Live in Mississippi, work in Tennessee
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Tennessee takes
$0
on wages earned there
Mississippi takes
$2,308
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,308
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$0
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
no work-state taxTennessee has no income tax, so only Mississippi taxes this pay. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Mississippi 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
- Tennessee has no income tax, and that helps you less than you would think. Mississippi taxes its residents on everything they earn, wherever they earn it. So your pay is taxed once, by Mississippi, at $2,308 a year. Working across the line in a state that charges nothing does not shrink that bill, because the bill was never Tennessee's to send.
- Of all the states feeding workers into Tennessee, Mississippi sends the most: 65,658 jobs. That makes this the largest crossing of its kind into the state, out of 9 of them.
- Tennessee levies no individual income tax, so a commuter into it is taxed by Mississippi alone, on the whole of the wages, at $2,308 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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi bill. The only version of this that changes the answer is moving.
- Measured against every other state sending commuters into Tennessee, this is the largest single flow: 65,658 jobs held by Mississippi 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 Tennessee appears twice.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- State income tax$2,908
- Yours$58,685
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax3.88% | $2,908 |
| Yours78.25% | $58,685 |
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
| Tennessee takes, on wages earned there | $0 |
|---|---|
| Mississippi charges its residents | $2,308 |
| Less the credit Mississippi gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $2,308 |
| If you also worked in Mississippi | $2,308 |
| 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
- What you see here is state tax between Mississippi and Tennessee. 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.
- The figures take the simple case: one job, in Tennessee, worked in person. Money from several states makes the credit a proportion instead of a cap. Working remotely from Mississippi can pull you under a different rule entirely, depending on the state.
- 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 Mississippi and Tennessee 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 Tennessee or Mississippi carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Tennessee and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Mississippi limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Tennessee portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Tennessee 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 Mississippi to Tennessee 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 Tennessee'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 Mississippi and Tennessee?
You file in both states, but you do not pay the full amount to both. Mississippi credits the tax Tennessee collected, capped at its own charge on that income. The practical result is one bill at the higher of the two levels: $2,308 for the year.
Does working in Tennessee cost me anything extra?
No. The state line is real on a map and invisible on your pay stub here. Your total is $2,308 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 Mississippi and Tennessee?
Expect two. Living in Mississippi means filing there on everything you earn. Working in Tennessee 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 Mississippi some days instead of going to Tennessee?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of Tennessee and into Mississippi alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to Tennessee, 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 — Tennessee on a source basis, Mississippi 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, $2,308 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. Mississippi's own charge on this income equals or exceeds Tennessee's, so the resident credit absorbs the source-state tax entirely and combined liability equals residence-only liability, $2,308. ⚠️ Zero marginal tax is not zero obligation: a non-resident return may still be required in Tennessee.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Mississippi requires a resident return reporting all income; Tennessee 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 Mississippi fall outside Tennessee'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 Tennessee throughout.