North Dakota tax brackets

North Dakota tax brackets for 2026

North Dakota taxes income in three brackets for 2026. A married couple filing jointly has its own schedule, not the single one doubled, so both are set out in full.

The top rate of 2.5% applies above $250,400 of taxable income.

Taxable income is what is left after a standard deduction of $16,100 for a single filer and $32,200 for a couple.

North Dakota taxes nothing on the first $49,575 of taxable income for a single filer ($82,800 for a couple) in 2026, then 1.95%, and 2.5% at the top. It starts from federal taxable income, so the federal standard deduction comes off first.

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 North Dakota, $16,100 for a single filer and $32,200 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 $65,676 for a single filer and $115,001 for a couple.

These are wage figures, and they assume the income North Dakota 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.

The result: $182 of North Dakota income tax, an effective rate of 0.24% on the salary, with two brackets each taxing its own slice.

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 North Dakota takes at seven salaries

The rate in the schedule is not the rate you pay. Here is the 2026 North Dakota 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.

Notice that the effective rate never catches the marginal one. At $100,000 a single filer's marginal rate is 1.95% and the effective rate 0.67%; at $200,000 the effective rate is still 1.31%. 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 North Dakota at seven salaries

The state income tax is one of four taxes on a paycheck. Here is what a single filer keeps once North Dakota, federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare have all come off, and what share of the combined bill North Dakota accounts for.

North Dakota's slice of the total is smallest at the bottom of the scale and grows as pay rises: 0% of the taxes on $30,000, 4.88% on $200,000. Over this range the North Dakota tax rises faster with pay than the federal and payroll taxes put together, so its share of the bill grows.

Three North Dakota 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: North Dakota $0, federal income tax $2,620, Social Security and Medicare $3,060 — $5,680 in all, leaving $34,320 ($2,860 a month). The state is 0% of what they pay.

A married couple earning $60,000 and $35,000, filing jointly: North Dakota $0, federal income tax $7,040, Social Security and Medicare $7,268 — $14,308 in all, leaving $80,692 ($6,724 a month). The state is 0% of what they pay.

A single professional earning $180,000: North Dakota $2,229, federal income tax $31,934, Social Security and Medicare $13,770 — $47,933 in all, leaving $132,067 ($11,006 a month). The state is 4.65% of what they pay.

In all three, Social Security and Medicare take more than North Dakota 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.

North Dakota 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.

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 0% of the extra $4,000.

Per paycheck, and why your withholding will not match exactly

Spread over 26 biweekly paychecks, a single filer's North Dakota income tax comes to about $0 at $30,000, $0 at $50,000, $7 at $75,000, $26 at $100,000, $45 at $125,000.

On other pay schedules, the $75,000 figure of $182 a year works out to about $4 a week, $8 twice a month, or $15 once a month. The annual total is the same whichever way it is paid; only the slices change.

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 North Dakota 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.

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 North Dakota's shows why it is wrong.

A single filer's 1.95% rate starts at $65,675 of salary. At $64,675 the North Dakota tax is $0; at $66,675 it is $20. The extra $2,000 of pay cost $20 — part at the old rate, part at the new one — and not a cent more on the income below.

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.

Four ways to misread the North Dakota schedule

Applying the rate to your salary. 2.5% of a $75,000 salary is $1,875; the real North Dakota tax on it is $182. The shortcut overstates the bill by $1,693, 930.22% too high, because it skips everything that comes off first and taxes every dollar at the top rate.

Using the single thresholds on a joint return. A couple with $150,000 who ran their joint taxable income through the single schedule once would work out $1,330; their actual North Dakota tax is $683. The $647 gap is the reason both schedules are printed on this page.

Confusing the effective rate with the marginal one. At $75,000 the combined effective income tax rate, federal plus North Dakota, is 10.47%; the combined marginal rate is 23.95%. 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 North Dakota 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: North Dakota $0, federal income tax $600, Social Security and Medicare $383 — you keep $4,017, or 80.34% of the raise.

