Live in Kentucky, work in West Virginia
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
West Virginia takes
$0
on wages earned there
Kentucky takes
$1,982
after the credit it gives
Both together
$1,982
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$0
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
agreementWest Virginia does not tax you at all — the two states have an agreement, and you file a certificate with your employer. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Kentucky 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
- These two states have a deal. West Virginia agrees not to tax people who live in Kentucky, so only Kentucky taxes your pay. That comes to $1,982 for the year. There is one form standing between you and that result: give your employer the non-residence certificate, named beside this page, and West Virginia stops taking anything out. Skip it and money comes out all year that you then have to claim back.
- Counting only the larger flows, 5 states send workers into West Virginia. Kentucky comes in at number 5 with 8,785 jobs, so this crossing is common enough to be routine for payroll departments there.
- Kentucky and West Virginia hold a reciprocity agreement covering wages, so West Virginia does not tax this commuter at all and no resident credit is needed. The commuter files the work state's non-residence certificate with the employer — it is named in the panel beside this page — which stops West Virginia withholding at source, and owes Kentucky alone — $1,982 at the reference salary, identical to an earner who never crosses the line. ⚠️ The agreement covers WAGES. Other income sourced to West Virginia is outside it, and an employee who does not file the certificate has West Virginia tax withheld and must reclaim it on a non-resident return.
- West Virginia draws commuters of this scale from 5 states, and Kentucky ranks number 5 among them with 8,785 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$2,507
- Yours$59,085
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax3.34% | $2,507 |
| Yours78.78% | $59,085 |
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
| West Virginia takes, on wages earned there | $0 |
|---|---|
| Kentucky charges its residents | $1,982 |
| Less the credit Kentucky gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $1,982 |
| If you also worked in Kentucky | $1,982 |
| 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 West Virginia state figure is not the whole story if it does.
- These numbers assume the job in West Virginia is your only income, and that you actually go there to work. Both matter. If you earn money in more than one state, the credit Kentucky gives is worked out as a share rather than the simple cap used here. And if you work from home some days, some states have rules that treat those days as worked at the office anyway.
- 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, Kentucky or West Virginia, 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 West Virginia or Kentucky carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in West Virginia and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Kentucky limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the West Virginia portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in West Virginia 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 Kentucky to West Virginia 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 West Virginia'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 Kentucky and West Virginia?
You file in both states, but you do not pay the full amount to both. Kentucky credits the tax West Virginia collected, capped at its own charge on that income. The practical result is one bill at the higher of the two levels: $1,982 for the year.
Does working in West Virginia cost me anything extra?
No. The state line is real on a map and invisible on your pay stub here. Your total is $1,982 either way. Keep the paperwork in mind though: crossing a line usually means filing twice even when it changes nothing.
What do I give my employer so West Virginia stops taking tax?
A single form, filed with your employer rather than with either state. It tells them you live in Kentucky and that West Virginia has agreed not to tax you, so they stop withholding West Virginia tax from your pay. Without it the money comes out all year and you have to claim it back on a return you would not otherwise file.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Kentucky and West Virginia?
Two returns is the normal outcome here, even when only one state ends up taking anything. West Virginia generally wants to see a non-resident return from people who work there, and Kentucky wants your whole picture. It is paperwork rather than extra tax.
What if I work from home in Kentucky some days instead of going to West Virginia?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of West Virginia and into Kentucky alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to West Virginia, 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 — West Virginia on a source basis, Kentucky 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, $1,982 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. Kentucky's own charge on this income equals or exceeds West Virginia's, so the resident credit absorbs the source-state tax entirely and combined liability equals residence-only liability, $1,982. ⚠️ Zero marginal tax is not zero obligation: a non-resident return may still be required in West Virginia.
What administrative step gives effect to the reciprocity exemption?
The exemption is self-executing only on filing: the employee furnishes the work state's non-residence certificate to the employer, which relieves the employer of the obligation to withhold West Virginia tax. Absent the certificate the employer withholds, and the employee recovers the amount by filing a West Virginia non-resident return — the liability position is identical, the cash-flow position is not.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Kentucky requires a resident return reporting all income; West Virginia 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 Kentucky fall outside West Virginia'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 West Virginia throughout.