Maine Paycheck Calculator 2026 — 5.8%–7.15% Brackets & Take-Home Pay

Estimate Maine take-home pay for 2026 with 5.8%, 6.75% and 7.15% brackets, the $15,700 standard deduction, FICA and federal withholding — free and instant.

How Maine Paychecks Work

1. Federal tax: progressive brackets 10%–37% minus the $16,100 standard deduction (single, 2026) — same as everywhere.
2. FICA: 6.2% Social Security (up to the $184,500 wage base) + 1.45% Medicare — same as everywhere.
3. State tax: 5.8% to $27,400, 6.75% to $64,850, 7.15% above. Three brackets for single filers (joint thresholds exactly double), set by Maine Revenue Services on May 20, 2026. The $15,700 standard deduction plus a $5,300 personal exemption come off first. A 2% surcharge applies above $1,000,000 single.

Worked Example: $85,000 Single Filer

Maine vs Texas vs California on $85,000

The same single filer keeps $64,567.80 in Maine against $68,627 in Texas and $64,007 in California. Maine's brackets cost $156 a paycheck versus the no-tax states — and still beat California by $560.80 a year on this salary. Model any state in the calculator.

Illustrative estimate for a single filer, standard deduction, no pre-tax contributions. Confirm with the IRS or a tax professional.

Federal Withholding on a Maine Paycheck

Only one income tax touches a Maine paycheck: the federal one. Withholding follows the IRS percentage method in Publication 15-T, and three inputs drive it: your filing status, the dependents and credits you claim on Form W-4, and any extra withholding you request. Change any of the three and the same salary produces a different stub, which is why two Maine workers earning $85,000 can take home different amounts.

Federal tax is progressive, which means it applies in slices, not to the whole salary at once. Only the dollars inside each bracket are taxed at that bracket's rate, so a single filer's effective rate is always lower than their top marginal rate. The standard deduction then removes a further slice of income from tax entirely before the brackets even start. Pre-tax items shrink the taxable wage base further: 401(k) contributions and health premiums taken pre-tax reduce the wages the percentages apply to, though the exact treatment differs by deduction type, so read your stub labels rather than assuming.

Our US paycheck calculator models this with an editable withholding percentage instead of hard-coding tables that Congress and inflation adjust every year. If you want the precise official arithmetic for the current year, Publication 15-T is the source the payroll industry itself uses.

FICA: the Two Lines That Always Appear

Below the federal line sit two flat deductions that behave nothing like income tax. Social Security takes 6.2% of wages up to the Social Security Administration's annual wage base, a cap it resets every year. Medicare takes 1.45% of all wages with no cap, plus an additional 0.9% on earnings above $200,000 for single filers ($250,000 joint) — those thresholds are set in statute, not adjusted annually. Your employer matches the 6.2% and the 1.45% dollar for dollar; the additional 0.9% is employee-only.

On the $85,000 example: Social Security is $85,000 x 0.062 = $5,270, comfortably below any recent wage-base cap, and Medicare is $85,000 x 0.0145 = $1,232.50. Together with federal withholding that is the entire deduction stack on a Maine stub. There is no third line, which is exactly the point of the next section.

What Maine Does Differently

Maine does have an income tax, but it is a small one: at $85,000 it takes $4,059.70, or 4.78% of gross. The brackets are indexed every year, so the cutoffs rise with inflation — unlike the flat rate in neighboring Massachusetts, which never changes. The state's 5.5% sales tax has no local add-on, and Social Security is exempt from Maine tax entirely, which makes the state friendlier to retirees than its brackets suggest.

Overtime and Pay-Frequency Math

Maine follows the federal Fair Labor Standards Act: non-exempt employees earn 1.5x their regular rate for hours over 40 in a week, with no stricter state daily-overtime rule on top. At $30/hour and a 45-hour week: 40 x $30 = $1,200 straight time, 5 x $45 = $225 overtime, $1,425 gross for the week. Salaried exempt employees are outside this rule under the duties-and-salary-basis test, so a $85,000 salary means $85,000 of gross regardless of hours.

