Live in Louisiana, work in Texas
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Texas takes
$0
on wages earned there
Louisiana takes
$1,414
after the credit it gives
Both together
$1,414
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$0
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
no work-state taxTexas has no income tax, so only Louisiana taxes this pay. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Louisiana 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 Texas means one bill instead of two, not zero bills. Louisiana still taxes you because you live there, and it reaches pay earned across the line. You owe $1,414 for the year, and only Louisiana collects it.
- This is the busiest way into Texas. 32,912 jobs in the state belong to Louisiana 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.
- Texas levies no individual income tax, so a commuter into it is taxed by Louisiana alone, on the whole of the wages, at $1,414 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 Louisiana 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 Louisiana bill. The only version of this that changes the answer is moving.
- Measured against every other state sending commuters into Texas, this is the largest single flow: 32,912 jobs held by Louisiana residents, ahead of all 9 corridors of this size into that state. Census LODES counts jobs rather than people, so a worker holding two positions in Texas appears twice.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- State income tax$1,864
- Yours$59,729
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax2.49% | $1,864 |
| Yours79.64% | $59,729 |
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
| Texas takes, on wages earned there | $0 |
|---|---|
| Louisiana charges its residents | $1,414 |
| Less the credit Louisiana gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $1,414 |
| If you also worked in Louisiana | $1,414 |
| 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 Texas state figure is not the whole story if it does.
- Two assumptions sit under this page. First, that Texas is where all your pay comes from. Second, that you go there rather than working from your kitchen in Louisiana. Mixed income changes how the credit is worked out, and remote days have their own rules in some states.
- Sixty thousand a year is the assumption behind these amounts, chosen because nobody publishes average pay for a route between two states. At your own salary the numbers shift. The conclusion about which of Louisiana and Texas takes more usually does not, but the size of the difference can.
- 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 Texas or Louisiana carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Texas and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Louisiana limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Texas portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Texas 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 Louisiana to Texas 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 Texas'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 Louisiana and Texas?
Not twice over. Both states have a claim — Texas because you earn the money there, Louisiana because you live there — but Louisiana gives you credit for what Texas took. The credit stops at what Louisiana would have charged on its own, so what you actually pay is the bigger of the two bills. Here that comes to $1,414 for the year.
Does working in Texas cost me anything extra?
Nothing extra, on this route. You end the year owing $1,414, exactly what you would owe if the job were in Louisiana. 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 Louisiana and Texas?
Expect two. Living in Louisiana means filing there on everything you earn. Working in Texas 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 Louisiana some days instead of going to Texas?
Normally, days worked at home in Louisiana belong to Louisiana, and only the days you spend in Texas 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 Texas'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 — Texas on a source basis, Louisiana 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, $1,414 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. Louisiana's own charge on this income equals or exceeds Texas's, so the resident credit absorbs the source-state tax entirely and combined liability equals residence-only liability, $1,414. ⚠️ Zero marginal tax is not zero obligation: a non-resident return may still be required in Texas.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Louisiana requires a resident return reporting all income; Texas 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 Louisiana fall outside Texas'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 Texas throughout.