Massachusetts tax brackets
The 2026 schedule, moved from taxable income into the salary you actually know, and what it takes at seven incomes.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz QuinteroSources checked September 24, 2026Read off the Massachusetts Department of Revenue’s 2026 scheduleMassachusetts tax brackets for 2026
Massachusetts taxes income in two brackets for 2026. Married couples filing jointly use the same thresholds as single filers.
| Rate | Taxable income, single or joint |
|---|---|
| 5% | $0 – $1,107,750 |
| 9% | over $1,107,750 |
The top rate of 9% applies above $1,107,750 of taxable income.
Taxable income is what is left after a personal exemption of $4,400 for each filer.
The 9% bracket is the 4% Fair Share surtax on taxable income above $1,107,750. That threshold is indexed to inflation and rises every year.
Where each rate starts on your actual salary
The brackets are written in taxable income, and nobody knows their taxable income by heart — everyone knows their salary. The gap between the two is whatever comes off before the rate is applied: in Massachusetts, $4,400 for a single filer and $8,800 for a couple. So the schedule is read wrongly by construction, and the fix is to shift it by that amount.
The table below moves every threshold into salary terms. The first dollar of tax is owed at a gross income of $4,401 for a single filer and $8,801 for a couple.
| Rate | Single, salary | Joint, combined salary |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | $4,400 – $1,112,150 | $8,800 – $1,116,550 |
| 9% | over $1,112,150 | over $1,116,550 |
These are wage figures, and they assume the income Massachusetts starts from equals your salary with nothing taken out before it. Anything the state lets you subtract first moves every one of these lines up by the same amount — and the list is not the same in every state, which is why it is worth checking yours rather than assuming the federal one applies.
One salary through the whole calculation
Here is a single filer earning $75,000 in wages, step by step, exactly as the calculation runs.
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross wages | $75,000 |
| Personal exemption | −$4,400 |
| Taxable income | $70,600 |
| $70,600 at 5% | $3,530 |
| Massachusetts income tax | $3,530 |
The result: $3,530 of Massachusetts income tax, an effective rate of 4.71% on the salary.
Every figure on this page is this same sequence run at a different salary. None of it is estimated from an average: change the brackets in the source and every number here changes with them.
What Massachusetts takes at seven salaries
The rate in the schedule is not the rate you pay. Here is the 2026 Massachusetts income tax at seven salaries, for a single filer and for a married couple filing jointly on the same household income, with the effective rate — tax divided by gross income — and the marginal rate measured on the next $100 rather than read off the schedule.
| Salary | Effective | Marginal | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | 4.27% | 5% | $107 | $1,280 |
| $50,000 | 4.56% | 5% | $190 | $2,280 |
| $75,000 | 4.71% | 5% | $294 | $3,530 |
| $100,000 | 4.78% | 5% | $398 | $4,780 |
| $125,000 | 4.82% | 5% | $503 | $6,030 |
| $150,000 | 4.85% | 5% | $607 | $7,280 |
| $200,000 | 4.89% | 5% | $815 | $9,780 |
| Household salary | Effective | Marginal | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | 3.53% | 5% | $88 | $1,060 |
| $50,000 | 4.12% | 5% | $172 | $2,060 |
| $75,000 | 4.41% | 5% | $276 | $3,310 |
| $100,000 | 4.56% | 5% | $380 | $4,560 |
| $125,000 | 4.65% | 5% | $484 | $5,810 |
| $150,000 | 4.71% | 5% | $588 | $7,060 |
| $200,000 | 4.78% | 5% | $797 | $9,560 |
Notice that the effective rate never catches the marginal one. At $100,000 a single filer's marginal rate is 5% and the effective rate 4.78%; at $200,000 the effective rate is still 4.89%. Every bracket below yours is taxed at its own lower rate, whatever you earn.
The table stops at $200,000 on purpose. Above roughly $250,000 some states start withdrawing deductions and exemptions, and a figure for those incomes should come from the full calculator, which asks for the details that decide it.