From $100,000 to $105,000: North Dakota $98, federal income tax $1,100, Social Security and Medicare $383 — you keep $3,419, or 68.38% of the raise.

North Dakota's share is 0% of the raise at $50,000 and 1.95% 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 North Dakota penalise it?

The joint schedule is its own table, not the single one doubled — so a couple's rates cannot be worked out from the single brackets, and both sets are listed on this page.

Measured on a household earning $100,000: split evenly, two single people would pay $0 between them; married and filing jointly they pay $0. 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 $669; the couple pays $0, so filing jointly with a non-earning spouse is worth $669 a year in North Dakota tax. Part of it comes from the wider joint brackets and part from the second deduction.

How the split between two incomes changes it

A joint return pools the two incomes, so a married couple on $100,000 pays $0 to North Dakota 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.

The more lopsided the split, the more a joint return is worth, because it lets the lower earner's unused low brackets and deduction absorb part of the higher earner's income. These are North Dakota figures only; the federal return has its own, separate version of the same effect.

North Dakota and federal brackets together

Every extra dollar is taxed by both. The combined marginal income tax rate — federal plus North Dakota — is 12% at $30,000 and 25.95% at $200,000 for a single filer, and the table shows every step in between.

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 North Dakota 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 North Dakota ranks

On a $75,000 salary, single, North Dakota takes $182 — the 1st lowest 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 North Dakota is $2,620 below it.

The position is not fixed; it moves with the salary: 0th lowest at $50,000, 1st lowest at $75,000, 1st lowest at $150,000. North Dakota stays in roughly the same place across all three.

At that salary the range among states that charge anything runs from $182 in North Dakota to $5,055 in Oregon.

For 2026, 13 states tax wages at a single rate, 29 jurisdictions use brackets and 9 have no tax on wages at all, so North Dakota 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 North Dakota income tax calculator.

Income that is not wages. Retirement income, capital gains and business income can be treated differently in North Dakota 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 North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner's own 2026 figures, [www.tax.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/forms/software-developer/individual-income-forms/28709-form-nd-1es-2026%20final.pdf](https://www.tax.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/forms/software-developer/individual-income-forms/28709-form-nd-1es-2026%20final.pdf), 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 North Dakota income tax calculator, from the brackets above, so the two cannot disagree. If North Dakota changes a rate or a threshold, this page changes with the data.

Questions

What are the North Dakota tax brackets for 2026?

North Dakota has three brackets for single filers in 2026: 0% up to $49,575, 1.95% up to $250,400, 2.5% above $250,400 of taxable income.

What is the North Dakota income tax rate for 2026?

From 0% to 2.5%, depending on the bracket. The top rate applies above $250,400 of taxable income for a single filer.

Is North Dakota a flat tax state?

No. North Dakota uses three brackets, from 0% up to 2.5%.

At what income do you start paying North Dakota income tax?

A single filer with only wage income owes the first dollar of North Dakota tax at a gross income of about $65,676, and a married couple filing jointly at about $115,001.

How much North Dakota income tax do you pay on $100,000?

A single filer earning $100,000 in wages pays about $669 in North Dakota income tax for 2026, an effective rate of 0.67%. A married couple filing jointly on the same household income pays about $0.

Is North Dakota income tax high or low?

On a $75,000 salary, single, North Dakota takes $182 — at the low end of the 42 jurisdictions that tax wages (1st lowest), against $2,802 for the middle one. Nine take nothing at that salary.

How much is North Dakota state tax per paycheck?

On a $75,000 salary paid every two weeks, a single filer's North Dakota income tax comes to about $7 a paycheck, or $15 a month. Actual withholding follows the state's own formula and can differ slightly; the difference is settled when you file.

What is the North Dakota standard deduction for 2026?

$16,100 for a single filer and $32,200 for a married couple filing jointly. It comes off before any bracket is applied.

Are North Dakota tax brackets different for married couples?

The joint schedule is its own table, not the single one doubled — so a couple's rates cannot be worked out from the single brackets, and both sets are listed on this page.