How the New York Tax Calculator works
New York State taxes income using a progressive bracket system: as income rises, each additional slice of income is taxed at a higher marginal rate, but only that slice — not the whole income — is taxed at the higher rate. This calculator applies the official New York State brackets for tax year 2024 to your taxable income, and adds New York City's own local income tax on top if you tell it you're a city resident.
The formula
For a given filing status, New York publishes a table of income thresholds and marginal rates. The tax owed is the sum, across every bracket your income passes through, of (bracket width) × (bracket rate):
Tax = Σ (min(income, bracket ceiling) − bracket floor) × bracket rate
New York State's 2024 brackets run from 4% on the lowest income up to 10.9% on taxable income above $25 million, with nine brackets in between (4.5%, 5.25%, 5.5%, 6%, 6.85%, 9.65%, 10.3%). New York City residents pay an additional four-bracket local tax from 3.078% to 3.876%, applied to the same taxable income and stacked on top of the state tax. Residents of the rest of New York State (outside NYC) owe only the state portion. This calculator does not include the Yonkers resident/non-resident surcharge.
Worked example
A single filer with $75,000 of New York taxable income who lives outside NYC crosses through the 4%, 4.5%, 5.25%, and 5.5% brackets. The state tax comes to roughly $3,960, for an effective rate of about 5.3% — well below the 5.5% marginal rate on the last dollar earned, because the lower brackets are taxed at lower rates. The same income for an NYC resident adds roughly $2,780 of local tax on top, pushing the combined effective rate up to around 9%.
Taxable income, not gross income
Enter New York taxable income — income after federal adjustments, New York State additions and subtractions, and your standard or itemized deduction — not gross wages. Using gross income will overstate the tax because it skips the deductions that reduce the base before rates apply.
Marginal rate versus effective rate
The marginal rate is the bracket rate that applies to your last dollar of income; the effective rate is total tax divided by total taxable income. Because only the income inside each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate, effective rate is always lower than (or equal to, at the very bottom bracket) the marginal rate. Effective rate is the better measure of overall tax burden; marginal rate is the better measure of what an extra dollar of income would cost.
What this calculator does not cover
This tool estimates New York State and NYC income tax only. It does not include federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare), the Yonkers surcharge, New York's supplemental tax for very high earners that phases out lower-bracket benefits, or any tax credits you may be eligible for. For a complete picture or a filing decision, cross-check with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance or a tax professional.