Live in Tennessee, work in Alabama
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Alabama takes
$2,584
on wages earned there
Tennessee takes
$0
after the credit it gives
Both together
$2,584
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$2,584
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
costs youAlabama charges more than Tennessee would, and Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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. Alabama taxes what you earn there. Tennessee taxes you too, because you live there, and then gives you credit for what Alabama already took. The catch is the size of that credit. It stops at what Tennessee would have charged on its own. So you end up paying the bigger of the two bills, which here means $2,584 a year instead of $0. The commute itself accounts for $2,584 of that.
- 16,562 jobs is the size of this crossing from Tennessee into Alabama. Smaller than the famous ones, and governed identically. The only practical difference is familiarity — fewer people at your workplace will have done this before.
- Alabama taxes wages earned inside its borders by non-residents, and Tennessee taxes its residents on the same wages wherever they are earned. The resident credit resolves the overlap but does not erase it: Tennessee credits tax paid to Alabama 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 $2,584 against $0 for the same earner working at home — $2,584 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 Alabama changes the split between the two treasuries and not the total.
- This is a smaller corridor by national standards — 16,562 jobs in Alabama held by Tennessee 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
| Alabama takes, on wages earned there | $2,584 |
|---|---|
| Tennessee charges its residents | $0 |
| Less the credit Tennessee gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $2,584 |
| If you also worked in Tennessee | $0 |
| Difference | $2,584 |
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 Alabama 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 Tennessee residents.
- These numbers assume the job in Alabama 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 Tennessee 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, Tennessee or Alabama, 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 Alabama or Tennessee carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Alabama and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Tennessee limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Alabama portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Alabama 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 Tennessee to Alabama 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 Alabama'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 Tennessee and Alabama?
Both states tax the same wages, and then one of them backs off. Alabama taxes what you earn inside it. Tennessee taxes you on everything, then subtracts what Alabama already took, up to the size of its own bill. You end up paying the larger of the two, which is $2,584 a year on this route.
Would moving out of Tennessee lower my state tax if I keep working in Alabama?
Moving rarely helps while the job stays in Alabama. 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 Alabama the same. The saving people imagine here mostly is not there.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Tennessee and Alabama?
Usually yes, and it catches people out. Tennessee wants a return because you live there. Alabama usually wants one too, because you earned money inside it — even in the cases where you end up owing it nothing. Filing in a state and paying it are separate things, and the return is often what proves you do not owe.
What if I work from home in Tennessee some days instead of going to Alabama?
It depends on the state, and the answer is not the one most people expect. You might assume a day worked at your kitchen table in Tennessee is taxed by Tennessee. Usually that is right, and your Alabama share shrinks to the days you were actually there. But a few states tax days you work at home as though you had been in the office, unless your employer required you to be elsewhere. It is worth checking which kind Alabama is before assuming.
How is liability allocated between residence and work state on the same wages?
Both jurisdictions assert a claim on the same wages — Alabama on a source basis, Tennessee 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, $2,584 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. Alabama'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 Alabama'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. Tennessee requires a resident return reporting all income; Alabama 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 Tennessee fall outside Alabama'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 Alabama throughout.