Live in Missouri, work in Illinois
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Illinois takes
$2,825
on wages earned there
Missouri takes
$0
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,825
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$943
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
costs youIllinois charges more than Missouri would, and Missouri only credits you up to its own bill — so the difference stays with you. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Missouri 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
- Crossing this line costs money. Illinois taxes what you earn there. Missouri taxes you too, because you live there, and then gives you credit for what Illinois already took. The catch is the size of that credit. It stops at what Missouri would have charged on its own. So you end up paying the bigger of the two bills, which here means $2,825 a year instead of $1,883. The commute itself accounts for $943 of that.
- Missouri is one of 6 states sending this many workers into Illinois, and it sits at number 3 of them, with 33,990 jobs. States used to handling out-of-state workers usually make the filing side of it straightforward.
- Illinois taxes wages earned inside its borders by non-residents, and Missouri taxes its residents on the same wages wherever they are earned. The resident credit resolves the overlap but does not erase it: Missouri credits tax paid to Illinois only up to what it would itself have charged on that income, so the commuter settles at the higher of the two liabilities rather than the sum. At the reference salary that is $2,825 against $1,883 for the same earner working at home — $943 attributable to the state line itself. ⚠️ The corollary is the part most readers have backwards: moving to a cheaper home state while keeping the job in Illinois changes the split between the two treasuries and not the total.
- Illinois draws commuters of this scale from 6 states, and Missouri ranks number 3 among them with 33,990 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$2,588
- Yours$59,005
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax3.45% | $2,588 |
| Yours78.67% | $59,005 |
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
| Illinois takes, on wages earned there | $2,825 |
|---|---|
| Missouri charges its residents | $1,883 |
| Less the credit Missouri gives | $1,883 |
| Total state tax | $2,825 |
| If you also worked in Missouri | $1,883 |
| Difference | $943 |
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 Illinois state figure is not the whole story if it does.
- These numbers assume the job in Illinois 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 Missouri 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.
- 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 Missouri and Illinois 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 Illinois or Missouri carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Illinois and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Missouri limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Illinois portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Illinois 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 Missouri to Illinois 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 Illinois'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 Missouri and Illinois?
Both states tax the same wages, and then one of them backs off. Illinois taxes what you earn inside it. Missouri taxes you on everything, then subtracts what Illinois already took, up to the size of its own bill. You end up paying the larger of the two, which is $2,825 a year on this route.
Would moving out of Missouri lower my state tax if I keep working in Illinois?
Moving rarely helps while the job stays in Illinois. The work state takes its share first and does not care where you live. A cheaper home state simply means it has less of its own tax to credit, and you still pay Illinois the same. The saving people imagine here mostly is not there.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Missouri and Illinois?
Expect two. Living in Missouri means filing there on everything you earn. Working in Illinois 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 Missouri some days instead of going to Illinois?
Normally, days worked at home in Missouri belong to Missouri, and only the days you spend in Illinois 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 Illinois'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 — Illinois on a source basis, Missouri 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, $2,825 at the reference salary, and the split between the two treasuries is the only thing the credit changes.
Does changing residence reduce combined liability while the work state is unchanged?
No, while the source state is unchanged. Illinois's claim arises from where the services are performed and is unaffected by residence. Because the residence credit is capped at the residence state's own liability, combined liability equals the greater of the two — so substituting a lower-tax residence reduces the residence-state component toward zero while leaving the total at Illinois's level. The binding variable is the work location, not the home one.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Missouri requires a resident return reporting all income; Illinois 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 Missouri fall outside Illinois'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 Illinois throughout.