Maine Paycheck Calculator 2026

How this calculator works

Maine Revenue Services publishes a percentage method for income tax withholding, and this calculator follows it. Your pay is converted to a yearly amount. Each withholding allowance takes $5,300 off (one for a single filer, two for a married filer or a head of household). A standard deduction comes off too: $12,850 for the single schedule and $28,550 for the married schedule, with the deduction shrinking to zero as pay rises. The rest is taxed at 5.80%, 6.75% and 7.15%, with a 2% surcharge on very high pay, and the yearly result is divided by the number of pay periods.

The calculator applies these 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.
• Maine income tax: your wages after any 401(k) contribution, minus the Maine allowances and the standard deduction, taxed through the schedule.
• Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave at 0.50% of your wages up to $184,500, the most an employer may take from you. It is optional for the employer, and we explain it below.

We looked for any other Maine payroll deduction that an employer must take from your check and found none.

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 Maine, Maine Revenue Services’ withholding tables booklet and Form W-4ME, the Maine Department of Labor’s paid leave guidance for employers and the Maine Revised Statutes. Our full sourcing is on the methodology page.

How current the source is. The booklet is titled 2026 Withholding Tables for Individual Income Tax and carries the line “Revised: August 2026.” Its cover says it was revised to reflect the increased Maine standard deduction amounts and the new income tax surcharge. We read it on the agency’s own site on October 21, 2026, and the Sources section links to it. The paid leave figures come from the Department of Labor’s employer FAQ, dated July 2026. The federal figures, Social Security wage base and Medicare thresholds are the 2026 ones.

How we checked the formula. We wrote the booklet’s percentage method a second time from its text, separate from the calculator’s code, and it reproduces the booklet’s three worked examples: $0 for a single employee paid $300 a week, $32 for one paid $1,000 a week, and $256 for a married employee paid $4,500 a week. The calculator’s own figures match that second version on 651 pay levels and filing statuses, including both ends of the phase-out and the surcharge threshold. We also rebuilt 11,000 cells of the booklet’s printed wage-bracket tables, from 10 charts with 100 pay ranges each. They match, but only under a different standard deduction from the one the booklet gives for the percentage method, and we explain that below.

Withholding is an estimate, not your final bill. The figure here is what an employer takes from each check using the agency’s method, before the booklet’s rounding of each check to the whole dollar. Your actual Maine income tax is figured on your return, so what you owe or get back when you file can differ.

What the calculator deliberately leaves out: children and dependents on Form W-4ME, a spouse who works, the “higher single rate” box, extra withholding and the exemptions on line 6, bonuses, rounding by your employer, work in another state, optional employer deductions, and health insurance premiums and other employer benefit deductions.

Maine withholding rates and the pay they apply to

The yearly percentage schedule has three rates, and they apply to what is left of your pay after the allowances and the standard deduction, not to your pay itself. For a single filer on $75,000, that is $75,000 − $5,300 − $12,850 = $56,850. The first $27,400 of it is taxed at 5.80%, and the rest, $29,450, falls in the 6.75% step, which runs up to $64,850 of taxable pay. The 7.15% step starts above that, which for a single filer with one allowance is $83,000 of yearly pay.

The standard deduction that phases out

Maine’s withholding formula gives $12,850 to a single filer and $28,550 to a married filer, then takes it back as pay rises. The booklet says a single employee whose annualized pay is $102,250 or less gets the full amount, one at $177,250 or more gets nothing, and in between the deduction is $12,850 times ($177,250 minus pay) divided by $75,000. For a married employee the numbers are $204,550, $354,550 and $150,000.

That makes the withholding on each extra dollar higher than the rate in the schedule. Every dollar of pay in the range costs a single filer about 17.1 cents of deduction, so $1.17 becomes taxable, and at 7.15% that is a rate of about 8.38%. For a married filer it is about 8.51%. The tables below show it at work.

