Live in Alabama, work in Mississippi
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Mississippi takes
$2,308
on wages earned there
Alabama takes
$276
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,584
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$0
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
credit covers itAlabama charges more, so its credit covers everything Mississippi takes. Both states collect; your total does not change. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Alabama bar is the credit it hands back. State income tax only — federal and payroll tax apply on top, and a city wage tax may too.
Which state taxes you, and what it costs
- Crossing into Mississippi for work does not raise your state tax at all. Alabama asks for more than Mississippi does, so the credit it gives you absorbs the whole Mississippi bill. You end the year at $2,584 either way. The one thing the commute does cost you is a second tax return.
- This is not one of the country's big crossings. 17,905 jobs in Mississippi are held by people living in Alabama. The tax rules do not care about that — they are the same ones that apply to the busiest routes in the country. What can differ is how used to the paperwork your employer is.
- Both states tax these wages and the commuter pays no more than they would have at home. Mississippi takes its non-resident share first — $2,308 at the reference salary — and Alabama, whose own liability on the same income is the larger of the two, credits that amount in full and collects the balance. The total is $2,584, identical to what an earner living and working in Alabama would owe. ⚠️ The money is split between two treasuries rather than reduced, which matters at filing time: two state returns, not one.
- This is a smaller corridor by national standards — 17,905 jobs in Mississippi held by Alabama residents — but the rules that govern it are the same rules that govern the largest ones. Corridor size changes how familiar an employer's payroll department is with the paperwork, never the tax treatment.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- State income tax$3,202
- Yours$58,391
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax4.27% | $3,202 |
| Yours77.85% | $58,391 |
Which rung you are on
A $75,000 salary
| This rung starts at | $66,500 |
|---|---|
| Next rung starts at | $121,800 |
| Room before it | $46,800 |
Federal only, measured on gross pay — so the first rung is what the standard deduction covers.
The arithmetic, step by step
| Mississippi takes, on wages earned there | $2,308 |
|---|---|
| Alabama charges its residents | $2,584 |
| Less the credit Alabama gives | $2,308 |
| Total state tax | $2,584 |
| If you also worked in Alabama | $2,584 |
| Difference | $0 |
On a reference salary of $60,000 a year, single filer. Both states run progressive schedules, so the figures do not simply scale — use the tool above for your own salary.
What this page does not cover
- City wage taxes are not in these numbers. A few places charge them, and where they do the money is real. If your job in Mississippi is inside a city that taxes workers, add that on top. Where it is not, the state figures above are the whole of it for Alabama residents.
- Two assumptions sit under this page. First, that Mississippi is where all your pay comes from. Second, that you go there rather than working from your kitchen in Alabama. Mixed income changes how the credit is worked out, and remote days have their own rules in some states.
- The dollars rest on one assumed salary of sixty thousand. Double your pay and they do not simply double, because both states charge more on higher slices of income. What tends to stay put is which side of the Alabama and Mississippi comparison you are on.
- These figures cover the STATE layer only. City and municipal wage taxes sit on top of them and are not included: a commuter into Philadelphia pays its wage tax on top of anything here, and Ohio's municipalities run their own credit system, which this site models in its own families. New York City, by contrast, taxes only its residents, so a commuter into it adds nothing at the city level. Whether Mississippi or Alabama carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Mississippi and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Alabama limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Mississippi portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Mississippi rather than remotely — several states tax a non-resident's remote days as though they were worked at the employer's location, which reverses the usual expectation and is handled on this site's reciprocity pages.
- Dollar amounts are computed at a stated reference salary of sixty thousand rather than a corridor wage average, which no published source provides per state pair. Because both states' liabilities and the credit between them are functions of the same income, the direction of the Alabama to Mississippi comparison holds at other salaries even though the amounts do not — with one qualification worth stating, that a progressive schedule can change the SIZE of the gap at higher incomes, and in Mississippi's case a bracket crossed on one side and not the other is exactly where that happens.
Questions people ask
Do I pay state tax twice, to Alabama and Mississippi?
Not twice over. Both states have a claim — Mississippi because you earn the money there, Alabama because you live there — but Alabama gives you credit for what Mississippi took. The credit stops at what Alabama would have charged on its own, so what you actually pay is the bigger of the two bills. Here that comes to $2,584 for the year.
Does working in Mississippi cost me anything extra?
No. The state line is real on a map and invisible on your pay stub here. Your total is $2,584 either way. Keep the paperwork in mind though: crossing a line usually means filing twice even when it changes nothing.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Alabama and Mississippi?
Usually yes, and it catches people out. Alabama wants a return because you live there. Mississippi usually wants one too, because you earned money inside it — even in the cases where you end up owing it nothing. Filing in a state and paying it are separate things, and the return is often what proves you do not owe.
What if I work from home in Alabama some days instead of going to Mississippi?
Normally, days worked at home in Alabama belong to Alabama, and only the days you spend in Mississippi are taxed there. That is the ordinary rule. The exception is real though: some states count your remote days as worked at the employer's location anyway. That flips the answer completely, so check Mississippi's rule rather than assuming.
How is liability allocated between residence and work state on the same wages?
Both jurisdictions assert a claim on the same wages — Mississippi on a source basis, Alabama on residence. The residence state grants a credit for tax paid to the source state, limited to the residence state's own liability on that income. Net combined liability therefore equals the greater of the two liabilities rather than their sum, $2,584 at the reference salary, and the split between the two treasuries is the only thing the credit changes.
Why is the marginal state-tax cost of this crossing zero?
Marginal cost is zero because the binding liability is the residence state's. Alabama's own charge on this income equals or exceeds Mississippi's, so the resident credit absorbs the source-state tax entirely and combined liability equals residence-only liability, $2,584. ⚠️ Zero marginal tax is not zero obligation: a non-resident return may still be required in Mississippi.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Alabama requires a resident return reporting all income; Mississippi requires a non-resident return reporting the income sourced to it, which is also the mechanism by which the resident credit is substantiated. ⚠️ A filing obligation is distinct from a liability: a reciprocity exemption or a zero net position removes tax without necessarily removing the return, and the non-resident return is frequently what establishes the credit claimed on the resident one.
How do remote working days affect sourcing between these two states?
Ordinarily wages are sourced to where the services are performed, so days worked remotely from Alabama fall outside Mississippi's jurisdiction and the source-state apportionment shrinks accordingly. ⛔ The exception is the "convenience of the employer" rule, which several states apply: a non-resident's remote days are sourced to the employer's location unless the remote work is required by the employer rather than chosen by the employee. The figures on this page model in-person attendance in Mississippi throughout.