Allentown to Bethlehem Township
Pennsylvania Act 32 local earned income tax · LEHIGH to LEHIGH County · tax year 2026
Home rate
1.98%
Allentown, residents
Work rate
1%
Bethlehem Township, non-residents
You pay
1.98%
the higher of the two
Cost of the commute
$0
a year, above the home rate
What this commute costs you
no extra local taxAllentown already charges its residents more than Bethlehem Township charges commuters, so the home rate governs and the job adds nothing at all. You pay the solid bar only — Pennsylvania charges the higher of the two rates, never their sum. Local earned income tax only; state, federal and payroll tax apply on top.
What this commute actually costs
- Nothing changes for this commute. A resident of Allentown pays about 1.98% either way. It makes no difference whether they work at home or travel to Bethlehem Township. The home rate is the higher of the two, and the higher one wins. That is $1,185 a year.
- Roughly 862 people commute from Allentown to Bethlehem Township, which makes this route number 3 out of 12 tracked into that workplace. A normal-sized flow rather than a dominant one.
- The Allentown to Bethlehem Township commute is tax-neutral. Allentown's resident rate of about 1.98% is not exceeded by Bethlehem Township's non-resident rate, so under the state's rule the resident rate applies and the effective figure is about 1.98% — $1,185 annually at the reference salary. Withholding is remitted to the residence in full and the work location receives no share.
- This flow carries 862 workers, ranking 3 among 12 recorded routes into Bethlehem Township and 8 of 13 destinations recorded for Allentown. The rate outcome above therefore applies to a meaningful but not dominant share of that workplace's inbound commuters.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- State income tax$2,303
- Yours$59,290
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| State income tax3.07% | $2,303 |
| Yours79.05% | $59,290 |
The arithmetic, side by side
| If you worked in Allentown | $1,185 |
|---|---|
| Working in Bethlehem Township | $1,185 |
| Difference | $0 |
On a reference salary of $60,000 a year. The local tax is flat, so every figure scales with your own pay.
What this page does not cover
- A common worry, answered. You do not pay Allentown and Bethlehem Township both. Only one rate applies, the higher of the two. The two councils then sort out between themselves who gets what, and your bill is unaffected.
- Only one tax is on this page. It is the local earned income tax that Allentown and Bethlehem Township levy. State tax, federal tax and Social Security all still apply. All three are the same wherever in Pennsylvania you work.
- All the dollar amounts rest on one assumed salary. It is stated rather than measured, because nobody publishes average pay for Allentown. The local tax is a flat percentage. Scale every figure to your own salary and the Bethlehem Township conclusion holds.
- Two practical cautions. Postal addresses and taxing boundaries do not always agree. Your post may say Allentown while your taxing municipality is a different one. Pennsylvania publishes an official lookup to settle it. The same caution applies at the Bethlehem Township end. Philadelphia is a special case too, with its own wage tax.
- Workers commuting from Allentown to Bethlehem Township are subject to one rate, not two. The statute directs the employer to withhold the greater of the resident and non-resident rates; the allocation between the two taxing bodies is a remittance mechanic invisible to the employee. Treating the two rates as cumulative is the most common misreading of the statute.
- The scope here is the municipal earned income tax alone. State, federal and payroll taxes are unaffected by the choice between Allentown and Bethlehem Township and are therefore outside the model. A total tax position requires adding them; a comparison of the two locations does not.
- Monetary figures derive from a single stated salary assumption; no published wage series covers Pennsylvania municipalities such as Allentown. The flat structure of the local tax means the Bethlehem Township comparison is scale-invariant, so the rate difference rather than the dollar difference is the transferable result.
- Two caveats bear on accuracy. First, postal addresses and municipal taxing boundaries diverge frequently in Pennsylvania, so a Allentown address should be confirmed against the DCED municipal lookup before relying on the Allentown rate. Second, Philadelphia administers its wage tax outside this framework, with its own resident and non-resident rates and its own credit arrangements, so any pairing touching it should be checked against the city's own schedule.
Questions people ask
Do I pay local tax twice — once where I work and once where I live?
The rates compete rather than stack. about 1.98% where you live, about 1% where you work, and you pay the greater of the two.
Does working in a different town cost me anything?
Nothing extra. The tax is redirected rather than increased, so this particular crossing costs you no more than working in Allentown would.
Which town's rate am I actually paying?
Allentown's, because it is the higher of the two. Where you live sets the rate on this route, so working across the boundary does not raise what you owe — it only changes who collects it.
Is this commute common enough for the numbers to mean anything?
862 workers make this journey — enough to be published, but not a major corridor. The tax rules do not depend on how many people travel a route, so the figures hold regardless; the count only tells you how typical this pairing is.
How does Pennsylvania's local earned income tax law allocate liability between two districts?
Pennsylvania's local earned income tax law assigns the higher of the residence rate (about 1.98%) and the non-resident work rate (about 1%); liabilities are never summed. The employer withholds at the governing rate and remits through the work district's collector, which then distributes to the residence district.
Why is the marginal cost of this crossing zero?
Marginal liability from working outside the residence jurisdiction is zero on this route. The crossing alters the distribution of revenue between jurisdictions but not the employee's total. ⚠️ This is route-specific and does not generalise to other pairs in the same dataset.
Which district's rate governs on this route?
The residence rate equals or exceeds the work district's non-resident rate and therefore governs. Working outside the residence district does not increase employee liability on this route; it affects only inter-district distribution.
What is the measurement basis for a route of this size?
Route volume is 862 workers per Census LODES, above the publication floor but below the dataset's upper quartile. Liability is determined by jurisdictional rates and residence rules alone; commuter volume has no bearing on it and is reported only as context.