Take-home pay in Massachusetts at seven salaries
The state income tax is one of four taxes on a paycheck. Here is what a single filer keeps once Massachusetts, federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare have all come off, and what share of the combined bill Massachusetts accounts for.
| Salary | MA | Federal | SS + Medicare | Take-home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $1,280 | $1,420 | $2,295 | $25,005 |
| $50,000 | $2,280 | $3,820 | $3,825 | $40,075 |
| $75,000 | $3,530 | $7,670 | $5,738 | $58,062 |
| $100,000 | $4,780 | $13,170 | $7,650 | $74,400 |
| $125,000 | $6,030 | $18,734 | $9,563 | $90,673 |
| $150,000 | $7,280 | $24,734 | $11,475 | $106,511 |
| $200,000 | $9,780 | $36,734 | $14,339 | $139,147 |
Massachusetts's slice of the total is largest at the bottom of the scale and shrinks as pay rises: 25.63% of the taxes on $30,000, 16.07% on $200,000. The federal schedule is steeper than Massachusetts's, so the higher the salary, the more of the bill is federal.
Three Massachusetts households
Averages hide the households they are made of. Three typical ones, each with every tax on their wages:
A single filer earning $40,000: Massachusetts $1,780, federal income tax $2,620, Social Security and Medicare $3,060 — $7,460 in all, leaving $32,540 ($2,712 a month). The state is 23.86% of what they pay.
A married couple earning $60,000 and $35,000, filing jointly: Massachusetts $4,310, federal income tax $7,040, Social Security and Medicare $7,268 — $18,618 in all, leaving $76,382 ($6,365 a month). The state is 23.15% of what they pay.
A single professional earning $180,000: Massachusetts $8,780, federal income tax $31,934, Social Security and Medicare $13,770 — $54,484 in all, leaving $125,516 ($10,460 a month). The state is 16.11% of what they pay.
In all three, Social Security and Medicare take more than Massachusetts does. The payroll taxes have no deduction at all and start on the first dollar, which is why they are the largest tax many lower earners pay.
Massachusetts income tax at every $10,000
For a salary between the seven above, here is the single-filer figure in $10,000 steps, from $20,000 to $200,000.
| Salary | Per month | Effective | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| $20,000 | $65 | 3.9% | $780 |
| $30,000 | $107 | 4.27% | $1,280 |
| $40,000 | $148 | 4.45% | $1,780 |
| $50,000 | $190 | 4.56% | $2,280 |
| $60,000 | $232 | 4.63% | $2,780 |
| $70,000 | $273 | 4.69% | $3,280 |
| $80,000 | $315 | 4.72% | $3,780 |
| $90,000 | $357 | 4.76% | $4,280 |
| $100,000 | $398 | 4.78% | $4,780 |
| $110,000 | $440 | 4.8% | $5,280 |
| $120,000 | $482 | 4.82% | $5,780 |
| $130,000 | $523 | 4.83% | $6,280 |
| $140,000 | $565 | 4.84% | $6,780 |
| $150,000 | $607 | 4.85% | $7,280 |
| $160,000 | $648 | 4.86% | $7,780 |
| $170,000 | $690 | 4.87% | $8,280 |
| $180,000 | $732 | 4.88% | $8,780 |
| $190,000 | $773 | 4.88% | $9,280 |
| $200,000 | $815 | 4.89% | $9,780 |
Between two steps the tax moves in a straight line at the marginal rate, so for $64,000 take the $60,000 figure and add 5% of the extra $4,000.
Per paycheck, and why your withholding will not match exactly
Spread over 26 biweekly paychecks, a single filer's Massachusetts income tax comes to about $49 at $30,000, $88 at $50,000, $136 at $75,000, $184 at $100,000, $232 at $125,000.
On other pay schedules, the $75,000 figure of $3,530 a year works out to about $68 a week, $147 twice a month, or $294 once a month. The annual total is the same whichever way it is paid; only the slices change.
| Salary | Weekly | Every 2 weeks | Twice a month | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $25 | $49 | $53 | $107 |
| $50,000 | $44 | $88 | $95 | $190 |
| $75,000 | $68 | $136 | $147 | $294 |
| $100,000 | $92 | $184 | $199 | $398 |
| $125,000 | $116 | $232 | $251 | $503 |
| $150,000 | $140 | $280 | $303 | $607 |
| $200,000 | $188 | $376 | $408 | $815 |
What your employer actually withholds is set by the state's withholding formula, which is built to land close to these annual figures but is not the same calculation — it works one paycheck at a time and relies on the form you filled in when you started the job. The gap between the two comes back at filing time as a refund or a bill. The Massachusetts refund estimator runs that reconciliation for your own figures.
