What is the Kentucky income tax rate for 2026?

A flat 3.5%, reduced from 4.0% on January 1, 2026. Kentucky has no brackets. The reduction came from revenue triggers adopted in 2022 and was ratified by HB 1 in February 2025.

What is the Kentucky standard deduction for 2026?

$3,360, an increase of $90 on 2025. The Department of Revenue calculates it annually under KRS 141.081. It is considerably smaller than the federal standard deduction of $16,100.

Is the Kentucky standard deduction doubled for married couples?

No, and this catches people out. A married couple filing jointly claims $3,360 between them — the same as a single filer. It is doubled only for married filing separately, where each spouse claims $3,360. That is why many Kentucky couples file separately even when they file jointly at federal level.

Does this calculator include Kentucky local taxes?

No. Most Kentucky counties and cities levy an occupational license fee on wages, generally 1% to 2.25%, assessed on where you work rather than where you live. Louisville is around 2.2% and Lexington around 2.25%. There is no statewide figure to apply, so it is stated here rather than folded in.

Does Kentucky tax Social Security or pensions?

Social Security is not taxed. Kentucky also exempts a set amount of pension and retirement income per person each year, with service before 1998 treated more generously. This calculator models wage income and does not apply those exclusions.

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser. There is no account, and the salary you type is never sent to a server or stored. It never leaves your device.

United States · Kentucky · Tax year 2026

Kentucky Paycheck & Income Tax Calculator

Kentucky cut its rate to 3.5% for 2026. Type your salary to see what that leaves — and why many Kentucky couples file separately.

Take-home per paycheck · 2026

$2,272.50

Paid every two weeks · $59,085 a year

You keep 79% of your gross pay. Kentucky itself takes 3.3%.

This is your 2026 tax for the whole year, spread evenly across 26 paychecks and rounded to the cent. A real payslip can differ slightly from one paycheck to the next: employers withhold using tables that approximate the year's tax rather than match it, and stop taking a contribution once your wages for the year pass its cap.

Effective rate 21.2% of your gross

Marginal rate 25.5% on your next dollar

Total tax $612.12 a paycheck · $15,915 a year

Federal income tax$295.00
KY income tax$96.44
FICA$220.68
Take-home$2,272.50

Itemized deductions from gross pay, per paycheck and per year
Deduction	Rate	Per paycheckPer year	Per year
Gross payAnnual salary ÷ 26		$2,884.62$75,000.00	$75,000.00
Federal
Federal income taxAfter the $16,100 standard deduction		−$295.00−$7,670.00	−$7,670.00
Social SecurityCapped at $184,500 of wages	6.20%	−$178.85−$4,650.00	−$4,650.00
Medicare	1.45%	−$41.83−$1,087.50	−$1,087.50
Kentucky
KY income taxAfter the $3,360 standard deduction		−$96.44−$2,507.40	−$2,507.40
Total tax		−$612.12−$15,914.90	−$15,914.90
Net pay		$2,272.50$59,085.10	$59,085.10

Per paycheck, each line is its annual amount ÷ 26, rounded to the nearest cent.

What this means

On a salary of $75,000 you keep $59,085 — about 79% of what you earn. The remaining $15,915 is split across four separate deductions.

The largest is federal income tax at $7,670, roughly 48% of your total tax bill. Kentucky's own income tax takes $2,507, which is less than the $5,738 taken for Social Security and Medicare.

Your next dollar of income would be taxed at 25.5% once federal and state are combined, while the rate you actually pay across the whole salary is 21.2%. That gap is why a raise never feels as large as the headline rate suggests — and why the effective rate, not the bracket you land in, is the number worth comparing between states.

Show the working, band by band

Every figure above is computed from published 2026 rates for the whole year, then divided across 26 paychecks.

Federal — on $58,900 taxable income

Band	Rate	Taxed here	Tax
$0 – $12,400	10%	$12,400	$1,240.00
$12,400 – $50,400	12%	$38,000	$4,560.00
$50,400 – $105,700	22%	$8,500	$1,870.00

Kentucky — on $71,640 taxable income

Band	Rate	Taxed here	Tax
$0 and above	3.5%	$71,640	$2,507.40

Kentucky tax at a glance, 2026

State income tax: 3.5% flat; Cut from 4.0% for 2026
Standard deduction: $3,360; Not doubled for joint filers
Local occupational tax: ~1% – 2.25%; Most counties — not included below
Payroll add-ons: None; No employee-side state levy

How Kentucky income tax works

Kentucky applies a flat 3.5% to taxable income after a standard deduction of $3,360.

That deduction is small by national standards — barely a fifth of the federal $16,100 — so most of a Kentucky salary is exposed to the state rate. A single filer on $75,000 is taxed on $71,640 and pays about $2,507.

The rate itself is now among the lower flat rates in the country, and Kentucky has been reducing it steadily. The deduction rises a little each year: the Department of Revenue recalculates it annually under KRS 141.081, and it went up $90 for 2026.

The 2026 rate cut, and how Kentucky decides them

Kentucky’s rate fell from 4.0% to 3.5% on January 1, 2026, and the mechanism behind that is worth understanding if you are planning more than a year ahead.

Kentucky adopted revenue triggers in 2022: when state receipts hit defined benchmarks, a rate reduction becomes available. But unlike some states where triggers fire automatically, Kentucky’s require the legislature to ratify each step. This one was approved by HB 1 in February 2025, which is why the cut took effect a year later rather than immediately.

