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Boston Paycheck Calculator (2026)

Enter your annual salary below to see your Boston take-home pay after federal, FICA, and Massachusetts state tax for 2026.

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Boston applies Massachusetts's flat 5% state income tax to wages, with a 4% Millionaire Surtax on personal income above $1,083,150 per filer. Massachusetts PFML also applies. At $85,000 single, federal tax, FICA, and the MA state line resolve to take-home of $63,987 per year.

Boston, the economic and academic anchor of New England, runs paycheck math against Massachusetts's flat-rate state schedule. The flat rate sits at 5% across all filing statuses on the bracket side; a Millionaire Surtax of 4% layers on top of personal income above $1,083,150 per filer (the threshold MA DOR indexes annually). At $85,000 single, the surtax does not apply. Mass General, Brigham and Women's, and the broader Longwood Medical Area drive a healthcare base unmatched in the Northeast; the Kendall Square biotech corridor stretches from MIT north into Cambridge and Somerville. Harvard, MIT, BU, Tufts, and Northeastern anchor education and research employment. Fidelity Investments and State Street headquarter in the financial district. Massachusetts also runs MA PFML, a state-administered employee payroll program funded by a combined family + medical leave contribution. The Massachusetts PFML line totals $391 per year at $85,000, capped at the Social Security wage base. Median rent in Boston runs roughly $2,800. At $85,000 single, federal tax resolves to $9,870, Massachusetts state tax to $4,250, FICA combined to $6,503, leaving take-home of $63,987.

$85,000 single filer take-home comparison

Boston

$64,000

Massachusetts (no city tax)

$64,000

Texas (no income tax)

$68,600

Boston take-home is $0 vs the state-only figure and -$4,600 vs the no-income-tax baseline.

How Massachusetts tax applies in Boston

Boston does not levy a separate municipal income tax. Your paycheck math runs the Massachusetts state schedule on top of federal tax and FICA. The Massachusetts state page covers the full bracket detail and any state-administered programs (such as SDI or paid leave) that apply uniformly to every resident of the state.

Open the Massachusetts paycheck calculator

What this estimate includes

This calculator computes Boston take-home pay using 2026 federal brackets after the standard deduction, FICA contributions (Social Security up to the annual wage base, Medicare on all wages, plus the Additional Medicare Tax above the filing-status threshold), and Massachusetts's state income tax schedule, alongside state-administered payroll programs (Massachusetts PFML). No municipal income tax applies in Boston. The calculator excludes employer-side payroll taxes, custom W-4 elections, supplemental-wage handling for bonuses or equity vesting, and income from sources other than W-2 wages.

Boston paycheck FAQ

How much state tax does Boston pay?
Massachusetts applies a flat 5% rate to wages under Chapter 62, §4(b). A 4% Millionaire Surtax (Question 1, 2022 ballot) layers on top of personal income above the indexed threshold ($1,083,150 in the most recently published year). At $85,000 single in Boston, the state line is $4,250; the surtax does not apply.
What state-administered payroll programs apply in Boston?
Massachusetts PFML is the relevant state-administered employee payroll program. The combined family + medical leave employee share applies to wages up to the Social Security wage base. At $85,000, the Massachusetts PFML line totals $391 annually. The Department of Family and Medical Leave (DFML) resets the rate split each year.
What changes for married filing jointly, head of household, or filing separately at $85,000 in Boston?
Massachusetts's flat-rate state schedule treats every filing status identically on the bracket side (5% across Single, MFJ, HoH, MFS). The Millionaire Surtax threshold is per-filer rather than joint-aware, so a married couple does not receive a doubled $2.166M threshold. Filing-status differences in Boston therefore flow almost entirely from federal mechanics. At $85,000, MFJ take-home reaches $68,017 ($4,030 more than single). Head of household clears $66,909. Married filing separately lands at $63,987. Boston high-income couples should note that the per-filer surtax threshold means MFJ can be the wrong choice when both spouses earn near $1M individually.
Does Boston have a city income tax?
No. Boston does not levy a city income tax. Massachusetts state law does not authorize broad-based municipal income taxes; Boston's general fund draws from property tax, hotel and motor vehicle excise, parking meter revenue, and licensing fees. The pay stub shows no Boston line, only federal, state, FICA, and MA PFML.
How does Boston compare to Cambridge for paycheck taxes?
Cambridge sits across the Charles River and shares Boston's state-tax framework precisely, same flat 5%, same Millionaire Surtax threshold, same Massachusetts PFML rate. Take-home at $85,000 is identical for a Boston and a Cambridge resident; housing and commute distance are the practical wedges between the two.
Where does Boston differ from New York City or other Northeast metros?
New York City layers a separate city income tax (top bracket near 3.8%) on top of New York's progressive state schedule, so an NYC paycheck at $85,000 faces a meaningfully heavier payroll-tax load than Boston at the same gross. Providence and Hartford, smaller New England peers, apply Rhode Island and Connecticut progressive schedules respectively, each different from MA's flat structure.

See also

Run the full Massachusetts paycheck calculatorBrowse all city paycheck calculatorsBrowse paycheck calculators by statePaycheck and tax glossaryHow we calculate paycheck taxes

Reviewed

How This Page Is Reviewed

The Boston paycheck page is reviewed against primary federal, state, and city sources before each major tax-year update. Source links below are the references used to validate brackets, wage bases, and supported local taxes.

Reviewed by

PaycheckCalc Research Desk

Last reviewed

2026-05-28