What each bracket costs in dollars
A bracket is a slice, and each full slice has a fixed price. For a single filer, the table gives what each slice costs once it is full, and the running total by the time you reach its top.
| Rate | Taxable income | Full slice | Total at its top |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5% | $0 – $1,107,750 | $55,388 | $55,388 |
| 9% | over $1,107,750 | no ceiling | — |
Those running totals are the fixed amount owed on everything below a given threshold. From there, only the part of your income inside your own bracket is taxed at its rate.
Moving into a higher bracket
The belief that a raise can cost you money because it "pushes you into a higher bracket" is the most common misreading of a schedule, and Massachusetts's shows why it is wrong.
Only the dollars inside a bracket pay that bracket's rate. Crossing a threshold changes the price of the next dollar, never of the ones already earned.
Three ways to misread the Massachusetts schedule
Applying the rate to your salary. 9% of a $75,000 salary is $6,750; the real Massachusetts tax on it is $3,530. The shortcut overstates the bill by $3,220, 91.22% too high, because it skips everything that comes off first and taxes every dollar at the top rate.
Confusing the effective rate with the marginal one. At $75,000 the combined effective income tax rate, federal plus Massachusetts, is 14.93%; the combined marginal rate is 27%. The first says how much of the salary goes in income tax; the second what the next dollar costs. Pricing a raise or a pre-tax contribution with the first is the classic slip.
Assuming last year's figures still hold. Thresholds and rates are set per tax year; everything on this page is for 2026, from the Massachusetts source checked on 2026-09-24.
What you keep from a $5,000 raise
The combined marginal rate is abstract; a raise is not. Here is where an extra $5,000 of salary goes for a single filer, with federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare all measured on the same two salaries:
From $50,000 to $55,000: Massachusetts $250, federal income tax $600, Social Security and Medicare $383 — you keep $3,767, or 75.34% of the raise.
From $100,000 to $105,000: Massachusetts $250, federal income tax $1,100, Social Security and Medicare $383 — you keep $3,267, or 65.34% of the raise.
Massachusetts's share is 5% of the raise at $50,000 and 5% at $100,000. The federal share is the one that moves most between the two salaries, because the federal schedule has more steps.
Married filing jointly: does Massachusetts penalise it?
Married couples filing jointly use exactly the same thresholds as single filers — they are not doubled. That is the setup that produces a marriage penalty, and the figures below measure it.
Measured on a household earning $100,000: split evenly, two single people would pay $4,560 between them; married and filing jointly they pay $4,560. The same, to within a few dollars — no penalty and no bonus.
With the same $100,000 earned by one partner alone, a single filer would pay $4,780; the couple pays $4,560, so filing jointly with a non-earning spouse is worth $220 a year in Massachusetts tax. All of it comes from the second exemption, since the rates are the same.
How the split between two incomes changes it
A joint return pools the two incomes, so a married couple on $100,000 pays $4,560 to Massachusetts however the $100,000 is divided between them. Two unmarried partners file separately, and for them the split matters, as the table shows for four ways of dividing the same $100,000.
| Split | Two single filers | Married, jointly | Marriage |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 / $0 | $4,780 | $4,560 | saves $220 |
| $75,000 / $25,000 | $4,560 | $4,560 | no difference |
| $60,000 / $40,000 | $4,560 | $4,560 | no difference |
| $50,000 / $50,000 | $4,560 | $4,560 | no difference |
The more lopsided the split, the more a joint return is worth, because it lets the lower earner's unused exemption absorb part of the higher earner's income. These are Massachusetts figures only; the federal return has its own, separate version of the same effect.
Massachusetts and federal brackets together
Every extra dollar is taxed by both. The combined marginal income tax rate — federal plus Massachusetts — is 17% at $30,000 and 29% at $200,000 for a single filer, and the table shows every step in between.
| Salary | Federal | Massachusetts | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | 12% | 5% | 17% |
| $50,000 | 12% | 5% | 17% |
| $75,000 | 22% | 5% | 27% |
| $100,000 | 22% | 5% | 27% |
| $125,000 | 24% | 5% | 29% |
| $150,000 | 24% | 5% | 29% |
| $200,000 | 24% | 5% | 29% |
On top of that come Social Security (6.2% up to the wage base) and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages above $200,000 for a single filer). And the deduction for state income tax on a federal return only helps if you itemise — most people take the federal standard deduction and get nothing back for the state tax they paid.
