Georgia Paycheck Calculator
Georgia taxes wages at a flat 4.99% for 2026, applied after its own standard deduction of $15,000 for a single filer and $30,000 filing jointly. There is no local income tax anywhere in Georgia and no state payroll premium, so a Georgia stub has exactly four deductions. This calculator shows each on its own line.
California payroll premiums
Mandatory deductions that aren't income tax. They come out of your paycheck whether or not California taxes income.
- CA SDI1.3% (no cap)
1.3% of all wages, with no cap since 2024.
Your Form W-4
Optional. Skip this and you'll get the withholding for a W-4 with nothing claimed on it. The form has had no "allowances" since 2020 — dependents are now a dollar credit in Step 3.
The dollar total from Step 3, not a number of people — typically $2,200 per qualifying child and $500 per other dependent.
Interest, dividends or retirement income with no withholding of its own.
Only deductions beyond the standard deduction, from the Step 4(b) worksheet.
An extra dollar amount held from each paycheck, on top of the tax above.
This calculator provides estimates for informational purposes only. Actual paycheck amounts may vary based on your employer, benefits, local taxes, filing status, and tax elections.
Federal withholding calculation updated September 2026 using IRS Publication 15-T (2026).
Your estimate will appear here
Enter your pay details and click calculate to see your estimated take-home pay, tax breakdown, and annual income.
This calculator works the same whether you're in downtown Atlanta, a suburb like Alpharetta or Marietta, or a small town in south Georgia. The flat 4.99% rate doesn't change by city or county. What does change around the Atlanta metro is cost of living, particularly housing and commute time, which tends to have a bigger effect on how comfortable a given salary feels than the tax line on the paycheck.
What Actually Appears on a Georgia Stub
Four deductions, and no more. Georgia is one of the simpler states to read, and it is worth being explicit about what is not there.
- Federal income tax — $295.00 a biweekly paycheck on $75,000 filing single, from your W-4.
- Social Security and Medicare — $178.85 and $41.83.
- Georgia income tax — $115.15 a paycheck, $2,994.00 a year.
No local income tax. No Georgia city or county levies one on wages, so Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta and Columbus all produce the same stub. That is unlike Ohio, Pennsylvania or Maryland, where the locality genuinely changes the withholding.
No employee payroll premium. Georgia runs no paid family leave, disability or employee unemployment contribution. The state unemployment tax exists but is paid by the employer and is never deducted from your wages.
Flat Rate, But Not on Every Dollar
Georgia’s 4.99% is flat, so there are no brackets to work through, but it does not apply to your whole wage. Georgia has its own standard deduction, separate from and smaller than the federal one:
| Filing status | Georgia standard deduction |
|---|---|
| Single | $15,000 |
| Head of household | $15,000 |
| Married filing jointly | $30,000 |
So a single filer on $75,000 is taxed on $60,000, giving $2,994.00. Filing jointly on the same salary the deduction doubles and Georgia tax falls to $2,245.50 — and because federal withholding drops too, take-home rises from $2,253.79 to $2,399.12 a paycheck.
Georgia also allows an allowance for each dependant on top, claimed on Form G-4, which is a separate form from the federal W-4. Updating one does not update the other.
Georgia Against Its Neighbours
Georgia and North Carolina are both flat-rate states and are often treated as interchangeable. On the same salary they are not, and the reason is the rate rather than anything structural.
| State | Rate | State tax a year | Net per paycheck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 4.99% flat | $2,994.00 | $2,253.79 |
| North Carolina | 3.99% flat | $2,350.11 | $2,278.55 |
| Florida | None | $0.00 | $2,368.94 |
North Carolina’s lower rate leaves $24.76 more per paycheck on this salary, and Florida’s absence of income tax leaves $115.15 more. All three have no local income tax and no employee payroll premium, so the state income tax line is the entire difference between them — which is unusual, and makes them genuinely comparable on rate alone.
One caveat on the North Carolina figure: North Carolina’s own standard deduction has not been verified against its 2026 withholding tables here, so that row applies the rate to federal taxable income and is an approximation. The Georgia figures are not — they use Georgia’s published deduction.
Quick Answer
Georgia withholds a flat 4.99% of wages after a standard deduction of $15,000 single or $30,000 married filing jointly, with an allowance for each dependant. On $75,000 filing single that is $2,994.00 a year, or $115.15 a biweekly paycheck, leaving $2,253.79 take-home. No Georgia city or county levies an income tax, and Georgia has no employee paid-leave or disability premium, so nothing else is withheld at state level.
How It Works: Formula & Variables
Net Pay = Gross Pay − Federal Tax − State Tax (4.99% flat) − Social Security − Medicare − Other Deductions
- Gross Pay
- Your total earnings before any deductions, hourly rate times hours, or annual salary divided by pay periods.
- Federal Tax
- Calculated using progressive tax brackets based on your filing status and taxable income.
- State Tax
- Georgia's exact statutory rate of 4.99% for 2026, applied to taxable income.
- Social Security
- 6.2% of gross pay, up to the annual wage base limit.
- Medicare
- 1.45% of gross pay, with no wage limit (plus 0.9% surtax above certain thresholds).
Worked Examples
Example 1: Salaried at $75,000, single
Paid biweekly, gross $2,884.62. Georgia taxes $60,000 after its $15,000 standard deduction, giving $2,994.00 for the year or $115.15 a paycheck. With federal $295.00, Social Security $178.85 and Medicare $41.83, take-home is $2,253.79, 78.1% of gross.
