Mississippi Paycheck Calculator 2026

How this calculator works

Mississippi runs a two-segment schedule, not a multi-bracket one like Virginia or North Dakota: nothing on the first $10,000 of taxable income, then a single flat 4.0% rate on every dollar above it. There is no third bracket further up the income scale — a $40,000 earner and a $400,000 earner pay the exact same marginal rate on their last dollar.

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.
• Mississippi income tax: your gross pay minus a $6,000 personal exemption and a $2,300 standard deduction ($8,300 combined for a single filer), with 0% on the first $10,000 of what is left and 4.0% on the rest.

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 the state layer, the Mississippi Department of Revenue’s Withholding Income Tax Tables And Employer Instructions, Pub 89-700-25-1, read directly from dor.ms.gov on September 17, 2026. Our full sourcing, including the line-by-line formula this calculator follows, is on the methodology page.

The 2026 rate is lower than some third-party tools still show. Several payroll sites publish 4.4% for Mississippi, which was the rate before this year's scheduled reduction. The state's own 2026 withholding table prints 4.0% on income above $10,000, and that is the figure this calculator uses.

What the calculator deliberately does not do: it does not itemize deductions, model Married Filing Separately, handle multiple jobs or dependents beyond the one already built into the head-of-family exemption amount, or account for health insurance premiums and other employer benefit deductions.

Mississippi hourly paycheck: what your rate is worth after tax

Why we ask your hours instead of assuming 2,080

Most 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 salaried schedule rather than most hourly work. 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 $20 an hour comes to in Mississippi

At 40 hours a week, $20 an hour is $41,600 a year gross. After federal tax, Social Security, Medicare and Mississippi’s flat 4.0% rate, that leaves about $34,674 a year, or $2,889.47 a month. Your real hourly rate — what an hour of work actually puts in your account — is $16.67. Mississippi’s share of it is $932.00 for the year.

What $25 and $30 an hour come to

$25 an hour is $52,000 gross and about $42,614 after tax, a real rate of $20.49. $30 an hour is $62,400 gross and about $50,554 after tax, a real rate of $24.31. Because the 4.0% rate applies equally at every income level above the $10,000 threshold, a raise from $25 to $30 an hour keeps the same share of Mississippi tax taken out of the new money.

Overtime, tips and shift differentials

Mississippi taxes overtime, tips and shift differentials the same way it taxes the rest of your pay, at the flat 4.0% rate once your taxable income clears $10,000. The common complaint that “overtime is taxed more” is a federal withholding effect, not a Mississippi one.

Mississippi take-home pay by hourly rate

Single filer, 40 hours a week (2,080 hours a year), 2026 rates.

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 Mississippi

One rate, not a ladder of brackets

Once taxable income clears $10,000, every additional dollar in Mississippi is taxed at the same 4.0%. There is no higher bracket waiting further up the income scale, unlike Virginia's climb to 5.75% or North Dakota's climb to 2.5%. On $25,000 the state takes $268.00, an effective rate of 1.07%. On $250,000 it takes $9,268.00, or 3.71% — close to the full 4.0%, because almost all of a high income sits above the zero-rate band.

The exemption and the deduction are two separate numbers

Mississippi does not combine them into one figure the way some states do. A single filer subtracts a $6,000 personal exemption and a $2,300 standard deduction separately — $8,300 total — before the 0%/4.0% schedule applies. A married couple filing jointly gets $12,000 plus $4,600, or $16,600 combined.

2026's rate is lower than 2025's

Mississippi's own withholding tables for wages paid in 2026 print 4.0% on income above $10,000. Several payroll tools built before the update still show 4.4%, the prior year's rate. This calculator follows the current official table.

Mississippi has no local income tax

Unlike Ohio's municipal net-profits tax or the county and city taxes several states levy on top of a state income tax, nothing on a Mississippi pay stub represents a local income tax. The Department of Revenue's own 25-page withholding guide for employers, which walks through every category of state withholding an employer must apply, never mentions one.

Your employer cannot deduct unemployment insurance from your pay

Some states take an employee contribution for unemployment coverage; Washington is the example on this site, where paid family leave and long-term care both come off the stub, and Alaska shares part of the cost too. Mississippi does not: unemployment tax is a liability the Mississippi Department of Employment Security assigns to employers, starting at 1.00% of the first $14,000 in a new employer's first year. The only state line on a Mississippi pay stub is income tax withholding.

Your 401(k) contribution does reduce your Mississippi tax

Mississippi's income tax base is your pay after any 401(k) elective deferral is taken out. On $75,000 with 6% going in, your Mississippi tax falls by $180.00 a year, on top of the federal savings.

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. This is why take-home pay rises unevenly through the year for high earners — the paycheck after you cross the Social Security wage base is visibly larger.

Common mistakes people make

Using the old 4.4% rate

4.4% was Mississippi's 2025 rate. The state's own 2026 withholding table prints 4.0% on income above $10,000, and a calculator built on the older figure will overstate a Mississippi worker's state tax on every salary above that threshold.

Combining the exemption and deduction into one number

They are two separate line items on Mississippi's own schedule, not one combined "standard deduction" the way some other states publish it. A single filer's total is $8,300, but it is built from a $6,000 exemption plus a $2,300 deduction — treating either figure alone as the full amount understates take-home pay.

Assuming a higher bracket exists further up

It does not. Once taxable income clears $10,000, the rate stays at 4.0% no matter how high the salary goes — there is no second threshold the way Virginia or North Dakota have one.

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 withholds from the Form 89-350 you actually filed — if you claimed exemptions for a spouse or dependents, your real Mississippi withholding will be lower than this calculator's single-exemption figure. Read why your pay stub will differ for the rest.

Example calculation

A single filer earning $75,000 in Mississippi in 2026, 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
• Mississippi taxable income: $75,000 − $6,000 personal exemption − $2,300 standard deduction = $66,700
• Mississippi tax: $10,000 × 0% + ($56,700 × 4.0%) = $2,268.00
• Total withheld: $15,675.50
• Take-home pay: $59,324.50 a year, or $4,943.71 a month
• Effective tax rate: 20.9%

Frequently asked questions

Compare with other states

The same $75,000 salary, single filer, 2026 rates, state layer only:

• Arkansas — $59,215 take-home, an effective rate of 21.0%. An Arkansas worker keeps $109.67 less than a Mississippian on the same salary.
• Tennessee — $61,593 take-home, an effective rate of 17.9%. A Tennessee worker keeps $2,268.00 more than a Mississippian on the same salary.

Mississippi borders four states; two are already on this site. Tennessee has no state income tax at all, which is why a Tennessee worker keeps $2,268.00 more of the same salary. Arkansas runs a table-based progressive schedule that climbs higher than Mississippi's flat 4.0%, and on this salary an Arkansas worker pays $2,377.67 to the state against a Mississippian's $2,268.00.

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 Mississippi 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

• Mississippi Department of Revenue — Withholding Income Tax Tables And Employer Instructions, Pub 89-700-25-1 (PDF) — the two-segment 2026 rate schedule (0% on the first $10,000, 4.0% above) and the per-status exemption and standard deduction amounts.
• Mississippi Department of Employment Security — Instructions for Completing Form UI-2/3 (PDF) — the $14,000 unemployment insurance taxable wage base.
• Mississippi Department of Employment Security — Unemployment Tax Rates — the 1.00%/1.10%/1.20% new-employer rate schedule, paid entirely by the employer.
• 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.
• Arkansas paycheck calculator — a bordering state with a table-based progressive schedule instead of Mississippi's flat 4.0%.
• 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.