Employer payroll taxes by state (2026): the 50-state new-employer rate table
Every US state runs its own unemployment tax on top of federal Social Security, Medicare and FUTA. New employers pay a set rate, from a flat point in most states to an industry band in a few, on a taxable wage base that ranges from $7,000 to over $78,000. A handful of states add a paid-leave or training tax. This table shows the 2026 figures for all 50 states and DC, including the all-in employer cost on a $60,000 hire.
US employer payroll tax is set state by state. On top of the federal taxes every employer pays (Social Security, Medicare and FUTA), each state levies its own unemployment insurance tax at a new-employer rate, charged on an annual taxable wage base that varies more than tenfold across the country. Some states add an employer-paid family-leave or training tax. This table lists the 2026 figures for all 50 states and DC: the new-employer SUI rate, the experience-rated band, the wage base, the effective FUTA rate, the main employee-side taxes, and the all-in employer statutory cost on a $60,000 hire.
The big picture
On a $60,000 hire the all-in employer statutory cost runs from about $4,900 in the leanest states to well over $5,400 where a state paid-leave or training tax stacks on top, before workers compensation, which is priced per job class and left out.
Position as at 2026.
What counts as an employer payroll tax in the US?
The employer pays Social Security (6.2%), Medicare (1.45%) and federal unemployment (FUTA) on every hire nationwide, then the state unemployment tax on top, and in a few states a paid-leave or training tax as well.
Workers compensation is an employer cost too, but it is priced per job class by private insurers, so it cannot be shown as one statewide figure and is left out of the $60,000 column.
What the "employer cost on a $60,000 hire" column shows
It is the total employer-paid statutory cost on a $60,000 salary in that state: Social Security, Medicare, the effective FUTA rate, the new-employer state unemployment rate, and any employer paid-leave or training tax, computed by the same engine as our Employer Cost Calculator.
It uses the new-employer rate and a headcount of one, so headcount-gated leave taxes read as $0. Employee-side taxes are not in it, because the employee pays those. Workers compensation is not in it, because it cannot be modelled as one figure.
Why we show the new-employer rate and the experience band
State unemployment rates are experience-rated: after two to three years a state sets your rate on your own claims history. Before that you pay the new-employer rate, which is what a company hiring its first people in a state actually pays. The experience band shows where you may land later.
Where a state assigns new employers a rate by industry rather than a single number (for example Wyoming), the table shows the published band rather than inventing a midpoint no employer pays.
Which figures are still provisional?
Some figures, mostly the per-state FUTA credit reduction and the Washington DC row, are projections or sourced separately and only final after the relevant agency determination. Those rows carry a double-dagger so the number is never presented as settled.
Employer payroll taxes by state
51 jurisdictions
| Source | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | Extra employer taxes | 3.4% | 1.5–6.2% | $7,000 | 2.1% | Income up to 13.3%; SDI 1.3% | $4,982 ‡ | source |
| Colorado | Extra employer taxes | 3.05–6.285% | 0.56–7.34% | $30,600 | 0.6% | Income up to 4.4% | $5,565–$6,555 ‡ | source |
| Delaware | Extra employer taxes | 1% | 0.3–5.4% | $14,500 | 0.6% | Income up to 6.6% | $4,806 ‡ | source |
| Hawaii | Extra employer taxes | 2.4% | 0–5.6% | $64,500 | 0.6% | Income up to 11%; SDI 0.5% | $6,078 ‡ | source |
| Idaho | Extra employer taxes | 1% | 0.208–5.4% | $58,300 | 0.6% | Income up to 5.3% | $5,657 ‡ | source |
| Massachusetts | Extra employer taxes | 2.42% | 0.94–5.24% | $15,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 9% | $4,988–$5,369 ‡ | source |
| Minnesota | Extra employer taxes | 1–4.06% | 0–8.9% | $44,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 9.85% | $5,248–$6,594 ‡ | source |
| Mississippi | Extra employer taxes | 1% | 0–5.4% | $14,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 4% | $4,800 ‡ | source |
| Missouri | Extra employer taxes | 2.376% | 0–6% | $9,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 4.7% | $5,146 ‡ | source |
| Montana | Extra employer taxes | 1–2% | 0–6.12% | $47,300 | 0.6% | Income up to 5.65% | $5,190–$5,663 ‡ | source |
| Nevada | Extra employer taxes | 2.95% | 0.25–5.4% | $43,700 | 0.6% | No income tax | $7,577 | source |
| New Jersey | Extra employer taxes | 2.8% | 0.5–5.8% | $44,800 | 0.6% | Income up to 10.75% | $6,110 ‡ | source |
| New York | Extra employer taxes | 4.1% | 1.7–9.5% | $17,600 | 0.6% | Income up to 10.9%; SDI 0.5% | $5,387–$5,891 ‡ | source |
| Oregon | Extra employer taxes | 2.4% | 0.9–5.4% | $56,700 | 0.6% | Income up to 9.9% | $6,967 ‡ | source |
| Rhode Island | Extra employer taxes | 1.21% | 0.9–9.4% | $30,800 | 0.6% | Income up to 5.99% | $5,069 | source |
| South Carolina | Extra employer taxes | 1.06% | 0.06–5.46% | $14,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 6% | $4,789 ‡ | source |
| South Dakota | Extra employer taxes | 1.2% | 0–9.39% | $15,000 | 0.6% | No income tax | $5,169 ‡ | source |
| Texas | Extra employer taxes | 2.7% | 0.32–6.32% | $9,000 | 0.6% | No income tax | $4,885 | source |