Two cautions. First, this is the deduction in the employer’s withholding formula, not the one on your return. The booklet says the return’s basic standard deduction is $15,700 for a single filer and $31,400 for a married couple filing jointly, and that these differ slightly from the amounts the withholding formula uses. Second, the booklet says the return’s deduction is phased out for single taxpayers with Maine income over $102,250 and married taxpayers over $204,550, so the idea is the same, but we do not figure your return.

The withholding allowance: what changes with your Maine W-4ME

Form W-4ME is how you tell your employer how many allowances to apply, and each one is worth $5,300 a year. It is a separate form from the federal W-4, and the booklet says Maine’s allowances are no longer based on federal Form W-4 information. This is how the calculator maps its three choices.

The allowances come off your pay before the schedule, so each extra $1,000 of allowance is worth $67.50 a year to anyone in the 6.75% step. Each child or dependent you list on line D of the worksheet adds another allowance, which this calculator does not ask about. The booklet says the “Single or Head of Household” box and the “Married, but withholding at higher single rate” box both send the employer to the single schedule, and the “Married” box sends it to the married one.

If you cross a state line: how Maine withholds

Maine’s only neighbor state is New Hampshire, and some people live on one side of the line and work on the other. This calculator models none of those cases. It assumes you live and work in Maine.

If you live in New Hampshire and work in Maine

The booklet says Maine-source income of a nonresident includes income from work done in Maine, and that it may not be subject to withholding if the number of days worked in Maine falls below a threshold set in the law. If a nonresident employee works in Maine for more than twelve days and earns more than $3,000 during the year, the employer must ordinarily withhold Maine income tax. Our New Hampshire calculator covers the other side of the line.

If you live in Maine and work elsewhere

The booklet describes the rules for employers who withhold in Maine. It does not say what a Maine resident who works in another state should expect from that state’s employer, and we did not read the other state’s rules for this page. Check your pay stub and your W-4ME.

The paid leave deduction and the other payroll lines

Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave: up to 0.5% of your pay

Maine’s paid family and medical leave program is paid for by contributions from employers and employees. The Department of Labor says the combined rate is 0.5% or 1% of wages for 2025 to 2027, depending on employer size, and that no more than 0.5% can come from the employee. An employer with 15 or more employees pays 1% of wages and may deduct up to half of it from employees. An employer with fewer than 15 pays 0.5% and may deduct the whole amount. The Department’s guide for employers says “You may withhold up to 0.5% of your employees’ wages.”

What the maximum deduction costs you

At 0.50%, the deduction is $375.00 a year on $75,000, or $31.25 a month. It applies up to the Social Security wage base, so the most it can reach in 2026 is $922.50, at $184,500 of pay. The Department says premiums are withheld from employee pay after federal and state taxes are deducted and do not reduce the wages used for other tax programs, so this deduction does not lower the income tax withheld from your pay. This calculator takes the maximum and shows it as its own line. Because the word in the guidance is “may,” your employer might deduct less, or nothing, and then your take-home pay is higher by up to $375.00 on $75,000.

Benefits and the start date

The Department’s FAQ says payroll contributions started in 2025 and that benefits were scheduled to begin on May 1, 2026. This page is about the deduction from your paycheck, not about the benefits or who qualifies for them.

Unemployment insurance is not taken from your pay

Title 26, section 1221 of the Maine Revised Statutes says unemployment contributions become due and must be paid by each employer and may not be deducted, in whole or in part, from the wages of the employees. This calculator has no unemployment line for that reason.

Local taxes: we found none

Maine’s withholding booklet and Form W-4ME describe state withholding only. We found no Maine city, town or county income tax on wages in them, and this calculator adds no local line. That is not proof that none exists.

The printed wage-bracket tables run a little higher

Two methods, both allowed

The booklet lets an employer use the percentage method or the wage-bracket tables, and it also allows another method, as long as the result is the same or falls between the two. The tables list the tax for each pay range and for 0 to 10 allowances, for weekly, biweekly, twice-a-month, monthly and daily pay, one set for the single schedule and one for the married schedule. Above a pay level it prints for each period ($1,820 a week, for instance), it tells employers to use the percentage method.

