Arizona Paycheck Calculator 2026

How this calculator works

Arizona withholding has no brackets and no allowance to subtract. Each employee fills in Arizona Form A-4 (the state’s counterpart to the federal W-4) and checks one percentage of gross taxable wages, from 0.5% to 3.5%. If an employee never gives the form to the employer, the Department of Revenue requires 2.0% to be withheld, and this calculator uses that default. If you chose a different percentage, your own withholding will differ; the table further down shows all seven choices on a $75,000 salary. For contrast, Nevada withholds nothing at state level, and Colorado uses a flat 4.40% after an allowance.

The calculator applies four deductions, in this order:

• Federal income tax. Your gross pay minus the federal standard deduction for your filing status, run through the 2026 federal brackets.
• Social Security at 6.2% of gross wages, up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500.
• Medicare at 1.45% of all wages, with no cap, plus the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages above $200,000.
• Arizona income tax withholding: your wages after any 401(k) contribution, times 2.0%.

Rates come from the agencies that set them: the IRS for the federal brackets, the standard deduction and FICA, cross-checked against the Social Security Administration for the wage base; and, for Arizona, the Arizona Department of Revenue’s 2026 Form A-4 and its withholding page, with the election rule in A.R.S. § 43-401. The department’s website blocks automated requests, so we read its documents from Internet Archive snapshots, linked in the sources below. Our full sourcing is on the methodology page.

Withholding is an estimate, not your final bill. The figure here is what an employer takes from each check at the default percentage. Arizona income tax itself is figured on your return, so what you owe or get back when you file can differ.

What the calculator deliberately does not do: it does not let you choose a percentage other than the default, it does not add an extra per-paycheck amount, and it does not model Married Filing Separately, multiple jobs, bonuses and other supplemental wages, or health insurance premiums and other employer benefit deductions.

The seven Arizona withholding choices, on a $75,000 salary

Form A-4 lists seven percentages. The table applies each one to $75,000 of gross taxable wages for a single filer, with federal tax and FICA unchanged. The rows differ only in the Arizona line.

Arizona hourly paycheck: what your rate is worth after tax

Why we ask for your hours instead of assuming 2,080

Many hourly calculators multiply your rate by 2,080 and call it a year. That is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, which describes a full-time schedule, not every hourly job. If you work 32 hours a week, or 45 with overtime, the assumed figure is wrong before any tax is applied. The calculator above asks for your hours and uses them.

What is $20 an hour after taxes in Arizona?

At 40 hours a week, $20 an hour is $41,600 a year gross. After federal tax, Social Security, Medicare and Arizona withholding at the default, that leaves about $34,774 a year, or $2,897.80 a month. Your real hourly rate — what an hour of work actually puts in your bank account — is $16.72. Arizona’s share is $832.00 for the year.

What are $25 and $30 an hour after taxes in Arizona?

$25 an hour is $52,000 gross and about $42,922 after tax, a real rate of $20.64. $30 an hour is $62,400 gross and about $51,070 after tax, a real rate of $24.55. Arizona withholds $1,040.00 a year at $25 an hour, and $1,248.00 at $30.

Overtime and bonuses

Form A-4 applies the percentage to gross taxable wages “from every paycheck,” and we did not find a separate Arizona rate for overtime or bonuses in the documents we read. The calculator multiplies your rate by the hours you enter and adds no overtime premium, and it does not model bonuses. If you work variable hours, enter the average you expect for the year.

Arizona take-home pay by hourly rate

Single filer, 40 hours a week (2,080 hours a year), 2026 rates, Arizona at the default.

What this calculator does not cover

This tool models federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and the payroll programs your state actually runs — nothing more. It deliberately leaves out:

• Itemized deductions and federal tax credits — the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, education credits. The engine always applies the standard deduction; there is no itemizing path.
• A second job, self-employment income or 1099 pay. Every dollar you enter is treated as one employer’s W-2 wages, taxed at the employee share of Social Security and Medicare — not the self-employment tax a 1099 worker actually owes.
• Pre-tax benefits other than the 401(k) field — health insurance premiums, an HSA or FSA, commuter benefits. The only amount taken out before tax is the percentage you enter for a 401(k).
• Local taxes — city income tax, county tax, or a school-district tax. Where a state levies one, our methodology page says so by name; this calculator does not add that line, with two exceptions: the Indiana and Maryland calculators add the local income tax for the county you choose.
• Overtime premiums. An hourly rate is multiplied by the hours you enter; it does not add a time-and-a-half rate for hours worked past 40 in a week.
• Wage garnishments or court-ordered deductions — child support, a wage levy. Your result assumes none exist.
• The Additional Medicare Tax, at the single-filer threshold. The 0.9% surtax above $200,000 is applied at that one figure for every filing status, the way an employer actually withholds it — not the higher threshold a married couple filing jointly may end up owing at tax return time.
• Married filing separately, or a qualifying surviving spouse. The calculator only offers single, married filing jointly, and head of household.

