Live in Alabama, work in Tennessee
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Tennessee takes
$0
on wages earned there
Alabama takes
$2,584
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
no work-state taxTennessee has no income tax, so only Alabama taxes this pay. 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
- No income tax in Tennessee means one bill instead of two, not zero bills. Alabama still taxes you because you live there, and it reaches pay earned across the line. You owe $2,584 for the year, and only Alabama collects it.
- Plenty of states feed workers into Tennessee — 9 of them at this scale. Alabama is number 4, with 16,958 jobs. You will not be the first person at your employer to have filed as an out-of-state worker.
- Tennessee levies no individual income tax, so a commuter into it is taxed by Alabama alone, on the whole of the wages, at $2,584 for the reference salary. ⛔ The common expectation — that working in a state without an income tax removes the tax — is exactly backwards for a commuter: residence is what gives Alabama its claim, and that claim reaches income wherever it is earned. There is no work-state liability to credit against it, so nothing offsets the Alabama bill. The only version of this that changes the answer is moving.
- Tennessee draws commuters of this scale from 9 states, and Alabama ranks number 4 among them with 16,958 jobs. A work state pulling from that many directions tends to have a well-established non-resident filing routine, which is a practical convenience rather than a tax saving.
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
| Tennessee takes, on wages earned there | $0 |
|---|---|
| Alabama charges its residents | $2,584 |
| Less the credit Alabama gives | $0 |
| 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
- One thing this page leaves out: city taxes. Some cities charge their own tax on people who work there, and it sits on top of everything above. Philadelphia is the well-known one. New York City only charges its own residents, so commuting in adds nothing. Check whether the city you work in is one that charges, because the Tennessee state figure is not the whole story if it does.
- The figures take the simple case: one job, in Tennessee, worked in person. Money from several states makes the credit a proportion instead of a cap. Working remotely from Alabama can pull you under a different rule entirely, depending on the state.
- Every dollar figure here uses a salary of sixty thousand a year. It is a stated benchmark, not a guess at what people on this route earn. Scale them to your own pay. Which state ends up dearer, Alabama or Tennessee, generally holds at other salaries — though the gap between them can widen or narrow as you cross tax brackets.
- 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 Tennessee or Alabama carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Tennessee 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 Tennessee portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee'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 Tennessee?
Both states tax the same wages, and then one of them backs off. Tennessee taxes what you earn inside it. Alabama taxes you on everything, then subtracts what Tennessee already took, up to the size of its own bill. You end up paying the larger of the two, which is $2,584 a year on this route.
Does working in Tennessee cost me anything extra?
Nothing extra, on this route. You end the year owing $2,584, exactly what you would owe if the job were in Alabama. That is not true of every crossing — plenty of them do cost money — but this one does not. What it does cost you is time at tax filing, because two states may each want a return.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Alabama and Tennessee?
Expect two. Living in Alabama means filing there on everything you earn. Working in Tennessee usually means filing there as well, on the part you earned inside it. The second one is often how the credit gets claimed, so skipping it can cost you money you are owed.
What if I work from home in Alabama some days instead of going to Tennessee?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of Tennessee and into Alabama alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to Tennessee, so if a lot of your week is at home the split will differ from what you see here.
How is liability allocated between residence and work state on the same wages?
Both jurisdictions assert a claim on the same wages — Tennessee 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 Tennessee'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 Tennessee.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Alabama requires a resident return reporting all income; Tennessee 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 Tennessee'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 Tennessee throughout.