What we found when we rebuilt them

We rebuilt all 11,000 printed cells, and every one of them matches within 50 cents, but only if the formula uses a standard deduction of $12,450 for the single schedule and $27,750 for the married schedule, and the top of each pay range as the wage. Those are not the $12,850 and $28,550 that the percentage method states in the same booklet, which is dated August 2026. The booklet itself says that its percentage method and its tables “have been adjusted to reflect the 2026 exemption and deduction amounts,” so the agency presents both as current, and it does not explain the difference we found. One possible explanation is that the printed tables were not updated with the rest of the revision, but we do not know that. It is our reading of the numbers, not a statement from the agency, and it could be wrong. If your employer uses the tables, ask the employer or Maine Revenue Services which figures apply.

What it means for your check

If your employer uses the printed tables, your withholding can be a little higher than this calculator shows. Take $75,000 a year paid weekly, which is $1,442.31 a week. The table row for $1,440 to $1,460 shows $71.00 for one allowance. The percentage method gives $68.79 before the booklet’s rounding to the whole dollar. Over a year that is about $115. This page uses the percentage method, because it is the one whose text carries the August figures. If your stub shows the higher number, one possible reason is that your employer uses the printed tables.

Maine 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. In Maine your hours also matter because of the allowance and the standard deduction: a single filer earning $18,150 or less a year has no Maine income tax withheld.

What is $20 an hour after taxes in Maine?

At 40 hours a week, $20 an hour is $41,600 a year gross. After federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, Maine income tax withholding and the paid leave deduction, that leaves about $34,038 a year, or $2,836.46 a month. Your real hourly rate — what an hour of work actually puts in your bank account — is $16.36. Maine’s share is $1,360.10 of income tax withholding for the year, plus $208.00 of paid leave at the maximum.

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

$25 an hour is $52,000 gross and about $41,677 after tax, a real rate of $20.04. $30 an hour is $62,400 gross and about $49,280 after tax, a real rate of $23.69. Maine income tax withholding is $2,024.58 a year at $25 an hour, and $2,726.58 at $30.

Overtime and bonuses

The calculator multiplies your rate by the hours you enter and adds no overtime premium, and it does not model bonuses. The booklet says that when supplemental wages such as bonuses, commissions and overtime pay are paid with regular wages, withholding is calculated as if the total were one payment of wages for the pay period, and that when they are paid separately the payer may withhold a flat five percent. Ask your employer how it handles a bonus. If you work variable hours, enter the average number of hours you expect to work each week.

Maine take-home pay by hourly rate

Single filer, 40 hours a week (2,080 hours a year).

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 — the Maine withholding tables and Form W-4ME we read describe state withholding only, and we found no Maine city or county income tax on wages in them. That is not proof that none exists. This calculator adds no local line for Maine. The only local income tax lines on this site are on the Indiana and Maryland calculators.
• 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 Maine

Nothing is withheld on the first $18,150 of a single filer’s pay

With one $5,300 allowance and the $12,850 standard deduction, a single filer’s yearly pay has to pass $18,150 before Maine withholds anything. At $20,000, Maine withholds $107.30; at $30,000, it withholds $687.30 a year.

The 6.75% step starts at $45,550 of pay

The 5.80% step covers $27,400 of taxable pay and produces $1,589.20 of tax. The 6.75% step covers the next $37,450 and adds $2,527.88. For a single filer, 6.75% starts at $45,550 of yearly pay and ends at $83,000, where the 7.15% step begins.

Above $102,250 the effective rate on each extra dollar jumps

Because the standard deduction shrinks, each extra dollar of pay between $102,250 and $177,250 is taxed at about 8.38%, not 7.15%. A single filer paid $120,000 has $6,980.02 withheld, and one paid $130,000 has $7,817.52, which is $837.50 more for $10,000 of pay. At $150,000, the deduction is $4,668.83, and Maine withholds $9,492.53.

From $177,250 of pay there is no standard deduction

A single filer paid $200,000 gets no standard deduction in the formula, only the $5,300 allowance, so $194,700 is taxable and Maine withholds $13,401.35. The 7.15% rate then applies to every dollar above $64,850 of taxable pay until the surcharge starts.