None of these are in the estimate. Some of them change what you owe or get back when you file, and a calculator cannot ask for everything they depend on. See why your pay stub will differ for the details.

Key facts that affect your take-home pay in Arizona

You choose the percentage, and the default is 2.0%

Arizona Form A-4 has you choose how much your employer withholds: “from gross taxable wages at the percentage checked,” with seven options: 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, 3.0% and 3.5%. New employees complete it within the first five days. The form says that if you do not give it to your employer, the department requires 2.0% of your gross taxable wages. The same rule is in state law: A.R.S. § 43-401 says an employee who fails to complete the election form “shall be deemed to have elected the withholding percentage prescribed by the department.” On the same $75,000, that is $1,500.00 from a single filer, $1,500.00 from a head of household and $1,500.00 from a married couple filing jointly: the filing status changes your federal tax, not the Arizona line.

The tax rate is 2.5%, but that is not what the default takes

The department’s withholding page says “for tax year 2023 and beyond, the tax rate for Arizona taxable income is 2.5%,” and line 46 of the 2025 Form 140 instructions says to multiply Arizona taxable income by 2.5% (.025). Taxable income is what is left after deductions, and the 2025 instructions give a standard deduction of $15,750 for a single filer. For a single filer on a $75,000 salary that is ($75,000 − $15,750) × 2.5% = $1,481.25, or about 2.0% of wages. That is our arithmetic, not the department’s: it uses the 2025 deduction because we did not read a 2026 figure, and it assumes wages only, no credits and no other adjustments. On those assumptions the 2.0% default withholds $18.75 more than the tax, picking 2.5% would withhold $393.75 more, and picking 1.5% would leave you about $356.25 short when you file. We did not find the department explaining why it set the default at 2.0%.

“Gross taxable wages” is not your gross pay

The form defines it: the wages that will generally be in box 1 of your federal Form W-2, which is “your gross wages less any pretax deductions, such as your share of health insurance premiums.” So a pre-tax health premium lowers the base the percentage is applied to. This calculator removes only your 401(k) contribution, so on a paycheck with large pre-tax benefit deductions the real Arizona line will be a little lower than the one shown.

Zero withholding has conditions, and it has to be renewed

Form A-4 lets you elect zero if you expect no Arizona tax liability for the year. It defines that liability as gross tax less credits — “such as the family tax credit, school tax credits, or credits for taxes paid to other states” — and warns that zero withholding “does not relieve you from paying Arizona income taxes that might be due at the time you file.” To keep the election for the next calendar year you must give your employer an updated form; if you do not, the form says your employer may withhold from your wages until you do.

You can ask for an extra amount on top of the percentage

The form has a box for an extra amount to be withheld from each paycheck. The calculator does not include one. A higher percentage or an extra amount would raise what comes out of each check.

Unemployment insurance comes from the employer

The Department of Economic Security says state unemployment taxes “are used solely for the payment of unemployment benefits and cannot be withheld from employees’ wages.” Its employer page says employers are currently required to pay the tax on the first $8,000 in gross wages paid to each employee in a calendar year. The calculator takes nothing from your pay for it.

We found no state disability or paid leave deduction

Neither Form A-4, the department’s withholding page nor the unemployment pages we read describe an employee premium for disability or family leave, so the calculator takes none. Compare Colorado, where the employee pays half of a family and medical leave premium, or Rhode Island, with its temporary disability deduction. That absence is a reading of the documents we list below, not a survey of every program, so check your own pay stub.

Work done in Arizona is what counts

Form A-4 says Arizona law requires your employer to withhold Arizona income tax “from your wages for work done in Arizona.” It also says compensation earned by nonresidents while physically working in Arizona for temporary periods is subject to Arizona income tax, but that certain nonresident employees are not subject to withholding and may elect to have it withheld. The form is the place to check your own case. This calculator shows the Arizona withholding and does not model what your home state does on your return.

Your 401(k) contribution and the state tax

The form defines gross taxable wages as gross wages less pretax deductions. Traditional 401(k) deferrals are pre-tax for federal income tax, so the calculator takes your contribution out before it applies the Arizona percentage, the same order it uses for federal tax. On $75,000 with 6% going in, Arizona withholding at 2.0% falls by $90.00 a year. The calculator treats the contribution as a traditional, pre-tax one, so enter 0 if yours is not pre-tax.

Social Security stops, Medicare does not

Social Security is withheld at 6.2% until your wages reach $184,500 in 2026, then stops for the rest of the year. Medicare has no ceiling at all: 1.45% on every dollar, plus an extra 0.9% on wages above $200,000. The 2.0% default has no ceiling either, so on $250,000 the state takes $5,000.00, the same 2.0% as on the first dollar.

Common mistakes

Reading 2.0% as the Arizona income tax rate

It is the default withholding percentage. The tax rate on Arizona taxable income is 2.5%, according to the department’s withholding page, and your final bill depends on your deductions and credits. The two numbers are close, but they are not the same thing.

