What a bonus keeps after taxes, in 12 states

The short answer

The federal half of a bonus is the same everywhere in the country: a flat 22% withheld plus FICA. The state half is the only thing that moves, and across the twelve states below it is worth about $485.41 on a $5,000 bonus.

Every figure on this page is computed at build time by the engine behind the bonus calculator, on a $75,000 salary, single filer, no 401(k). The state figures are estimates, for a reason spelled out below the table.

The federal part, computed once

Before any state touches it, a bonus paid under the IRS percentage method loses the same three lines everywhere in the country.

Federal lines on a $5,000 bonus

$75,000 salary, single filer, percentage method, before state tax

Federal income tax withheld, 22%: $1,100.00
Social Security, 6.2%: $310.00
Medicare, 1.45%: $72.50
Federal income tax the bonus actually adds for the year: $1,100.00
Left before state tax: $3,517.50

Those middle two lines are worth a second look. At this salary the flat withholding rate and the filer's actual federal bracket land on the same number, $1,100.00 either way, so the federal side of this bonus needs no correction on the return. That is a coincidence of the $75,000 anchor, not a rule: at a lower salary the flat rate over-withholds and the bonus produces a refund, and higher up it under-withholds. The companion guide works both directions.

On a $10,000 bonus at the same salary, the same three federal lines come to $2,200.00, $620.00, and $145.00. Everything after this point is the state's doing.

What a bonus keeps, twelve states

$75,000 salary, single filer, 2026 tables. "State tax" is the state income tax the bonus adds for the year plus any employee-paid state payroll program. "Kept" is the bonus after federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and that state line.
State	$5,000: state tax	$5,000: kept	$10,000: state tax	$10,000: kept
Florida	$0.00	$3,517.50	$0.00	$7,035.00
Nevada	$0.00	$3,517.50	$0.00	$7,035.00
New Hampshire	$0.00	$3,517.50	$0.00	$7,035.00
South Dakota	$0.00	$3,517.50	$0.00	$7,035.00
Texas	$0.00	$3,517.50	$0.00	$7,035.00
Pennsylvania	$157.00	$3,360.50	$314.00	$6,721.00
Illinois	$247.50	$3,270.00	$495.00	$6,540.00
New York	$291.60	$3,225.90	$583.20	$6,451.80
Delaware	$350.00	$3,167.50	$700.00	$6,335.00
Oregon	$378.00	$3,139.50	$850.50	$6,184.50
Hawaii	$395.00	$3,122.50	$775.00	$6,260.00
California	$485.41	$3,032.09	$1,015.41	$6,019.59

Twelve states chosen by rule rather than by taste: the six most populous states (California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois) plus the three highest and three lowest take-home states at $75,000 that were not already on that list. Seven states tie for the highest take-home, so that end breaks alphabetically. On the larger bonus the top-to-bottom spread widens to $1,015.41.

Why the state figures are estimates

The federal flat rate for supplemental wages is one national rule. States do not share it. Some publish a supplemental withholding rate of their own, some tell employers to run a bonus through the ordinary withholding tables, and the states with no wage income tax withhold nothing at all.

This site's engine models a state's annual liability: what a state's brackets, deductions, and credits produce for a year's income. It does not model per-state supplemental withholding instructions, because those are a payroll rule rather than a tax. So the state figure above is the state income tax the bonus adds to the year, computed the regular way. As the year's cost of the bonus, that is the right number. As a prediction of what your employer holds back on bonus day, it is an approximation, and a state with its own flat supplemental rate can withhold noticeably more or less on the check before the return sorts it out.

Employee-paid state payroll programs are folded into the state figure where they exist, since a bonus is wages for those too, and unlike income tax they are not reconciled at filing. Among the states listed that covers Pennsylvania: PA SUI (employee); New York: NY PFL, NY SDI; Delaware: Delaware Paid Leave (employee share); Oregon: Statewide Transit Tax, Paid Leave Oregon (employee share); Hawaii: Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) employee share; California: CA SDI .

Local income taxes are in no row. A bonus paid to someone living in New York City, Philadelphia, or a Maryland county carries a city or county tax on top of the state line, and each of those has its own calculator on this site.

Reading the table

The state spread is smaller than most people expect. Florida keeps $3,517.50 of a $5,000 bonus and California keeps $3,032.09, a difference of $485.41. Meanwhile the federal income tax and FICA lines take $1,482.50 from that same bonus in every state on the list. A bonus is mostly a federal event, and moving states changes the smaller half of it.

The share of the bonus that survives runs from 70.4% at the top of the table to 60.6% at the bottom. Neither figure is anyone's tax rate. Both are what one extra payment keeps once a specific salary, a specific filing status, and a specific state have all been applied to it.

Doubling the bonus does not double the state figure evenly, in either direction. A larger bonus can push a filer into a higher state bracket, and in a flat-rate state it cannot. It can also run past the annual cap on a state payroll program, in which case the second half of the bonus costs less than the first. That is why the two bonus sizes are shown side by side rather than collapsed into one per-dollar figure.

The twelve state pages

What this does not cover

State supplemental withholding rates. The state figures are annual liability, not a state's own bonus withholding instruction. See the section above.
City and county income taxes. Not included in any row.
Your salary. Everything here is anchored at $75,000. A different salary moves the bracket the bonus lands in, and past the Social Security wage base it moves the FICA line too.
Your W-4 and the aggregate method. If your employer folds the bonus into a regular paycheck rather than paying it separately, the federal line follows your W-4 instead of the flat rate.
Everything else on a return. Other income, credits, deductions, and dependents all move the real figure. These are planning estimates on 2026 tables, not tax advice and not your exact withholding.