri?
On a $60,000 salary in 2026, a single filer in Missouri pays about $5,020 in federal income tax, $4,590 in Social Security and Medicare, and about $1,650 in Missouri income tax, leaving roughly $48,740 a year or $1,875 every two weeks before city tax. A Kansas City or St. Louis resident would pay a further $600.
The federal deduction saves that earner about $235; at $150,000 the cap binds and the saving is the same $235 against a Missouri tax of about $5,880.
Missouri compared with its neighbours
Missouri borders eight states, more than any other except Tennessee. Tennessee taxes no wages. On a $60,000 single salary the state tax is about $1,650 in Missouri, $1,630 in Iowa, $2,830 in Illinois, $1,980 in Kentucky, $2,130 in Arkansas, $2,160 in Oklahoma, $2,550 in Kansas and $1,850 in Nebraska. Missouri is the second cheapest after Iowa.
The Kansas City metro spans the Kansas line and the comparison there favours Missouri: even with the 1% earnings tax, a Kansas City, Missouri resident's $2,250 is below a Johnson County, Kansas resident's $2,550, and outside the city limits the Missouri figure drops to $1,650.
Withholding forms and filing status in Missouri
Missouri employers withhold from Form MO W-4, which asks for filing status; the tables apply the graduated rates after the federal standard deduction Missouri adopts. Because the brackets are the same for single and joint filers and almost all income falls at 4.7% anyway, filing jointly changes only the deduction ($32,200 rather than $16,100) and the federal tax deduction cap ($10,000 rather than $5,000). Missouri couples may file combined, allocating income between spouses.
Missouri has no reciprocal agreements. Kansas residents working in Kansas City, Missouri pay Missouri tax and the 1% earnings tax on those wages and credit the state portion at home; Illinois residents working in St. Louis do the same. Missouri's rate cuts are trigger-based, with 4.6% possible when revenue growth conditions are met.