Assuming everyone is withheld at 2.0%

That is true only if you never gave your employer an Arizona Form A-4. If you chose another percentage when you were hired, your employer uses that one, and it can be as low as 0.5% or as high as 3.5%. On $75,000 that is a range from $375.00 to $2,625.00 a year.

Choosing zero without meeting the condition

The form allows zero only if you expect no Arizona tax liability, after credits, for the year, and it does not relieve you of any tax due at filing. An election to keep zero has to be renewed with a new form.

Forgetting the form after a life change

The form says that if conditions change so that you expect a tax liability, you should promptly submit a new one and choose a percentage that applies to you. A change in your life does not change your withholding by itself.

Expecting the calculator to match the pay stub to the dollar

It will not, and no calculator can. Health insurance premiums and other pre-tax benefit deductions come out before tax and are not modeled here, a second job changes the federal withholding picture, and your employer may be using a percentage you chose on Form A-4. Read why your pay stub will differ for the rest.

Example calculation

A single filer earning $75,000 in Arizona in 2026, at the 2.0% default, with no retirement contribution:

• Federal taxable income: $75,000 − federal standard deduction of $16,100 = $58,900
• Federal income tax: $7,670.00
• Social Security: $75,000 × 6.2% = $4,650.00
• Medicare: $75,000 × 1.45% = $1,087.50
• Arizona withholding: $75,000 × 2.0% = $1,500.00 a year, which is $125.00 on a monthly paycheck or $57.69 on a biweekly one
• Total withheld: $14,907.50
• Take-home pay: $60,092.50 a year, or $5,007.71 a month
• Effective tax rate: 19.9%

Frequently asked questions

Compare with other states

The same $75,000 salary, single filer, 2026 rates, against four states around Arizona that we publish (Colorado meets it only at the Four Corners point). California is not on this site yet. Arizona is shown at the 2.0% default.

Nevada withholds nothing at state level, so a Nevada worker keeps $1,500.00 more than an Arizonan at the default on the same salary. New Mexico leaves $1,238.55 less, Utah $1,837.50 less and Colorado $1,888.00 less. If you chose 3.5% on Form A-4, Arizona would take $2,625.00, still less than any of those three states withholds.

Sources

Every figure on this page is read from an official document and dated, not taken from another calculator — the federal ones from the IRS and the Social Security Administration, the Arizona ones from the state’s own documents below. Each one carries the date we last checked that it still answers. If one of our numbers disagrees with one of theirs, they are right and we have a defect to fix — tell us.

The documents these figures are read from

• Arizona Department of Revenue — Form A-4, Employee’s Arizona Withholding Election, 2026 (PDF, Internet Archive snapshot of July 5, 2026) — the seven percentages an employee can pick (0.5% to 3.5%), the 2.0% the department requires when no form is given, and the definition of gross taxable wages; the department’s own site refuses automated requests, so we link the archived copy.
• Arizona Department of Revenue — Withholding Tax, Individual (Internet Archive snapshot of August 27, 2026) — the 2.0% default when a new employee does not complete Form A-4 within five days, and the note that the tax rate on Arizona taxable income is 2.5% for tax year 2023 and beyond; archived copy, for the same reason.
• Arizona Department of Revenue — Form 140 Resident Personal Income Tax Return, 2025 instructions (PDF, Internet Archive snapshot of May 13, 2026) — line 46, which multiplies Arizona taxable income by 2.5%, and the 2025 standard deductions (single $15,750); archived copy, for the same reason.
• Arizona Revised Statutes § 43-401, Withholding tax; rates; election by employee — the rule that an employee who fails to complete the election form is deemed to have elected the withholding percentage the department prescribes.
• Arizona Department of Economic Security — Payment Taxes, Overview (Internet Archive snapshot of October 30, 2025) — the statement that state unemployment taxes cannot be withheld from employees’ wages, and the $8,000 taxable wage base; archived copy, because the live page refuses automated requests.
• Arizona Department of Economic Security — Unemployment, Employer (Internet Archive snapshot of September 7, 2026) — that employers are currently required to pay unemployment taxes on the first $8,000 in gross wages paid to each employee in a calendar year; archived copy, for the same reason.
• IRS — 2026 inflation adjustments (Rev. Proc. 2025-32) — the federal brackets and the $16,100 standard deduction.
• IRS — Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates — the 6.2% and 1.45% rates and the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax.
• SSA — Contribution and benefit base — the $184,500 Social Security wage base.

All links checked September 30, 2026.

Related reading

• Paycheck calculators by state — the full index, including which states have no income tax at all.
• Nevada paycheck calculator — the neighbor that takes no state income tax from wages.
• Utah paycheck calculator — a neighboring flat-rate state, with a credit that fades out instead of a percentage you choose.
• Methodology — the exact formula, every 2026 figure with its official source, and what these calculators deliberately do not model.
• Why your pay stub will differ — pre-tax deductions, credits and W-4 settings, and how much difference is normal.