Live in Maine, work in New Hampshire
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
New Hampshire takes
$0
on wages earned there
Maine takes
$2,730
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,730
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$0
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
no work-state taxNew Hampshire has no income tax, so only Maine taxes this pay. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Maine 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
- New Hampshire has no income tax, and that helps you less than you would think. Maine taxes its residents on everything they earn, wherever they earn it. So your pay is taxed once, by Maine, at $2,730 a year. Working across the line in a state that charges nothing does not shrink that bill, because the bill was never New Hampshire's to send.
- This is not one of the country's big crossings. 20,571 jobs in New Hampshire are held by people living in Maine. 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.
- New Hampshire levies no individual income tax, so a commuter into it is taxed by Maine alone, on the whole of the wages, at $2,730 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 Maine 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 Maine bill. The only version of this that changes the answer is moving.
- This is a smaller corridor by national standards — 20,571 jobs in New Hampshire held by Maine 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$3,742
- Yours$57,850
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax4.99% | $3,742 |
| Yours77.13% | $57,850 |
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
| New Hampshire takes, on wages earned there | $0 |
|---|---|
| Maine charges its residents | $2,730 |
| Less the credit Maine gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $2,730 |
| If you also worked in Maine | $2,730 |
| 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 New Hampshire state figure is not the whole story if it does.
- These numbers assume the job in New Hampshire 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 Maine 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.
- The dollars rest on one assumed salary of sixty thousand. Double your pay and they do not simply double, because both states charge more on higher slices of income. What tends to stay put is which side of the Maine and New Hampshire comparison you are on.
- 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 New Hampshire or Maine carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in New Hampshire and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Maine limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the New Hampshire portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in New Hampshire 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 Maine to New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire'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 Maine and New Hampshire?
Both states tax the same wages, and then one of them backs off. New Hampshire taxes what you earn inside it. Maine taxes you on everything, then subtracts what New Hampshire already took, up to the size of its own bill. You end up paying the larger of the two, which is $2,730 a year on this route.
Does working in New Hampshire cost me anything extra?
No. The state line is real on a map and invisible on your pay stub here. Your total is $2,730 either way. Keep the paperwork in mind though: crossing a line usually means filing twice even when it changes nothing.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Maine and New Hampshire?
Two returns is the normal outcome here, even when only one state ends up taking anything. New Hampshire generally wants to see a non-resident return from people who work there, and Maine wants your whole picture. It is paperwork rather than extra tax.
What if I work from home in Maine some days instead of going to New Hampshire?
It depends on the state, and the answer is not the one most people expect. You might assume a day worked at your kitchen table in Maine is taxed by Maine. Usually that is right, and your New Hampshire share shrinks to the days you were actually there. But a few states tax days you work at home as though you had been in the office, unless your employer required you to be elsewhere. It is worth checking which kind New Hampshire is before assuming.
How is liability allocated between residence and work state on the same wages?
Both jurisdictions assert a claim on the same wages — New Hampshire on a source basis, Maine 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, $2,730 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. Maine's own charge on this income equals or exceeds New Hampshire's, so the resident credit absorbs the source-state tax entirely and combined liability equals residence-only liability, $2,730. ⚠️ Zero marginal tax is not zero obligation: a non-resident return may still be required in New Hampshire.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Maine requires a resident return reporting all income; New Hampshire 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 Maine fall outside New Hampshire'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 New Hampshire throughout.