Pay frequency then decides the per-check number without changing the annual total. On $85,000: weekly (52) = $1,634.62; biweekly (26) = $3,269.23; semi-monthly (24) = $3,541.67; monthly (12) = $7,083.33. The existing $85,000 example uses biweekly, the most common Maine schedule. Note that overtime and bonuses can push individual checks into higher withholding on that check alone; withholding per check annualizes the amount, so a spike check withholds as though you earned at that pace all year, with the balance settling at filing time.

New to Maine Paychecks: Reading Your First Stub

A first Maine pay stub surprises newcomers in two ways: there is no state line at all, and the federal and FICA lines look larger than expected because nothing else shares the load. Read it top to bottom. Gross is what you earned. Pre-tax items come off next. FITW (federal income tax withheld) follows your W-4. Then the two FICA lines. The remainder is net. The year-to-date column repeats the same stack cumulatively, which is how you spot a drift early — if YTD federal withholding looks high relative to gross in March, file a new W-4 rather than waiting until filing season. Anyone arriving mid-year should set the W-4 for the new situation on day one: settings calibrated to a previous state system will systematically over- or under-withhold here. Our US paycheck calculator lets you model the stub before the first one prints.

Tipped, Hourly, and Third-Paycheck Months

Maine hospitality runs on tipped wages, and the federal rules are specific. Employers may pay a cash wage as low as $2.13 per hour provided tips bring total hourly earnings to at least the $7.25 federal minimum; if they do not, the employer makes up the difference. Overtime for tipped and hourly staff alike is 1.5 times the regular rate past 40 hours a week. Separately, biweekly earners get two third-paycheck months every year: 26 paychecks cannot divide evenly into 12 months, so two months contain three paydays. The annual total is unchanged, but budgeting monthly on two checks and treating the third as surplus is the standard move. Monthly billers should note the mirror image: semi-monthly schedules never produce a third check, so compare offers on annual gross, not per-check size.

Self-Employed in Maine: What Changes

Without an employer there is no withholding at all, so the full stack lands on you four times a year. Self-employment tax replaces both halves of FICA: 12.4% for Social Security up to the annual wage base plus 2.9% for Medicare, with the additional 0.9% over the statutory thresholds exactly as for employees — 15.3% combined before income tax. Half of that combined amount is deductible when computing income tax, which softens it but does not remove it. Federal estimated payments fall on the fixed calendar: January 15, April 15, June 15 and September 15, shifting to the next business day when the date lands on a weekend. Maine adds nothing on top: no state estimates, no state return, no state-level equivalent to argue about. Miss a federal quarter and interest accrues from the due date, so new freelancers should set calendar reminders before the first April deadline surprises them. Keep 25 to 30 percent of each client payment in a separate account and the quarters stop hurting.

Bonuses, Commissions, and Supplemental Pay

Not everything on a Maine stub follows the salary rules. Bonuses, commissions, severance, and back pay are supplemental wages, and employers may withhold federal tax on them at a flat 22% up to $1 million in a year (37% above that), instead of running them through the W-4 percentage method. That is why a $5,000 bonus can arrive as $3,900 before FICA even though your salary withholding implies a lower rate: $5,000 x 0.22 = $1,100 held back, plus 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare on top. Maine adds nothing either way, so a Maine bonus beats the same bonus in California by the state slice alone. The flat rate is only withholding, not the final tax — the actual liability settles at filing time against your real marginal rate, which is why bonus-heavy earners in Maine often see meaningful refunds. Overtime already covered above counts as regular wages, not supplemental pay, so the two rules never stack on the same dollar.

The Honest Footnote: Total Burden Matters

Maine's state income tax is modest at $85,000, but total burden is more than the state tax line. Maine's 5.5% sales tax applies statewide with no local add-ons — a purchase costs the same in Portland as in Bangor — and property taxes are set town by town with no statewide property tax. Portland and Rockland set higher local minimum wages ($16.75 and $16.00) than the state $15.10. Federal tax, Social Security and Medicare are the same everywhere; it is the state slice that varies.

