Mississippi Paycheck Calculator & Income Tax Rates (2026)

Mississippi taxes all taxable income at a single 4% rate, after a 0% band on the first $10,000. The only thing that changes your bill is the deduction that comes off the top first.

With a flat state rate the marginal state rate is constant, but the overall effective rate still rises because federal brackets are progressive.

Mississippi's joint deduction are the same as single brackets, so the marriage effect here comes from the deduction and the federal side. On $100,000 a joint return keeps $81,774 versus $75,857 for a single filer.

Mississippi is phasing its income tax out. For tax year 2026 the state taxes income above $10,000 at a flat 4% — the first $10,000 of taxable income is untaxed — down from 4.7% in 2024 and 4.4% in 2025 under a 2022 law. The Build Up Mississippi Act, signed in March 2025, extends the descent: 3.75% in 2027, 3.5% in 2028, 3.25% in 2029, and 3% in 2030, followed by further cuts toward zero whenever state revenue growth clears a trigger. A drafting error made those triggers far easier to hit than legislators intended, which is why Mississippi is now widely described as the first state to legislate its income tax out of existence. The same act cut the grocery sales tax and began raising the gasoline tax to backfill revenue. The 4% rate applies to wages, business income, interest, and dividends — but not to retirement income, nearly all of which Mississippi exempts.

Mississippi's standard deduction is small — $2,300 single, $4,600 joint, $3,400 head of household — but personal exemptions are large: $6,000 single, $12,000 married, $1,500 per dependent, and an extra $1,500 for taxpayers 65 or older or blind. Itemizing is allowed using the federal Schedule A items, minus state income taxes. Combined with the untaxed first $10,000 of taxable income, a family of four pays no Mississippi tax on roughly its first $30,000. There is no state EITC.

No city, county, or school district in Mississippi levies an income or payroll tax; the state has never authorized one. Jackson, Gulfport, and Southaven residents pay only the state rate on wages, and employers withhold nothing for local governments.

Mississippi's state sales tax is 7%, tied for the second-highest state rate in the country, but local add-ons are rare — only a handful of cities levy them, Jackson's 1% the largest — so most Mississippians pay a flat 7%. Groceries were taxed at the full 7% until July 1, 2025, when the Build Up Mississippi Act cut the rate on food for home consumption to 5%. Prescription drugs are exempt, and motor vehicles are taxed at a reduced 5%.

Property taxes are low, around 0.65% of market value — among the ten lowest states. Homes are assessed at 10% of true value, and the homestead exemption cuts up to $300 off the bill for owner-occupants under 65. Homeowners 65 and older or totally disabled are exempt on the first $7,500 of assessed value — $75,000 of market value — which eliminates the bill entirely on many modest homes. Millage is highest in the Jackson metro.

Mississippi exempts essentially all retirement income. Social Security, pensions public and private, PERS state retirement, military retirement, 401(k) and 403(b) distributions, traditional IRA withdrawals, and annuities from qualified plans are all excluded from Mississippi income, provided they are normal distributions — early withdrawals taken before retirement age are taxed. Taxpayers 65 and older also get an additional $1,500 exemption. A couple in their 60s living on $90,000 of pension and IRA income owes Mississippi no income tax at all, which puts the state alongside Illinois, Iowa, and Pennsylvania as the most generous places in the country to draw down a retirement account.

Retirees win the most decisively — no tax on pensions, IRAs, or Social Security, and property tax relief after 65. W-2 earners at every level benefit from a rate heading to 3% by 2030 and possibly zero beyond; the untaxed first $10,000 makes the effective rate lower still. Dual-income couples pay no marriage penalty. Remote workers for out-of-state employers owe only the 4% state rate with no local layer, and the self-employed pay 4% on net profit. The offset is consumption: a 7% sales tax on nearly everything, and 5% on groceries, weighs heaviest on lower-income households.

The median household income in Mississippi is $44,000, which is $36,506 a year ($3,042 a month) after all taxes. That is below the national median, though Mississippi's low cost of living stretches each dollar further than the raw figure suggests. After adjusting for cost of living, the purchasing power of that take-home is equivalent to $43,983 in an average-cost area.

Mississippi ranks #16 of 50 for raw take-home pay and #1 for cost-adjusted purchasing power at $100,000. The 15-place gap between the two reflects a below-average cost of living that boosts real purchasing power. The best state (Alaska) leaves $79,125; the worst (Oregon) leaves $70,932. Mississippi is $3,268 behind the leader.

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