The state tax is flat. The local tax and the county sales tax are not. Here is what to type.
Two of the calculators on this site ask for a rate you have to know, and Pennsylvania is where people most often type the wrong one. The salary calculator wants a state percent and a local percent. The out-the-door price calculator wants a sales-tax percent. Statewide figures are published. Your town’s figures are not automatic.
Pennsylvania’s personal income tax is a flat 3.07% of taxable income. That number is on the Department of Revenue tax-rate page, and it is the rate already stored under Pennsylvania in the salary tool. The federal side of that tool is separate: 2026 brackets and the standard deduction come from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, Social Security is 6.2% up to the wage base in Publication 15, and the wage base itself is on Social Security’s table ($184,500 for 2026, $192,300 for 2027). The calculator is built on the 2026 column. It will not move itself to 2027.
Local earned income tax is the line people skip. It is set by the municipality and the school district, not by Harrisburg. In a lot of towns the two split a 1% combined cap. Philadelphia’s wage tax and Pittsburgh’s tax are higher than that, and a few places charge nothing. The salary tool defaults the local box to zero. Leaving it there understates a typical suburban Pennsylvania paycheck by the local percent of gross.
Here is one single filer with $75,000 of wages, no 401(k), and no health premium, using the 2026 federal math in the tool:
| Take-home per year | Per month | |
|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania 3.07%, local tax 0 | $59,290 | $4,941 |
| Pennsylvania 3.07% plus 1% local | $58,540 | $4,878 |
The gap is about $62 a month, all of it the local tax. Federal income tax in this example is about $7,670, Social Security $4,650, Medicare $1,087.50, and the state tax $2,302.50. If your pay stub shows a different local percent, type that percent. Do not assume 1% because a neighbor pays 1%.
Two job offers are the reason to do this twice. Change the salary, the state, and the local rate, and compare take-home. A higher salary in a city wage tax can lose to a lower salary with no local tax. The tool still will not apply tax credits or a state’s real bracket schedule. Pennsylvania happens to be flat, which makes the state box more honest here than it is for California.
The same Department of Revenue page lists sales tax at 6% statewide, plus 1 percentage point in Allegheny County and 2 points in Philadelphia. The out-the-door calculator’s Pennsylvania menu item is the statewide 6%. If you live in Philadelphia, type 8. If you live in Allegheny County, type 7. A $1 new-tire fee is also on that rate page. The calculator does not add it.
Work the default-shaped deal with a Pennsylvania address: $32,000 price, $4,000 trade-in, $500 doc fee, $250 title and registration.
| Rate to type | Sales tax | Out the door |
|---|---|---|
| 6% statewide | $1,680 | $30,430 |
| 7% Allegheny County | $1,960 | $30,710 |
| 8% Philadelphia | $2,240 | $30,990 |
Tax is charged on price minus trade-in, $28,000. That matches Pennsylvania. The calculator does it for every state, and some states do not allow the trade-in credit. If yours does not, zero the trade-in, read the tax, then subtract the trade-in from the cash you need. Doc fees are a typed number, not a cap.
After the out-the-door total, the monthly question is the car payment calculator, and the “what does it cost to own” question is the true-cost page. The car deal guide walks those together. If you are self-employed, the paycheck math above is the wrong tool. Use the 1099 estimator and add 3.07% of profit for Pennsylvania, plus whatever local net-profits tax your town charges.
Last updated: October 29, 2026. Estimates only. Not tax, legal, financial, or professional advice. See the terms.