Live in New Hampshire, work in Maine
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Maine takes
$2,730
on wages earned there
New Hampshire takes
$0
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,730
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$2,730
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
costs youMaine charges more than New Hampshire would, and New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire 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. Maine taxes what you earn there. New Hampshire taxes you too, because you live there, and then gives you credit for what Maine already took. The catch is the size of that credit. It stops at what New Hampshire would have charged on its own. So you end up paying the bigger of the two bills, which here means $2,730 a year instead of $0. The commute itself accounts for $2,730 of that.
- This is not one of the country's big crossings. 10,746 jobs in Maine are held by people living in New Hampshire. 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.
- Maine taxes wages earned inside its borders by non-residents, and New Hampshire taxes its residents on the same wages wherever they are earned. The resident credit resolves the overlap but does not erase it: New Hampshire credits tax paid to Maine 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 $2,730 against $0 for the same earner working at home — $2,730 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 Maine changes the split between the two treasuries and not the total.
- This is a smaller corridor by national standards — 10,746 jobs in Maine held by New Hampshire 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
- Yours$61,593
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| Yours82.12% | $61,593 |
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
| Maine takes, on wages earned there | $2,730 |
|---|---|
| New Hampshire charges its residents | $0 |
| Less the credit New Hampshire gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $2,730 |
| If you also worked in New Hampshire | $0 |
| Difference | $2,730 |
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 New Hampshire and Maine. 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 Maine, worked in person. Money from several states makes the credit a proportion instead of a cap. Working remotely from New Hampshire can pull you under a different rule entirely, depending on the state.
- Every dollar figure here uses a salary of sixty thousand a year. It is a stated benchmark, not a guess at what people on this route earn. Scale them to your own pay. Which state ends up dearer, New Hampshire or Maine, generally holds at other salaries — though the gap between them can widen or narrow as you cross tax brackets.
- 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 Maine or New Hampshire carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Maine and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, New Hampshire limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Maine portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Maine 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 New Hampshire to Maine 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 Maine'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 New Hampshire and Maine?
Not twice over. Both states have a claim — Maine because you earn the money there, New Hampshire because you live there — but New Hampshire gives you credit for what Maine took. The credit stops at what New Hampshire would have charged on its own, so what you actually pay is the bigger of the two bills. Here that comes to $2,730 for the year.
Would moving out of New Hampshire lower my state tax if I keep working in Maine?
Not while you work in Maine. That state's claim comes from where the work happens. New Hampshire is the one giving ground, through the credit, and a cheaper home state gives less ground rather than costing you less. The number that matters is set by Maine.
Do I have to file tax returns in both New Hampshire and Maine?
Expect two. Living in New Hampshire means filing there on everything you earn. Working in Maine 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 New Hampshire some days instead of going to Maine?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of Maine and into New Hampshire alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to Maine, 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 — Maine on a source basis, New Hampshire 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.
Does changing residence reduce combined liability while the work state is unchanged?
No, while the source state is unchanged. Maine'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 Maine'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. New Hampshire requires a resident return reporting all income; Maine 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 New Hampshire fall outside Maine'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 Maine throughout.