North Dakota does have an income tax, and on a $75,000 salary it takes $339 for the whole year. That is 0.45% of the salary, and it is all of it: no county tax, no city tax, no disability premium, no paid leave contribution.
A single filer on $75,000 keeps about $61,254. The same salary in Texas, which deducts nothing at all at state level, leaves $61,593. The entire cost of having an income tax, at that salary, is $339 a year, or about $28 a month.
Nothing is subtracted before the rate applies
Most states take something off your wages first: a standard deduction, a personal exemption, an allowance for every dependent. North Dakota’s withholding worksheet has no such line. It is four steps long. Enter the taxable wages for the pay period, multiply by the number of pay periods in the year, look that annual figure up in the table for your filing status, divide the answer back down.
The relief is inside the table instead, as a band of income charged at nothing at all. That is also why this calculator does not ask you for allowances: for a Form W-4 filed for 2020 or later, which covers anyone hired since, there is nowhere in the method for them to go.
| Filing status | Charged nothing up to | Then 1.95% up to | 2.50% above | Tax on $75,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single, or married filing separately | $57,625 | $258,450 | $258,450 | $339 |
| Married filing jointly | $57,500 | $168,525 | $168,525 | $341 |
| Head of household | $78,475 | $289,675 | $289,675 | $0 |
The married threshold is lower than the single one
That looks like a transcription error and it is not. A married couple filing jointly is charged nothing on the first $57,500, which is $125 less than a single filer’s $57,625. At 1.95% the difference is worth $2.44 a year, so it changes nothing in practice, but it does tell you something useful: the three tables are set separately rather than derived from one another.
Head of household is the generous one at $78,475, which is high enough that a head of household earning $75,000 pays no North Dakota income tax at all. Check the table for the box you ticked in Step 1(c) of your W-4 rather than assuming the married figure is double the single one, or even equal to it.
The 2.50% rate is further away than it looks. A single filer does not reach it until $258,450 of wages and a married couple until $168,525, so almost nobody pays it through withholding. At $150,000 a single filer pays about $1,801, which is 1.2% of the salary. The top rate is real, but for most of the state the question is only whether you are above $57,625 and by how much.
What actually comes out of a North Dakota paycheck
The state line is the smallest of the three. On that $75,000 salary:
- Federal income tax, about $7,670. Twenty-three times the state figure, and the only line your W-4 really moves. What FIT on your pay stub is explains how it is worked out.
- Social Security and Medicare, $5,738. A flat 7.65% that no form changes. FICA covers what it buys.
- North Dakota income tax, $339. One rate, 1.95%, on the $17,375 of wages above the threshold.
- Whatever you chose. Health premiums, a 401(k), an HSA. These are yours to set, and each one changes the three figures above in a different way.
Unemployment insurance is not on that list. Job Service North Dakota charges it to employers, so it never comes out of your wages. The state has no disability or paid family leave contribution either, and its local taxes are sales, use and property taxes rather than taxes on pay. If a line on your stub looks like a local wage tax, it is worth asking about.
Comparing a North Dakota offer against another state
The comparison that matters most here runs across the Red River. On $75,000, Minnesota charges about $3,937 of state income tax with one allowance claimed, plus $330 for Paid Leave, so about $4,267 in all. North Dakota charges $339. Working in Fargo rather than Moorhead is worth roughly $3,928 a year at that salary, and the gap widens as pay rises.
Going the other way, a move to South Dakota or to Wyoming saves the $339 and nothing more, which is rarely a reason to move on its own. The take-home pay by state table has the rest of them side by side.
North Dakota paycheck calculator FAQ
About $339 a year for a single filer, which is 0.45% of the salary. A married couple filing jointly pays $341, and a head of household pays nothing at all, because the head of household threshold of $78,475 sits above that salary.
Three of them: nothing, 1.95% and 2.50%. For withholding on a Form W-4 filed for 2020 or later, a single filer pays nothing on the first $57,625 of wages, 1.95% from there up to $258,450 and 2.50% above that. The married and head of household tables use the same two rates with different thresholds.
No. Cities and counties raise their money through sales, use and property taxes, so nothing local is withheld from your wages. State income tax is the only state or local deduction on a North Dakota paycheck.
Because North Dakota does not use them for a current W-4. The worksheet annualizes your wages and reads the table, with no deduction or allowance step anywhere in it. The older method, for W-4s filed before 2020, does use a $5,050 annual allowance, so an employer still holding one of those will apply it.
About $61,254 a year for a single filer, or roughly $5,104 a month. That is after $7,670 of federal income tax, $5,738 of Social Security and Medicare and $339 of North Dakota income tax, and before anything you chose to have deducted.