How much tax is taken out of my paycheck in Missouri?

The first slice of what remains after the standard deduction is withheld on at nothing, because Missouri's schedule opens with a zero band; the rest climbs through narrow steps. Answer the spouse question first, since it moves the deduction more than anything else on the Missouri side. If your pay carries the Kansas City or St. Louis earnings tax, add it, as this figure leaves it out.

What is the payroll tax rate in Missouri?

Not one rate, at least not on the employee's side. What Missouri takes out of a paycheck is income tax withholding, which steps up through the bands in the schedule below; the Social Security and Medicare lines beside it are federal. Taxes an employer pays on its own account do not come out of wages, so they are not on this page.

Does my spouse's job change Missouri withholding?

Yes, through the standard deduction. A married employee whose spouse has no earnings receives the larger single-earner deduction, and one whose spouse works receives the same deduction as a single filer. The calculator asks the question the MO W-4 asks, and reads a blank answer as no MO W-4 filed, which Missouri withholds at a single tax rate.

Does this include the Kansas City earnings tax?

No. Kansas City charges its own tax on earnings, and employers withhold it from the same paycheck as the state's. This page covers Missouri's withholding alone, so a stub that carries the city's line will show a deduction the figure above does not.

Missouri paycheck calculator

What decides most about Missouri withholding is the standard deduction, and Missouri sets it by a check box rather than by filing status alone: Form MO W-4 asks a married employee whether the spouse works, and a household with one earner gets a much larger deduction than one with two, with a head of household in between. Everyone then reads the same graduated schedule.

Take-home pay

$1,632.85

per bi-weekly (26 per year) period

Gross pay: $2,000.00
Federal Income Tax: −$156.15
Social Security: −$124.00
Medicare: −$29.00
MO State Income Tax: −$58.00
Net pay: $1,632.85

Carries these figures into a full Missouri pay stub you can preview and download.

How Missouri withholding is worked out

The schedule is unusual at the bottom. Its first band charges nothing at all, and the rate then climbs through a run of narrow steps to the top one. There are no allowances to claim against it, so once the deduction is settled nothing else on the form moves the figure. A married employee who leaves the spouse question unanswered is withheld as one who filed no MO W-4, which Missouri does at a single tax rate, so the larger deduction comes only with the answer that the spouse does not work. The state figure stops at the state: Kansas City and St. Louis each levy an earnings tax of their own, which can come out of the same paycheck, and it is not calculated here.

These are withholding figures: what an employer takes out of one paycheck, which is not the same calculation as the one on an annual return.

Missouri charges the same rates whatever the filing status, but the status still changes the amounts given below the table. Wages are annualised first, so the figures below are annual.

An employee who files no Form MO W-4 is withheld at a single tax rate, and so is a married employee who leaves the spouse question unanswered.

Every filing status
Annual wages	Tax on the lower figure	Rate on the rest
$0.00 to $1,348.00	$0.00	0%
$1,348.00 to $2,696.00	$0.00	2%
$2,696.00 to $4,044.00	$27.00	2.5%
$4,044.00 to $5,392.00	$61.00	3%
$5,392.00 to $6,740.00	$101.00	3.5%
$6,740.00 to $8,088.00	$148.00	4%
$8,088.00 to $9,436.00	$202.00	4.5%
$9,436.00 and up	$263.00	4.7%

Annual standard deduction

Single: $16,100.00

Married filing jointly, spouse earns: $16,100.00

Married filing jointly, spouse has no earned income: $32,200.00

Head of household: $24,150.00

Missouri withholds whole dollars: the amount for each pay period is taken to the nearest dollar.

State tax only. Kansas City and St. Louis each charge a 1% earnings tax on top: on residents wherever they work, and on anyone for work in the city.

The guide lists the standard deduction by a check box on Form MO W-4 Line 1 rather than by filing status, and both figures are loaded: $32,200 where the spouse does not work, $16,100 where the spouse does. The larger figure is its own box on line 1 of the MO W-4 (Revised 12-2025), "Married (Spouse does not work)", beside "Single or Married Spouse Works or Married Filing Separate", so only an answer reaches it. An unanswered spouse question reads as no MO W-4 at all, for which Form 4282 says "withhold at a single tax rate"; until October 2026 the generator deducted the full amount from such an employee, as if the box were checked.

Missouri sources

Frequently asked questions

What Missouri law asks of a pay stub

Whether a stub is required, how it may be delivered, and the minimum wage and pay frequency rules.

Missouri pay stub requirements