Living on a Maine Paycheck: What Makes Maine Different

Maine runs a three-bracket income tax that moves a little every year: for 2026 the cutoffs are $27,400 and $64,850 for single filers, taxed at 5.8%, 6.75% and 7.15%, with the joint thresholds exactly double. Maine Revenue Services revised the 2026 schedules on May 20, 2026, so any calculator still showing the old $24,500 and $58,050 cutoffs is using 2025 figures.

The deductions are Maine's own, not the federal ones: a $15,700 standard deduction for single filers plus a $5,300 personal exemption, which together pull $21,000 off an $85,000 salary before the brackets start, leaving $64,000 of Maine taxable income. The standard deduction phases out once Maine adjusted gross income passes $102,250 for single filers, so the full $15,700 only survives below that line — at $85,000 it is untouched.

On that $64,000, the tax is $1,589.20 at 5.8% on the first $27,400 plus $2,470.50 at 6.75% on the remaining $36,600, for $4,059.70 in Maine tax. Very high earners face one more layer: a 2% surcharge on Maine taxable income above $1,000,000 single ($1,500,000 joint), enacted in the 2026 supplemental budget, which lifts the top rate to 9.15% — irrelevant at $85,000, but the reason Maine's top marginal rate is quoted two ways.

Maine starts its return from federal adjusted gross income, then applies its own additions and subtractions — and one subtraction matters to retirees: Social Security benefits included in federal AGI are subtracted on Schedule 1S under 36 M.R.S. §5122, so Maine never taxes them. There is no city or county income tax anywhere in Maine, and no state disability program; the one extra line that can appear on a Maine stub is the Paid Family and Medical Leave premium, up to 0.5% of wages (capped at the Social Security wage base), which funds up to 12 weeks of paid leave per benefit year from May 1, 2026.

The Paid Family and Medical Leave program is the newest line on a Maine stub: contributions began January 1, 2025, and benefits start May 1, 2026. Employers with 15 or more workers split a 1% premium with their employees — the employee share is 0.5% of wages — while smaller employers pass the full 0.5% to the employee. The premium is capped at the Social Security wage base, so the most it costs on an $85,000 salary is $425 a year, and it buys up to 12 weeks of paid leave per benefit year for a serious health condition, bonding with a new child, or caring for a family member.

The 2026 minimum wage in Maine is $15.10 an hour, up from $14.65 in 2025 and indexed to inflation — and Portland ($16.75) and Rockland ($16.00) set higher local minimums. Overtime follows the federal Fair Labor Standards Act: 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a week, with no state daily-overtime rule.

Off the paycheck, Maine charges a flat 5.5% sales tax with no county or city add-ons, so a purchase costs the same in Portland as in Bangor; prepared food is 8%, lodging 9% and short-term auto rental 10%. The separate service provider tax was repealed on January 1, 2026, folding services like cable and telecommunications into the standard 5.5%. Property tax is set town by town — there is no statewide property tax, and a homestead exemption cuts the assessed value of a primary residence.

Filing is straightforward: Form 1040ME is due April 15, filed free through the Maine Tax Portal, with an automatic six-month extension if you pay at least 90% of the tax by the original due date. Quarterly estimates go on Form 1040ES-ME. On the $85,000 example the Maine slice is $4,059.70, leaving $64,567.80 a year — about $2,483 every two weeks — before any 401(k) or HSA contributions, which lower federal AGI and therefore Maine taxable income too.

Sources: Maine Revenue Services, 2026 Individual Income Tax Rate Schedules (revised May 20, 2026) and List of Forms and Due Dates (maine.gov/revenue); 36 M.R.S. §5122 (Social Security subtraction); Maine Dept. of Labor, Paid Family and Medical Leave (maine.gov/paidleave). Federal figures: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, SSA.gov. Accessed 2026-11-10. Figures are for tax year 2026; confirm with the Maine revenue department or a tax professional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: Maine Revenue Services, 2026 Individual Income Tax Rate Schedules (revised May 20, 2026) and List of Forms and Due Dates (maine.gov/revenue); 36 M.R.S. §5122 (Social Security subtraction); Maine Dept. of Labor, Paid Family and Medical Leave (maine.gov/paidleave). Federal figures: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, SSA.gov. Accessed 2026-11-10.

Disclaimer: Estimates only — not tax advice. Confirm with the IRS or a tax professional.