The federal brackets step up at different points from the Massachusetts ones, so the combined rate changes in more places than either schedule alone. Planning a raise or a bonus around one table is how people misjudge what they will keep.
How Massachusetts ranks
On a $75,000 salary, single, Massachusetts takes $3,530 — the 6th highest of the 42 jurisdictions that charge anything at that salary, with nine taking nothing at all. The middle of those 42 takes $2,802, so Massachusetts is $728 above it.
The position is not fixed; it moves with the salary: 39th lowest at $50,000, 37th lowest at $75,000, 27th lowest at $150,000. Massachusetts moves toward the cheap end as income rises, because other states' brackets keep climbing while its own rate does not.
At that salary the range among states that charge anything runs from $182 in North Dakota to $5,055 in Oregon, which puts Massachusetts 68.71% of the way from the cheapest to the dearest.
Within $250 of it at $75,000: Maine ($3,385), Kansas ($3,385), District of Columbia ($3,429), New York ($3,453). States that look different on paper often end up a few hundred dollars apart, because the deduction moves the bill as much as the rate does.
For 2026, 13 states tax wages at a single rate, 29 jurisdictions use brackets and 9 have no tax on wages at all, so Massachusetts is one of the 29 with brackets.
The 2026 brackets for every state are on one page, and the state income tax comparison ranks all 51 at the salary you choose.
What this page leaves out
Head of household and married filing separately. This page publishes the two schedules that were read at source, single and joint, and nothing for the other two statuses rather than a guess.
Dependents and credits. Credits for children, earned income, retirement income and the rest depend on your household, not on the brackets, and are left to the Massachusetts income tax calculator.
Income that is not wages. Retirement income, capital gains and business income can be treated differently in Massachusetts from a salary. Everything above is for wages.
Other tax years. Every figure here is for the 2026 tax year, the return filed in 2027. A return for an earlier year has to be worked out with that year's rates and thresholds, which is exactly where copied tables go wrong.
Where these brackets come from
Read off the Massachusetts Department of Revenue's own 2026 figures, [www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-4-surtax-on-taxable-income](https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-4-surtax-on-taxable-income), checked on 2026-09-24. Both the single and the joint rules were verified against that source before this page was published — a state whose joint schedule has not been read does not get a brackets page here yet, and neither does one whose rules our engine still simplifies.
Every dollar figure on this page is computed by the same engine as the Massachusetts income tax calculator, from the brackets above, so the two cannot disagree. If Massachusetts changes a rate or a threshold, this page changes with the data.
Where to go next
Questions
- What are the Massachusetts tax brackets for 2026?
- Massachusetts has two brackets for single filers in 2026: 5% up to $1,107,750, 9% above $1,107,750 of taxable income.
- What is the Massachusetts income tax rate for 2026?
- From 5% to 9%, depending on the bracket. The top rate applies above $1,107,750 of taxable income for a single filer.
- Is Massachusetts a flat tax state?
- No. Massachusetts uses two brackets, from 5% up to 9%.
- At what income do you start paying Massachusetts income tax?
- A single filer with only wage income owes the first dollar of Massachusetts tax at a gross income of about $4,401, and a married couple filing jointly at about $8,801.
- How much Massachusetts income tax do you pay on $100,000?
- A single filer earning $100,000 in wages pays about $4,780 in Massachusetts income tax for 2026, an effective rate of 4.78%. A married couple filing jointly on the same household income pays about $4,560.
- Is Massachusetts income tax high or low?
- On a $75,000 salary, single, Massachusetts takes $3,530 — at the high end of the 42 jurisdictions that tax wages (37th lowest), against $2,802 for the middle one. Nine take nothing at that salary.
- How much is Massachusetts state tax per paycheck?
- On a $75,000 salary paid every two weeks, a single filer's Massachusetts income tax comes to about $136 a paycheck, or $294 a month. Actual withholding follows the state's own formula and can differ slightly; the difference is settled when you file.
- What is the Massachusetts standard deduction for 2026?
- Massachusetts has no standard deduction. Instead, each filer takes a personal exemption of $4,400, so $4,400 comes off a single return and $8,800 off a joint one.
- Are Massachusetts tax brackets different for married couples?
- Married couples filing jointly use exactly the same thresholds as single filers — they are not doubled. That is the setup that produces a marriage penalty when both partners earn.