Live in Georgia, work in Alabama
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Alabama takes
$2,584
on wages earned there
Georgia takes
$0
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,584
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$189
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
costs youAlabama charges more than Georgia would, and Georgia only credits you up to its own bill — so the difference stays with you. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Georgia 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
- You are not taxed twice over. You are taxed at the higher of the two rates, which is its own kind of bad news. Georgia hands back what you paid Alabama, but only as far as its own bill goes. Anything Alabama charges above that, you keep paying. On this salary the year comes to $2,584. Work at home instead and it would be $2,395.
- This is the busiest way into Alabama. 24,430 jobs in the state belong to Georgia residents, more than any other state sends. It is worth knowing that the rules below are not an edge case — they apply to a lot of people.
- Alabama taxes wages earned inside its borders by non-residents, and Georgia taxes its residents on the same wages wherever they are earned. The resident credit resolves the overlap but does not erase it: Georgia credits tax paid to Alabama only up to what it would itself have charged on that income, so the commuter settles at the higher of the two liabilities rather than the sum. At the reference salary that is $2,584 against $2,395 for the same earner working at home — $189 attributable to the state line itself. ⚠️ The corollary is the part most readers have backwards: moving to a cheaper home state while keeping the job in Alabama changes the split between the two treasuries and not the total.
- Measured against every other state sending commuters into Alabama, this is the largest single flow: 24,430 jobs held by Georgia residents, ahead of all 4 corridors of this size into that state. Census LODES counts jobs rather than people, so a worker holding two positions in Alabama appears twice.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- State income tax$3,144
- Yours$58,449
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax4.19% | $3,144 |
| Yours77.93% | $58,449 |
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
| Alabama takes, on wages earned there | $2,584 |
|---|---|
| Georgia charges its residents | $2,395 |
| Less the credit Georgia gives | $2,395 |
| Total state tax | $2,584 |
| If you also worked in Georgia | $2,395 |
| Difference | $189 |
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 Alabama 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 Georgia residents.
- Two assumptions sit under this page. First, that Alabama is where all your pay comes from. Second, that you go there rather than working from your kitchen in Georgia. Mixed income changes how the credit is worked out, and remote days have their own rules in some states.
- 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, Georgia or Alabama, 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 Alabama or Georgia carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Alabama and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Georgia limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Alabama portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Alabama 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 Georgia to Alabama 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 Alabama'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 Georgia and Alabama?
Not twice over. Both states have a claim — Alabama because you earn the money there, Georgia because you live there — but Georgia gives you credit for what Alabama took. The credit stops at what Georgia 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.
Would moving out of Georgia lower my state tax if I keep working in Alabama?
Not while you work in Alabama. That state's claim comes from where the work happens. Georgia is the one giving ground, through the credit, and a cheaper home state gives less ground rather than costing you less. The number that matters is set by Alabama.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Georgia and Alabama?
Expect two. Living in Georgia means filing there on everything you earn. Working in Alabama 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 Georgia some days instead of going to Alabama?
Normally, days worked at home in Georgia belong to Georgia, and only the days you spend in Alabama 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 Alabama'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 — Alabama on a source basis, Georgia 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.
Does changing residence reduce combined liability while the work state is unchanged?
No, while the source state is unchanged. Alabama's claim arises from where the services are performed and is unaffected by residence. Because the residence credit is capped at the residence state's own liability, combined liability equals the greater of the two — so substituting a lower-tax residence reduces the residence-state component toward zero while leaving the total at Alabama's level. The binding variable is the work location, not the home one.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Georgia requires a resident return reporting all income; Alabama 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 Georgia fall outside Alabama'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 Alabama throughout.