The surcharge matters only at very high pay

The booklet says the tax is increased by a surcharge of 2% on annualized income above $1,000,000 for single taxpayers and $1,500,000 for married taxpayers, for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026. For a single filer with one allowance, that begins at about $1,005,300 of pay. On $1,500,000, the surcharge adds $9,894.00, and Maine withholds $116,245.35 in all.

The married schedule is wider, and the deduction is larger

A single filer’s taxable pay is pay minus $5,300 minus $12,850. A married filer with two allowances gets $10,600 and $28,550 off and a schedule whose 5.80% step runs to $54,850. That is why Maine withholds $2,079.30 from that filer on $75,000 and $3,577.08 from a single one. Taxable pay for the married filer is $35,850, all of it in the 5.80% step.

Head of household: two allowances on the single schedule

With lines A and C of the W-4ME worksheet, a head of household has two allowances, $10,600, and the booklet sends the employer to the single schedule. On $75,000, taxable pay is $51,550 and Maine withholds $3,219.33. The federal tax is lower for a head of household ($5,748.00 on $75,000), so take-home pay is $59,920.

Each allowance is worth up to $378.95 a year

Line D of the worksheet counts children and dependents eligible for the federal child tax credit or the credit for other dependents, and each one adds an allowance of $5,300. In the 6.75% step that lowers yearly withholding by $357.75; in the 5.80% step it is $307.40, and in the 7.15% step $378.95. This calculator does not ask for dependents, so a worker with children who claims them on the W-4ME will see less Maine tax withheld than the figure shown.

Extra withholding and exemptions are on the form

Line 5 of the W-4ME is for an additional amount you want withheld from each paycheck, and line 6 lists exemptions for people who qualify, such as a resident with no Maine tax liability in the prior and current years. This calculator models neither.

If your form is invalid, your employer treats you as single with no allowances

The booklet says that if an employee does not give a valid Form W-4ME when asked, the employer must withhold as if the employee were single and claiming no allowances. On $75,000, that would withhold $3,934.83 instead of $3,577.08, which is $357.75 more a year.

Your 401(k) lowers your Maine taxable wages in this calculator

The booklet says to start from total wages and gives no separate rule for 401(k) contributions. This calculator therefore starts from pay after a traditional 401(k) contribution, as it does in most states on this site. The booklet adds that Maine withholding is not reduced by the federal deduction amounts claimed in step 4(b) of the federal W-4. On $75,000 with 6% going in, Maine income tax withholding falls by $303.75 a year. Enter 0 if your contribution is a Roth.

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. On $250,000, Social Security and Medicare take $15,514.00 in total, and the paid leave deduction stops at $922.50.

Common mistakes

Forgetting the standard deduction

Subtracting only the allowance from $75,000 leaves $69,700 of taxable pay and overstates Maine withholding by $886.77: $4,463.85 instead of $3,577.08.

Using the return’s standard deduction in the withholding formula

The return’s basic deduction for a single filer is $15,700, but the withholding formula uses $12,850. Using the larger one on $75,000 gives $3,384.70, which understates Maine withholding by $192.38.

Assuming the deduction stays full until $177,250

It starts to shrink at $102,250. At $150,000, keeping the full $12,850 would give $8,907.58 instead of $9,492.53, which is $584.95 too little.

Claiming the spouse allowance when both of you work

Line B of the W-4ME worksheet says you may enter 0 if you are married and have a working spouse or more than one job, and that entering 0 may help avoid having too little tax withheld. If each of you claims the spouse allowance anyway, the household has one allowance too many. On $75,000 that lowers withholding from $2,386.70 to $2,079.30, which is $307.40 too little withheld over a year. The shortfall can show up as a balance due when you file.

Counting the paid leave deduction as a tax break

It is withheld after income tax is figured and does not reduce your taxable wages, so it does not lower the income tax withheld from your pay. The Department adds that employees who itemize may be entitled to deduct the premiums on their federal return, which this calculator does not model. A take-home figure that leaves it out is too high by $375.00 on $75,000, if your employer takes the full 0.50%.

