Missouri Paycheck Calculator

Missouri's bands step up in fractions of a percent across roughly the first $9,400 of taxable income, at which point the top rate applies. For anyone on a normal salary this makes the graduated structure largely decorative: the marginal rate is 4.7% and the effective rate sits just below it.

What genuinely reduces the bill is the standard deduction, which Missouri sets equal to the federal figure — $16,100 for single filers in 2026. That is far more generous than most states with comparable rates, and it means Missouri taxable income is meaningfully lower than gross pay.

Missouri has also been cutting its top rate steadily through revenue-triggered reductions, down from 5.4% in recent years. Further cuts are legislated subject to revenue targets, so the rate tends to drift down.

Missouri additionally allows a limited deduction for federal income tax paid, capped and phased out as income rises. This calculator does not model that deduction, so the Missouri figure shown is slightly conservative — your actual state tax may be marginally lower.

Both Kansas City and St. Louis levy a 1% earnings tax. It applies to residents on all earned income wherever they work, and to non-residents on income earned inside the city — so commuting into either city means paying it regardless of where you live.

The tax has an unusual political feature: under state law, voters in each city must re-approve it every five years. Both cities have consistently voted to keep it, since it funds a large share of their general budgets, but the requirement means the tax's existence is periodically genuinely in question.

Non-residents who work partly from home can claim a refund for days not worked in the city. St. Louis in particular saw significant litigation over remote-work refunds following 2020, and the position now generally favours refunds for genuine non-city workdays. If your working pattern changed and your withholding did not, that is worth pursuing — 1% of a salary is not trivial.

Missouri stopped taxing Social Security benefits entirely from 2024, removing the previous income-based limitation. Public pensions benefit from a substantial exemption, and private pension income qualifies for a smaller one subject to income limits.

Outside the two earnings-tax cities, no Missouri municipality levies an income tax, so most of the state sees only the state rate on a payslip.

Missouri has no state disability insurance or paid leave programme, so there are no additional payroll premiums. Pre-tax 401(k) contributions reduce Missouri taxable income as well as federal, since the state builds on the federal figure.