Example 2: The same salary, married filing jointly
The Georgia standard deduction doubles to $30,000, so state tax falls to $2,245.50 a year. Federal withholding falls too, from $295.00 to $178.46 a paycheck. Take-home rises to $2,399.12, 83.2% of gross — $145.33 more every payday on identical pay.
Example 3: Hourly at $21.00 an hour
40 hours a week paid weekly, filing single: gross $840.00, $43,680 a year. Georgia tax $27.52 a week, federal $58.88, Social Security $52.08, Medicare $12.18. Take-home $689.34, 82.1% of gross. The flat rate means the Georgia share of your pay barely moves with income; what changes across salaries is the federal line.
Key Concepts
A recent switch to flat tax: Georgia taxed income on a six-bracket progressive scale for decades before moving to a flat rate in 2024, joining a wave of Southern states simplifying their income tax systems around the same time.
Rate cuts tied to revenue, not a calendar: The legislation that created Georgia's flat tax includes a schedule of further reductions, but each one only kicks in if the state hits certain revenue and reserve benchmarks first. That's different from North Carolina's approach next door, where cuts are written into law on a fixed year-by-year schedule regardless of state revenue.
No local income tax: Georgia counties and cities, including Atlanta, don't layer a separate income tax on top of the state rate, unlike Ohio or Pennsylvania.
Atlanta drives the state's economy but not its tax rate: Metro Atlanta accounts for a large share of Georgia's population and jobs, but the flat 4.99% rate applies identically there and everywhere else in the state.
Useful for comparing job offers: If you're weighing a Georgia offer against a neighboring no-tax state like Florida, run both through a paycheck calculator to see the real difference in take-home pay.
Common Mistakes
Using outdated bracket information: Older sources may still describe Georgia's tax as a six-bracket progressive system. That changed in 2024, and the rate has likely shifted further since, so check the current statutory rate for precision.
Adding a local income tax that doesn't exist: Georgia doesn't have municipal or county income taxes like some Midwestern and Northeastern states.
Comparing gross salaries across states: A $65,000 offer in Georgia and a $65,000 offer in Florida don't translate to the same take-home pay. Always compare net pay, not gross.
Ignoring pre-tax deductions: 401(k) contributions and health insurance premiums lower your taxable income before both federal and state tax apply, so leaving them out understates your real take-home pay.
Frequently Asked Questions
Georgia charges a flat 4.99% state income tax for 2026, and this calculator uses that exact rate. Georgia swapped its old progressive brackets for a flat tax in 2024 and has been stepping the rate down since. House Bill 463 pulled the final cut forward, so 4.99% applies to the whole 2026 tax year even though employer withholding tables only caught up on 11 May 2026.
Yes, at 4.99% for 2026. Georgia replaced its old system of six brackets topping out at 5.75% with a single flat rate, and lawmakers built in a schedule of further cuts tied to state revenue and reserve targets rather than a fixed calendar. Legislation in 2026 took the rate straight to its 4.99% floor ahead of that original timetable.
No. Georgia's 4.99% flat rate applies statewide, whether you work in downtown Atlanta, the suburbs, or a small town three hours away. What does change around Atlanta is cost of living, especially housing and commute costs in the metro area, which affects how far a given paycheck stretches more than the tax line does.
Federal income tax, Georgia's flat state income tax, Social Security (6.2% up to the annual wage base), and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% more for high earners).
No. Unlike Ohio or Pennsylvania, Georgia cities and counties don't add a separate municipal income tax on top of the state rate. Local governments in Georgia rely mainly on property tax and local sales tax options instead.
Yes, switch between the Hourly and Salary tabs and enter your wage or annual salary along with your pay frequency. The state is already set to Georgia.
Related Calculators
Paycheck Calculator
Estimate take-home pay for any state.
North Carolina Paycheck Calculator
Compare to another recently-flattened state tax.
Florida Paycheck Calculator
Compare to a neighboring state with no income tax.
Paycheck Calculators by State
Find your state and compare tax rates nationwide.
Compare Take-Home Pay by State
Put two or three states side by side, including city and county tax.
Tennessee Paycheck Calculator
Another state with no income tax on wages.
Comparing Georgia with a neighbour?
Put the same salary through both places in the state comparison tool. The obvious comparisons are North Carolina, also flat but at a lower rate, and Florida, which charges nothing at all. If a bonus is part of the offer, Georgia withholds supplemental wages under its own rules — see the bonus calculator.
Sources and assumptions
- Rate: Georgia Department of Revenue — “The Georgia income tax rate has been reduced to a flat rate of 4.99%.” Verified 6 September 2026.
- Standard deduction: Georgia DOR, 2026 Employer’s Withholding Tax Guide (revised June 2026) — “Georgia standard deductions have increased to $30,000 for taxpayers filing Married Filing Jointly and $15,000 for Single, Head of Household, and Married Filing Separate taxpayers.” The same guide’s worked example withholds at 4.99% after a monthly standard deduction of $1,250, which is $15,000 a year. Verified 6 September 2026.
- A note on the 2026 rate. Two versions of that guide exist. The December 2025 revision carried a higher rate; the June 2026 update reflects legislation signed on 11 May 2026 which set the flat rate at 4.99%. The later figure is the one used here.
- Assumptions: wages only; a default W-4 unless you enter otherwise; the standard deduction for your filing status with no dependant allowances, which you claim separately on Form G-4. No local income tax and no employee payroll premium, because Georgia has neither.