The practical consequence is that Kentucky’s rate is on a downward path but not a fixed schedule. Each further reduction needs both the revenue conditions and a vote. Anything quoting 4% is describing 2025, and anything quoting 5% is describing 2022 or earlier.

Why Kentucky couples file separately

This is the most useful thing to know about Kentucky tax, and almost no calculator mentions it.

Kentucky’s standard deduction is not doubled for married filing jointly. A couple filing jointly claims $3,360 between them — exactly what one single person gets. But if they file separately, each spouse claims their own $3,360, giving $6,720 across the household.

The result is that many Kentucky couples file a joint federal return and separate Kentucky returns, purely to claim the second deduction. On a two-earner household that is $3,360 of extra shelter, worth about $118 a year at the 3.5% rate.

It is a small sum, but it is free, and the calculator above uses the joint figure of $3,360 when you select married filing jointly — which is the correct Kentucky treatment for that status, not an error.

Take-home pay at every salary in Kentucky

After federal tax, the flat 3.5% state tax and FICA. Local occupational tax is not included, for the reason below.

Annual take-home pay by gross salary · 2026
Gross salary	Total tax	Take-home (single)	Effective rate	Take-home (married)
$30,000	−$4,647	$25,353	15.5%	$26,773
$40,000	−$6,962	$33,038	17.4%	$34,878
$50,000	−$9,277	$40,723	18.6%	$42,763
$60,000	−$11,592	$48,408	19.3%	$50,588
$75,000	−$15,915	$59,085	21.2%	$62,115
$85,000	−$19,230	$65,770	22.6%	$69,800
$100,000	−$24,202	$75,798	24.2%	$81,328
$125,000	−$32,554	$92,446	26.0%	$100,540
$150,000	−$41,341	$108,659	27.6%	$118,053
$200,000	−$57,955	$142,045	29.0%	$152,439
$250,000	−$75,450	$174,550	30.2%	$188,836

What lands in your account each payday

On $75,000 a year in Kentucky, filing single, split across the pay schedules employers actually use.

Net pay on $75,000 gross · single filer
Pay schedule	Gross	Net
Every week	$1,442	$1,136
Every two weeks	$2,885	$2,273
Twice a month	$3,125	$2,462
Every month	$6,250	$4,924

The occupational tax this page cannot know

Kentucky’s local taxes are unusual in both name and reach, and they are substantial enough to change the picture.

Most counties and cities levy an occupational license fee on wages — effectively a local income tax, generally between 1% and 2.25%. Louisville is around 2.2% and Lexington around 2.25%, and it is assessed on where you work rather than where you live, so commuting into either does not avoid it.

On a $75,000 salary that is roughly $1,650 a year in Louisville — around two thirds of what the state itself collects. In some cases both a county and a city levy separately, and the two stack.

So the figures on this page are complete for federal and state, and deliberately silent on local. Add roughly 1% to 2.25% of gross depending on where you work.

Dates that matter for the 2026 tax year

Kentucky returns (Form 740) are due April 15, 2027, matching the federal deadline. Local occupational tax is generally withheld by your employer and needs no separate return. Estimated payments, if required, fall quarterly in April, June, September and the following January.

Questions people ask

What is the Kentucky income tax rate for 2026?: A flat 3.5%, reduced from 4.0% on January 1, 2026. Kentucky has no brackets. The reduction came from revenue triggers adopted in 2022 and was ratified by HB 1 in February 2025.
What is the Kentucky standard deduction for 2026?: $3,360, an increase of $90 on 2025. The Department of Revenue calculates it annually under KRS 141.081. It is considerably smaller than the federal standard deduction of $16,100.
Is the Kentucky standard deduction doubled for married couples?: No, and this catches people out. A married couple filing jointly claims $3,360 between them — the same as a single filer. It is doubled only for married filing separately, where each spouse claims $3,360. That is why many Kentucky couples file separately even when they file jointly at federal level.
Does this calculator include Kentucky local taxes?: No. Most Kentucky counties and cities levy an occupational license fee on wages, generally 1% to 2.25%, assessed on where you work rather than where you live. Louisville is around 2.2% and Lexington around 2.25%. There is no statewide figure to apply, so it is stated here rather than folded in.
Does Kentucky tax Social Security or pensions?: Social Security is not taxed. Kentucky also exempts a set amount of pension and retirement income per person each year, with service before 1998 treated more generously. This calculator models wage income and does not apply those exclusions.
Is my data sent anywhere?: No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser. There is no account, and the salary you type is never sent to a server or stored. It never leaves your device.

Where these figures come from

Every Kentucky number on this page was read from the documents below — the state's own, not a summary of them. Nothing here is estimated. If a figure looks wrong, the source is one click away, and we would rather you checked.

Individual Income Taxrevenue.ky.gov
Kentucky Department of Revenue
The flat rate for 2026 and the standard deduction, which is NOT doubled for a couple filing jointly.
Claimant Guide: Your Rights & Responsibilities When Claiming Unemployment Insurance Benefitskcc.ky.gov
Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet, Office of Unemployment InsuranceJuly 2026
That workers do not pay into unemployment insurance: it comes from employer taxes and is never deducted from a paycheck.