Live in Iowa, work in Nebraska
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Nebraska takes
$2,026
on wages earned there
Iowa takes
$0
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,026
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$358
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
costs youNebraska charges more than Iowa would, and Iowa 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 Iowa 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. Iowa hands back what you paid Nebraska, but only as far as its own bill goes. Anything Nebraska charges above that, you keep paying. On this salary the year comes to $2,026. Work at home instead and it would be $1,668.
- This is not one of the country's big crossings. 39,624 jobs in Nebraska are held by people living in Iowa. 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.
- Nebraska taxes wages earned inside its borders by non-residents, and Iowa taxes its residents on the same wages wherever they are earned. The resident credit resolves the overlap but does not erase it: Iowa credits tax paid to Nebraska 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 $2,026 against $1,668 for the same earner working at home — $358 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 Nebraska changes the split between the two treasuries and not the total.
- This is a smaller corridor by national standards — 39,624 jobs in Nebraska held by Iowa 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$2,238
- Yours$59,354
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax2.98% | $2,238 |
| Yours79.14% | $59,354 |
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
| Nebraska takes, on wages earned there | $2,026 |
|---|---|
| Iowa charges its residents | $1,668 |
| Less the credit Iowa gives | $1,668 |
| Total state tax | $2,026 |
| If you also worked in Iowa | $1,668 |
| Difference | $358 |
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
- What you see here is state tax between Iowa and Nebraska. Cities can charge their own tax on top, and a handful do. That layer is not modeled on this page, so treat these figures as the floor rather than the final bill.
- Two assumptions sit under this page. First, that Nebraska is where all your pay comes from. Second, that you go there rather than working from your kitchen in Iowa. 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, Iowa or Nebraska, 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 Nebraska or Iowa carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Nebraska and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Iowa limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Nebraska portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Nebraska 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 Iowa to Nebraska 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 Nebraska'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 Iowa and Nebraska?
You file in both states, but you do not pay the full amount to both. Iowa credits the tax Nebraska collected, capped at its own charge on that income. The practical result is one bill at the higher of the two levels: $2,026 for the year.
Would moving out of Iowa lower my state tax if I keep working in Nebraska?
Moving rarely helps while the job stays in Nebraska. The work state takes its share first and does not care where you live. A cheaper home state simply means it has less of its own tax to credit, and you still pay Nebraska the same. The saving people imagine here mostly is not there.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Iowa and Nebraska?
Two returns is the normal outcome here, even when only one state ends up taking anything. Nebraska generally wants to see a non-resident return from people who work there, and Iowa wants your whole picture. It is paperwork rather than extra tax.
What if I work from home in Iowa some days instead of going to Nebraska?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of Nebraska and into Iowa alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to Nebraska, 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 — Nebraska on a source basis, Iowa 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, $2,026 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. Nebraska'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 Nebraska'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. Iowa requires a resident return reporting all income; Nebraska 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 Iowa fall outside Nebraska'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 Nebraska throughout.