| Vermont | Extra employer taxes | 1% | 0.4–8.4% | $15,400 | 0.6% | Income up to 8.75% | $8,770 | source |
| Virginia | Extra employer taxes | 2.5% | 0.1–6.2% | $8,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 5.75% | $4,836 ‡ | source |
| Washington | Extra employer taxes | 0.24–6% | 0.24–6% | $78,200 | 0.6% | No income tax | $4,794–$8,250 ‡ | source |
| Washington DC | Extra employer taxes | 2.7% | 1.9–7.4% | $9,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 10.75% | $5,031 ‡ | source |
| Alabama | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.7% | 0.2–6.8% | $8,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 5% | $4,848 ‡ | source |
| Alaska | UI + FUTA baseline | 1% | 1–5.4% | $54,200 | 0.6% | No income tax | $5,174 ‡ | source |
| Arizona | UI + FUTA baseline | 2% | 0.03–8.36% | $8,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 2.5% | $4,750 | source |
| Arkansas | UI + FUTA baseline | 2% | 0.2–5.1% | $7,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 3.9% | $4,772 ‡ | source |
| Connecticut | UI + FUTA baseline | 1.9% | 1.1–9.9% | $27,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 6.99% | $5,145 ‡ | source |
| Florida | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.7% | 0.1–5.4% | $7,000 | 0.6% | No income tax | $4,821 | source |
| Georgia | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.7% | 0.04–8.1% | $9,500 | 0.6% | Income up to 5.19% | $4,889 | source |
| Illinois | UI + FUTA baseline | 3.35% | 0.75–7.05% | $14,250 | 0.6% | Income up to 4.95% | $5,109 | source |
| Indiana | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.5% | 0.5–7.4% | $9,500 | 0.6% | Income up to 2.95% | $4,870 ‡ | source |
| Iowa | UI + FUTA baseline | 1% | 0–5.4% | $20,400 | 0.6% | Income up to 3.8% | $4,836 | source |
| Kansas | UI + FUTA baseline | 1.75% | 0–6.95% | $15,100 | 0.6% | Income up to 5.58% | $4,896 | source |
| Kentucky | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.7% | 0.3–2.4% | $12,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 3.5% | $4,956 | source |
| Louisiana | UI + FUTA baseline | 1–6.2% | 0.09–6.2% | $7,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 3% | $4,702–$5,066 ‡ | source |
| Maine | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.54% | 0.31–6.6% | $12,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 7.15% | $4,937 ‡ | source |
| Maryland | UI + FUTA baseline | 1–2.6% | 0.3–7.5% | $8,500 | 0.6% | Income up to 6.5% | $4,717–$4,853 ‡ | source |
| Michigan | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.7% | 0.06–12.2% | $9,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 4.25% | $4,875 ‡ | source |
| Nebraska | UI + FUTA baseline | 1.25% | 0–5.4% | $9,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 4.55% | $4,703 ‡ | source |
| New Hampshire | UI + FUTA baseline | 1.7% | 0.1–7.5% | $14,000 | 0.6% | No income tax | $4,870 ‡ | source |
| New Mexico | UI + FUTA baseline | 1–1.28% | 0.33–5.4% | $34,800 | 0.6% | Income up to 5.9% | $4,980–$5,077 ‡ | source |
| North Carolina | UI + FUTA baseline | 1% | 0.06–5.76% | $34,200 | 0.6% | Income up to 3.99% | $4,974 | source |
| North Dakota | UI + FUTA baseline | 1% | 0.07–9.67% | $46,600 | 0.6% | Income up to 2.5% | $5,098 | source |
| Ohio | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.85% | 0.55–10.25% | $9,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 2.75% | $4,889 ‡ | source |
| Oklahoma | UI + FUTA baseline | 1.5% | 0.2–5.8% | $25,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 4.5% | $5,007 | source |
| Pennsylvania | UI + FUTA baseline | 3.822% | 1.419–10.3734% | $10,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 3.07% | $5,014 | source |
| Tennessee | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.7% | 0.01–10% | $7,000 | 0.6% | No income tax | $4,821 ‡ | source |
| Utah | UI + FUTA baseline | 0.1–7.1% | 0.1–7.1% | $50,700 | 0.6% | Income up to 4.5% | $4,683–$8,232 ‡ | source |
| West Virginia | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.7% | 1.5–8.5% | $9,500 | 0.6% | Income up to 4.82% | $4,889 | source |
| Wisconsin | UI + FUTA baseline | 3.05–3.25% | 0–12% | $14,000 | 0.6% | Income up to 7.65% | $5,059–$5,087 ‡ | source |
| Wyoming | UI + FUTA baseline | 2.28–9.78% | 0.09–8.5% | $33,800 | 0.6% | No income tax | $5,403–$7,938 ‡ | source |
‡ Figure still being confirmed against a primary source; treated as provisional until verified.
Frequently asked questions
Which US state has the lowest employer payroll tax?
It depends on the salary. A low taxable wage base (California caps unemployment tax at the first $7,000) limits the state unemployment cost, while states with a high wage base or an extra paid-leave tax cost more. The "employer cost on a $60,000 hire" column compares the all-in figure state by state.
Do all US states charge an employer unemployment tax?
Yes. Every state and DC runs a state unemployment insurance (SUI) tax that the employer pays, on top of federal FUTA. The new-employer rate and the taxable wage base differ by state, which is what this table lists.
Are the employee taxes in this table an employer cost?
No. State income tax and employee disability (SDI) are withheld from the employee, so the employee pays them. They are shown for the full payslip picture but are not in the employer cost column.
US employment law is set state by state, and it keeps moving. When Teamed is your legal employer, this is our job in every state: compliant offers, postings and policies that meet each state’s rules, so you can hire across the US without setting up 50 payrolls or reading 50 statutes.
