Wisconsin Paycheck Calculator & Income Tax Rates (2026)

Wisconsin applies 4 rates to taxable income — that is, income after the state standard deduction or exemption. Only the slice of income inside each band is taxed at that band's rate.

Wisconsin's effective state rate climbs with income as more of your salary lands in higher bands. The last column shows the state rate on your next dollar at each level.

Wisconsin's joint brackets widen the bands for couples, so the same household income is taxed more lightly. On $100,000 a joint return keeps $80,819 versus $74,641 for a single filer.

Wisconsin enacted the first modern state income tax in the nation in 1911, and it still runs a four-bracket schedule: 3.5%, 4.4%, 5.3% and 7.65% for 2026, with thresholds indexed annually. The 2025–27 state budget signed in July 2025 delivered the largest change in years by stretching the 4.4% bracket to roughly $50,000 of taxable income for single filers and $67,000 for joint filers — previously it ended near $29,000 and $39,000 — so a typical middle-income household now pays 4.4% rather than 5.3% on a large slice of earnings. The 7.65% top rate, among the higher rates in the Midwest, applies above roughly $323,000 single and $431,000 joint. Wisconsin starts from federal adjusted gross income and uses its own sliding-scale standard deduction, which shrinks as income rises and disappears entirely for single filers above about $136,000 — an effective surtax on upper-middle earners that the headline rates conceal.

The standard deduction is a sliding scale: a maximum of about $13,930 for single filers and $25,890 for joint filers, reduced by 12% of income above roughly $20,000 (single) or 19.8% above roughly $29,000 (joint), reaching zero near $136,000 and $160,000. Personal exemptions are $700 per person. Itemizing is replaced by an itemized deduction credit equal to 5% of certain federal itemized deductions in excess of the standard deduction. The earned income credit is 4%, 11% or 34% of the federal credit depending on the number of children, and a married couple credit of up to $480 offsets part of the marriage penalty.

No Wisconsin municipality or county levies an income tax; the constitution reserves it to the state. Local revenue comes from property tax, the 0.5% county sales tax, and — uniquely — the 2% City of Milwaukee sales tax the legislature authorized in 2023 to shore up the city's pension system.

The state rate is 5%, and 68 of 72 counties add 0.5%; Milwaukee County adds 0.9% and the City of Milwaukee a further 2% since 2024, putting the city at 7.9% while most of the state pays 5.5%. Groceries, prescription drugs and most residential utilities are exempt. Outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin's combined rate is among the lowest in the Midwest.

Property taxes are high — an effective rate around 1.5% of market value, consistently in the top third of states — because school districts and municipalities rely on the levy with no cap on assessment growth. The school levy credit and lottery and gaming credit shave a few hundred dollars off most bills, and the homestead credit refunds part of property tax or rent to households with income under roughly $24,700. Milwaukee's bills are among the steepest relative to home values.

Social Security has been fully exempt since 2008, and military retirement, Railroad Retirement and pensions from a few legacy systems — federal Civil Service Retirement, Milwaukee city and county plans, and the state teachers' fund for members enrolled before 1964 — are exempt as well. Everyone else's pensions, 401(k) and IRA withdrawals are taxable at ordinary rates, though the 2025–27 budget added a new exclusion: taxpayers 67 and older can subtract up to $24,000 of retirement income, or $48,000 for a couple, beginning in tax year 2025. That replaces a $5,000 exclusion so income-tested it was nearly useless. A 70-year-old couple drawing $50,000 from IRAs on top of exempt Social Security now owes Wisconsin tax on about $2,000 of it.

The 2025 budget's winners are middle-income households — a $70,000 single earner now pays 4.4% instead of 5.3% on roughly $20,000 of income — and retirees 67 and older, who add the $24,000 exclusion to already-exempt Social Security. Upper-middle earners lose twice: the standard deduction phases out by $136,000, and the 7.65% top rate arrives at $323,000. Homeowners carry high property bills, especially in Milwaukee. Two-earner couples should check the married couple credit. Cross-border commuters to Minnesota file in both states because the reciprocity agreement ended in 2009; reciprocity survives with Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan.

The median household income in Wisconsin is $60,000, which is $48,280 a year ($4,023 a month) after all taxes. That is close to the national median. After adjusting for cost of living, the purchasing power of that take-home is equivalent to $51,914 in an average-cost area.

Wisconsin ranks #35 of 50 for raw take-home pay and #22 for cost-adjusted purchasing power at $100,000. The 13-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. Wisconsin is $4,484 behind the leader.

Wisconsin Tax Questions, Answered

Compare Wisconsin with Other Midwest States

Specific Salaries in Wisconsin