Live in Oregon, work in Washington
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Washington takes
$0
on wages earned there
Oregon takes
$4,700
after the credit it gives
Both together
$4,700
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$0
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
no work-state taxWashington has no income tax, so only Oregon taxes this pay. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Oregon 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
- No income tax in Washington means one bill instead of two, not zero bills. Oregon still taxes you because you live there, and it reaches pay earned across the line. You owe $4,700 for the year, and only Oregon collects it.
- This is the busiest way into Washington. 47,296 jobs in the state belong to Oregon residents, more than any other state sends. It is worth knowing that the rules below are not an edge case — they apply to a lot of people.
- Washington levies no individual income tax, so a commuter into it is taxed by Oregon alone, on the whole of the wages, at $4,700 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 Oregon 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 Oregon bill. The only version of this that changes the answer is moving.
- Measured against every other state sending commuters into Washington, this is the largest single flow: 47,296 jobs held by Oregon residents, ahead of all 3 corridors of this size into that state. Census LODES counts jobs rather than people, so a worker holding two positions in Washington appears twice.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- State income tax$6,012
- Yours$55,580
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax8.02% | $6,012 |
| Yours74.11% | $55,580 |
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
| Washington takes, on wages earned there | $0 |
|---|---|
| Oregon charges its residents | $4,700 |
| Less the credit Oregon gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $4,700 |
| If you also worked in Oregon | $4,700 |
| 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 Washington 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 Oregon residents.
- These numbers assume the job in Washington 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 Oregon 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.
- 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, Oregon or Washington, 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 Washington or Oregon carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Washington and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Oregon limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Washington portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Washington 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 Oregon to Washington 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 Washington'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 Oregon and Washington?
You file in both states, but you do not pay the full amount to both. Oregon credits the tax Washington collected, capped at its own charge on that income. The practical result is one bill at the higher of the two levels: $4,700 for the year.
Does working in Washington cost me anything extra?
Nothing extra, on this route. You end the year owing $4,700, exactly what you would owe if the job were in Oregon. That is not true of every crossing — plenty of them do cost money — but this one does not. What it does cost you is time at tax filing, because two states may each want a return.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Oregon and Washington?
Two returns is the normal outcome here, even when only one state ends up taking anything. Washington generally wants to see a non-resident return from people who work there, and Oregon wants your whole picture. It is paperwork rather than extra tax.
What if I work from home in Oregon some days instead of going to Washington?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of Washington and into Oregon alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to Washington, 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 — Washington on a source basis, Oregon 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, $4,700 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. Oregon's own charge on this income equals or exceeds Washington's, so the resident credit absorbs the source-state tax entirely and combined liability equals residence-only liability, $4,700. ⚠️ Zero marginal tax is not zero obligation: a non-resident return may still be required in Washington.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Oregon requires a resident return reporting all income; Washington 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 Oregon fall outside Washington'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 Washington throughout.