How does hiring in the United States work, state by state?
US employment law is layered: federal rules (FLSA, FICA, FUTA, FMLA, ADEA) set the floor, but each of the 50 states adds its own income tax, unemployment-insurance schedule, worker-classification test, leave entitlements, and wage rules on top. The federal floor is the same in Alaska and Alabama. Everything above it is different.
For employers running US payroll for the first time, the practical work is the per-state layer. Each of the guides below walks one state's rules in detail: where the SUI wage base sits, which classification test the state uses, whether paid family leave is mandatory, and what the state-specific termination process looks like. Pick the state where your hire sits and read its five topic pages.
States with full guides
States coming next
We are working through the remaining 30 states in priority order. Get in touch if you need a guide for a specific state and we will move it up the queue.
- MAMassachusetts
- MIMichigan
- MNMinnesota
- MSMississippi
- MOMissouri
- MTMontana
- NENebraska
- NVNevada
- NHNew Hampshire
- NJNew Jersey
- NMNew Mexico
- NYNew York
- NCNorth Carolina
- NDNorth Dakota
- OHOhio
- OKOklahoma
- OROregon
- PAPennsylvania
- RIRhode Island
- SCSouth Carolina
- SDSouth Dakota
- TNTennessee
- TXTexas
- UTUtah
- VTVermont
- VAVirginia
- WAWashington
- WVWest Virginia
- WIWisconsin
- WYWyoming
The US is one of the most complicated places in the world to do payroll, because it isn't one place. It is 50, plus Washington DC and the territories, and the rules change at every state line. The guides above are the per-state facts US employers spend hours assembling from state-DOR PDFs. Read the relevant one, then talk to us about the actual hire.
, Tom Price-Daniel, Teamed