North Carolina Paycheck Calculator

Four tax lines come out of a North Carolina paycheck: federal income tax, Social Security (6.2% up to $184,500), Medicare (1.45%), and North Carolina income tax. No North Carolina city or county taxes wages, the state has no employee payroll tax such as a disability or paid-leave premium, and there are no reciprocity agreements. Anything else on your stub is your own election: 401(k), health premiums, HSA, and similar benefits.

The NC-30 formula takes annual wages, subtracts $12,750 for single, married, or surviving spouse filers or $19,125 for head of household, subtracts $2,500 for each NC-4 allowance, and withholds 4.09% of the rest. Most employees claim zero allowances, so the North Carolina exemptions field starts at 0. NCDOR rounds withholding to the whole dollar; this calculator keeps the cents, so your stub can differ by less than a dollar per paycheck.

Married couples filing jointly get a $25,500 deduction on the return, but the employer formula subtracts only $12,750 for a married employee. The NC-4 worksheet converts the spouse's share of the joint deduction into allowances, so a married employee who leaves the allowance count at zero is withheld on the $12,750 amount. Bonuses are withheld at the same 4.09%.

For 2026 the income tax rate fell from 4.25% to 3.99% and the withholding rate from 4.35% to 4.09%, effective with the 2026 NC-30 tables. Because withholding runs 0.1 point above the tax rate by design, North Carolina withholding lands slightly ahead of the final tax, and the difference settles on your return. NCDOR has not yet published a 2027 rate.