How New York taxes a paycheck
New York State has nine brackets. The FY 2026 budget (A3009) cut the lowest five rates by 0.1 point starting with tax year 2026, so a single filer now pays 3.9% on the first $8,500 of taxable income, 4.4% to $11,700, 5.15% to $13,900, 5.4% to $80,650, 5.9% to $215,400, 6.85% to $1,077,550, 9.65% to $5 million, 10.3% to $25 million and 10.9% above. The three top rates, added in 2021, run until 2027. The standard deduction is $8,000 single and $16,050 married, and $1,000 is deducted per dependent.
New York applies tax benefit recapture: above about $107,650 of income, the benefit of the lower brackets is gradually withdrawn, so high earners pay their top rate on all income. The calculator does not model recapture and slightly understates tax above that level.
New York City residents pay a city income tax of 3.078% to 3.876% on top of the state tax, withheld together with it; Yonkers residents pay a surcharge of 16.75% of their state tax. Non-residents who work in the city do not pay it. New York disability insurance ($0.60 a week) and Paid Family Leave (about 0.4% of wages, capped) are separate lines. None of these is included here.
How much taxes are taken out of paychecks in New York?
On a $60,000 salary in 2026, a single filer in New York pays about $5,020 in federal income tax, $4,590 in Social Security and Medicare, and about $2,640 in New York State income tax, leaving roughly $47,750 a year or $1,836 every two weeks. A New York City resident would pay a further $1,900 or so in city tax, taking the state-and-local share to about 7.6% of gross.
At $150,000 the state tax is about $7,810, an effective rate of 5.2%, before recapture and before the city's roughly $5,400.
New York compared with its neighbours
On a $60,000 single salary the state tax is about $2,640 in New York, $1,770 in New Jersey, $1,840 in Pennsylvania, $2,550 in Connecticut, $2,780 in Massachusetts and $1,580 in Vermont. New York sits in the upper half before the city tax and at the top after it.
The commuter picture along the Hudson is the one people ask about. A New Jersey resident working in Manhattan pays New York State tax (not city tax) on those wages and credits it against New Jersey; because New York's rate is higher, the New Jersey bill is usually wiped out and the total is the New York figure. A New York City resident pays state and city both.
Withholding forms and filing status in New York
New York employers withhold from Form IT-2104, which asks for allowances and, for city residents, New York City and Yonkers withholding on the same form. Married couples filing jointly get wider brackets ($161,550 rather than $80,650 for the 5.9% rate, roughly doubled) and a $16,050 deduction, so a one-earner couple on $60,000 pays about $1,940 against a single filer's $2,640. New York's benefit recapture applies to both schedules above its thresholds.
New York has no reciprocal agreements and applies a convenience-of-the-employer rule: a non-resident who works remotely for a New York employer is taxed by New York on those wages unless the employer requires the remote arrangement. New Jersey and Connecticut residents working in New York pay New York tax and credit it at home. New York City tax applies to city residents only, wherever they work.