MISSOURI PAYCHECK CALCULATOR

Missouri’s income tax has been trending down for years under a revenue-trigger system written into Senate Bill 3. The top rate has fallen from 6%, which held for many years, down to 4.7% for 2026, after the most recent trigger dropped it from 4.8% effective January 1, 2025. What makes Missouri’s bracket structure unusual is how compressed it is: eight separate brackets exist, but each one only spans about $1,313 of taxable income, so a full-time worker earning even a modest salary blows through most of them and spends the bulk of their income taxed at the top 4.7% rate.

What actually comes out of a Missouri paycheck: federal income tax, Social Security (6.2%), Medicare (1.45%), and Missouri’s graduated state tax. Missouri also has something most states don’t: two cities, Kansas City and St. Louis, that levy their own 1% local earnings tax on top of everything else, applying to both residents and most non-residents who work within city limits. Outside those two cities, there’s no local income tax anywhere in Missouri. If you’re comparing offers, check the Tennessee paycheck calculator for a zero-income-tax neighbor, or the Kansas paycheck calculator and Iowa paycheck calculator for two other nearby states.

Federal Tax on a $70,000 Salary: The Worked Example

Here’s exactly how the calculator above lands on the federal number for a single filer earning $70,000 in 2026.

Step	Detail	Amount
Gross salary	Starting point	$70,000
Minus standard deduction	Single filer, 2026	-$16,100
Federal taxable income		$53,900
10% bracket	$0 – $12,400	$1,240
12% bracket	$12,400 – $50,400	$4,560
22% bracket	$50,400 – $53,900	$770
Total federal tax	Effective rate: 9.4% of gross	$6,570

Missouri’s state math uses its own $15,750 standard deduction, leaving $54,250 in Missouri taxable income, well above the $9,191 threshold where the top 4.7% bracket kicks in.

How Missouri’s Compressed Brackets Apply on a $70,000 Salary

Step	Detail	Amount
Gross salary	Starting point	$70,000
Minus Missouri standard deduction	Single filer, 2026	-$15,750
Missouri taxable income		$54,250
Tax on first $9,191	Brackets 0% through 4.5%	$256
4.7% bracket	$9,191 – $54,250	$2,118
Total Missouri state tax	Effective rate: 3.39% of gross	$2,374

Because Missouri’s brackets are so narrow, only the first $256 of state tax comes from the seven lower brackets combined, everything else on this $70,000 salary gets taxed at the flat-feeling top rate of 4.7%, even though Missouri is technically an eight-bracket progressive state.

Missouri vs Neighboring States at $70,000 (Single)

Figures below use each state’s own 2026 standard deduction and published rates, same $70,000 gross salary, single filer, state-level tax only, before any local earnings tax.

State	Income Tax Type	State Tax Owed	Estimated Net Pay
Tennessee	No income tax	$0	$58,075
Iowa	Flat 3.8%	$2,048	$56,027
Missouri	Graduated, up to 4.7%	$2,374	$55,701
Kansas	Two-bracket, 5.2%-5.58%	$3,106	$54,969
Illinois	Flat 4.95%	~$3,300	~$54,775

Illinois’s figure is a close estimate built from its published 2026 rate rather than a full line-by-line walk, so treat it as directional. This table shows state tax only, remember that a Missouri resident in Kansas City or St. Louis pays an additional 1% local earnings tax that isn’t reflected here.

Where Your Paycheck Money Actually Goes

Follow a $70,000 Missouri salary from gross to net, in the order it actually leaves your check. Federal income tax comes off first, calculated on taxable income after the standard deduction: $6,570 gone before anything else. Social Security takes a flat 6.2% next, applying to the full salary since it’s well under the $184,500 wage base for 2026: that’s $4,340. Medicare follows at 1.45% with no cap at all, adding $1,015. Missouri’s own graduated state tax comes next, calculated on the $54,250 taxable figure after the state’s $15,750 standard deduction: $2,374. If you live or work in Kansas City or St. Louis, a 1% local earnings tax comes out too, generally applied to gross wages, adding roughly $700 on this salary. Without the city tax, $14,299 leaves the paycheck before it’s yours, landing you at $55,701 for the year, or about $2,142 every two weeks on a standard biweekly schedule.

Missouri’s Rate Cuts Under Senate Bill 3

Missouri’s income tax reductions have moved gradually compared to some neighboring states, but the direction has been consistent. Senate Bill 3, enacted in 2022, wrote a revenue-trigger mechanism into law that cuts the top rate incrementally whenever the state hits certain growth benchmarks.

Tax Year	Top Rate
Historical (many years)	6.0%
2024	4.8%
2025 to present (2026)	4.7%

Each additional cut under SB 3 depends on Missouri’s general revenue growing enough to trigger the next reduction, so unlike a state with a fixed multi-year schedule, Missouri’s future rate cuts aren’t guaranteed on a set calendar.

Missouri’s Tax Burden vs National Averages

Tax Type	Missouri	National Picture
Income tax	Graduated, 0%-4.7%	Near the national average for a progressive-tax state
Sales tax (avg. combined)	8.44%	Above the national average
Property tax (effective rate)	0.89%	Below the national average
Estate / inheritance tax	None; only the federal estate tax can apply	Matches most states

Missouri ranks 12th overall on the Tax Foundation’s 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index, a genuinely strong showing built on a fairly even split between sales tax, income tax and property tax as revenue sources, no single one dominates the way it does in many states. The state’s sales tax structure is unusual in how much local governments add on top of a modest 4.225% state rate: combined rates in the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas regularly reach 8% to 10%, so the effective sales tax burden depends heavily on zip code.

Retirees in Missouri

Missouri offers meaningful relief for retirees, though it’s more layered than a flat exemption. Social Security benefits are not taxed for most residents, a deduction shields the benefit for taxpayers under certain income thresholds. Public pension income is fully exempt for many retirees, including many former state, local and federal government employees. Missouri has no state estate tax at all, only the federal estate tax can apply, and with the federal exemption raised to $15 million per individual under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for 2026, that federal tax touches only a small number of very large estates. Private pensions, 401(k) and IRA distributions generally remain subject to Missouri’s regular graduated income tax rates.

Frequently Asked Questions

Missouri’s eight-bracket system looks complicated on paper but behaves almost like a flat tax in practice, since the brackets bunch up so tightly at the bottom that nearly everyone with a full-time salary ends up paying the 4.7% top rate on most of their income. The real variable most comparisons miss is geography within the state: a Kansas City or St. Louis paycheck carries an extra 1% that nobody working in Springfield, Columbia, or anywhere else in Missouri has to pay.

Figures on this page are estimates for tax year 2026 based on published federal and state rates as of August 2026. They do not account for every credit, deduction, or local circumstance. Verify current figures with the Missouri Department of Revenue or a tax professional before filing.