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, and the allowances you claimed on your Form W-4ME may differ from the ones we assume. Read why your pay stub will differ for the rest.

Example calculation

Amounts are shown to the cent, so adding the rounded lines can differ from the total by a cent.

A single filer earning $75,000 in Maine in 2026, with one allowance, no retirement contribution and the paid leave deduction at its maximum, under the percentage method:

• 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
• Maine taxable pay: $75,000 − $5,300 allowance − $12,850 standard deduction = $56,850
• Tax on the first $27,400: $27,400 × 5.80% = $1,589.20
• Tax on the remaining $29,450: $29,450 × 6.75% = $1,987.88
• Maine income tax withholding: $1,589.20 + $1,987.88 = $3,577.08 a year, $298.09 on a monthly paycheck or $137.58 on a biweekly one
• Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave: $75,000 × 0.50% = $375.00
• Total withheld: $17,359.58
• Take-home pay: $57,640.43 a year, or $4,803.37 a month
• Effective tax rate: 23.1%

Frequently asked questions

Compare with other states

The same $75,000 salary, single filer, 2026 rates. Maine’s only neighbor state is New Hampshire, and we add Massachusetts and Vermont for a New England comparison. Each row leaves out its own local taxes and optional employer deductions, and the Maine row includes the paid leave deduction at its maximum.

The table rounds take-home pay to the dollar; the differences in this paragraph use the exact amounts. Compared with a Maine worker on the same salary, a New Hampshire worker keeps about $3,952 more, a Massachusetts worker keeps about $177 more and a Vermont worker keeps about $1,267 more. A worker who lives in one of those states and commutes into Maine, or the reverse, is a different case that this calculator does not model: it assumes a Maine resident working in Maine.

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 Maine 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

• Maine Revenue Services — 2026 Withholding Tables for Individual Income Tax (PDF, revised August 2026) — the percentage method (a $5,300 allowance for each allowance claimed, a standard deduction of $12,850 or $28,550 that phases out as annualized pay rises, then rates of 5.80%, 6.75% and 7.15% plus the 2% surcharge), its three worked examples and the printed wage-bracket tables for 0 to 10 allowances.
• Maine Revenue Services — Form W-4ME, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate (PDF) — the Personal Allowances Worksheet: one allowance for yourself, one for a spouse if you file jointly, one for head of household, and one for each child or dependent eligible for the federal credit, with a single filing-status box for “Single or Head of Household”.
• Maine Department of Labor — Paid Family and Medical Leave, frequently asked questions for employers (PDF, July 2026) — the joint contribution of 0.5% or 1% of wages for 2025 to 2027, the limit of 0.5% on the employee’s share, the Social Security wage base as the yearly cap, and the May 1, 2026 start of benefits.
• Maine Department of Labor — What Employers Need to Know: Premiums & Counting Employees (PDF) — the statement that an employer may withhold up to 0.5% of employees’ wages for the paid leave premium.
• Maine Revised Statutes — Title 26, Section 1221, Contributions — the rule that unemployment contributions are paid by each employer and may not be deducted, in whole or in part, from the wages of the employees.
• 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.

The agencies that set them

These are the offices that set the figures. We link them so you can start from the source yourself, but an agency’s own summary page is not always current, and we do not claim that these pages carry the 2026 number — several of them do not. Where a rate was read somewhere else, in a statute, a withholding guide or an estimated-tax form, the exact document and the date we read it are on our methodology page.

• Maine Revenue Services — Employer Withholding, with the 2026 forms and withholding tables.
• Maine Department of Labor — Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave.

All links checked October 21, 2026.

Related reading

• Paycheck calculators by state — the full index, including which states have no income tax at all.
• New Hampshire paycheck calculator — the neighbor to the southwest, where this calculator shows no state tax on wages.
• Massachusetts paycheck calculator — another New England state.
• Vermont paycheck calculator — another New England state.
• $75,000 take-home pay in every state we publish — where Maine ranks on one salary.
• 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.