Live in Minnesota, work in North Dakota
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
North Dakota takes
$0
on wages earned there
Minnesota takes
$2,557
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,557
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$0
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
agreementNorth Dakota 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 Minnesota 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
- Working in North Dakota while living in Minnesota is simpler than most border crossings. The two states agreed years ago to leave each other's residents alone on wages. Only Minnesota taxes you, at $2,557 a year. File the non-residence certificate with your employer, named beside this page, and that is the end of it.
- 38,406 jobs is the size of this crossing from Minnesota into North Dakota. Smaller than the famous ones, and governed identically. The only practical difference is familiarity — fewer people at your workplace will have done this before.
- Minnesota and North Dakota hold a reciprocity agreement covering wages, so North Dakota 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 North Dakota withholding at source, and owes Minnesota alone — $2,557 at the reference salary, identical to an earner who never crosses the line. ⚠️ The agreement covers WAGES. Other income sourced to North Dakota is outside it, and an employee who does not file the certificate has North Dakota tax withheld and must reclaim it on a non-resident return.
- This is a smaller corridor by national standards — 38,406 jobs in North Dakota held by Minnesota 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$3,577
- Yours$58,016
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax4.77% | $3,577 |
| Yours77.35% | $58,016 |
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
| North Dakota takes, on wages earned there | $0 |
|---|---|
| Minnesota charges its residents | $2,557 |
| Less the credit Minnesota gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $2,557 |
| If you also worked in Minnesota | $2,557 |
| 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
- 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 North Dakota 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 Minnesota residents.
- Two assumptions sit under this page. First, that North Dakota is where all your pay comes from. Second, that you go there rather than working from your kitchen in Minnesota. Mixed income changes how the credit is worked out, and remote days have their own rules in some states.
- 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 Minnesota and North Dakota 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 North Dakota or Minnesota carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in North Dakota and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Minnesota limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the North Dakota portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in North Dakota 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 Minnesota to North Dakota 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 North Dakota'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 Minnesota and North Dakota?
You file in both states, but you do not pay the full amount to both. Minnesota credits the tax North Dakota collected, capped at its own charge on that income. The practical result is one bill at the higher of the two levels: $2,557 for the year.
Does working in North Dakota cost me anything extra?
No. The state line is real on a map and invisible on your pay stub here. Your total is $2,557 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 North Dakota stops taking tax?
One certificate, given to payroll. It is the piece that makes the agreement between Minnesota and North Dakota actually show up in your paycheck rather than only on a return months later.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Minnesota and North Dakota?
Expect two. Living in Minnesota means filing there on everything you earn. Working in North Dakota 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 Minnesota some days instead of going to North Dakota?
Normally, days worked at home in Minnesota belong to Minnesota, and only the days you spend in North Dakota 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 North Dakota'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 — North Dakota on a source basis, Minnesota 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, $2,557 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. Minnesota's own charge on this income equals or exceeds North Dakota's, so the resident credit absorbs the source-state tax entirely and combined liability equals residence-only liability, $2,557. ⚠️ Zero marginal tax is not zero obligation: a non-resident return may still be required in North Dakota.
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 North Dakota tax. Absent the certificate the employer withholds, and the employee recovers the amount by filing a North Dakota 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. Minnesota requires a resident return reporting all income; North Dakota 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 Minnesota fall outside North Dakota'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 North Dakota throughout.