Live in Tennessee, work in Kentucky
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Kentucky takes
$1,982
on wages earned there
Tennessee takes
$0
after the credit it gives
Both together
$1,982
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$1,982
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
costs youKentucky 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. Kentucky taxes what you earn there. Tennessee taxes you too, because you live there, and then gives you credit for what Kentucky 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 $1,982 a year instead of $0. The commute itself accounts for $1,982 of that.
- Tennessee is one of 5 states sending this many workers into Kentucky, and it sits at number 3 of them, with 25,450 jobs. States used to handling out-of-state workers usually make the filing side of it straightforward.
- Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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 $1,982 against $0 for the same earner working at home — $1,982 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 Kentucky changes the split between the two treasuries and not the total.
- Kentucky draws commuters of this scale from 5 states, and Tennessee ranks number 3 among them with 25,450 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
- 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
| Kentucky takes, on wages earned there | $1,982 |
|---|---|
| Tennessee charges its residents | $0 |
| Less the credit Tennessee gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $1,982 |
| If you also worked in Tennessee | $0 |
| Difference | $1,982 |
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 Tennessee and Kentucky. 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.
- These numbers assume the job in Kentucky 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.
- The dollars rest on one assumed salary of sixty thousand. Double your pay and they do not simply double, because both states charge more on higher slices of income. What tends to stay put is which side of the Tennessee and Kentucky comparison you are on.
- 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 Kentucky or Tennessee carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Kentucky 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 Kentucky portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky'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 Kentucky?
You file in both states, but you do not pay the full amount to both. Tennessee credits the tax Kentucky collected, capped at its own charge on that income. The practical result is one bill at the higher of the two levels: $1,982 for the year.
Would moving out of Tennessee lower my state tax if I keep working in Kentucky?
Not while you work in Kentucky. That state's claim comes from where the work happens. Tennessee 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 Kentucky.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Tennessee and Kentucky?
Expect two. Living in Tennessee means filing there on everything you earn. Working in Kentucky 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 Tennessee some days instead of going to Kentucky?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of Kentucky and into Tennessee alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to Kentucky, 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 — Kentucky 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, $1,982 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. Kentucky'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 Kentucky'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; Kentucky 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 Kentucky'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 Kentucky throughout.