Paycheck Calculator Arizona: 2026 Take-Home Pay, State Tax and Form A-4

How Arizona paycheck withholding works in 2026

An Arizona paycheck is reduced by three separate taxes before the money reaches your account, and each one is calculated in a different way.

• Federal income tax — the 2026 brackets run from 10% to 37%. For a single filer the schedule starts at 10% on taxable income up to $12,400, then moves to 12% over $12,400, 22% over $50,400, 24% over $105,700, 32% over $201,775, 35% over $256,225 and 37% over $640,600. Taxable income here is your pay after pre-tax deductions and after the $16,100 single standard deduction.
• FICA — Social Security at 6.2% on wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500, plus Medicare at 1.45% on all wages, with an extra 0.9% once your wages for the year pass $200,000.
• Arizona income tax — a single flat rate of 2.5% on Arizona taxable income. ADOR states that for tax year 2023 and beyond “the tax rate for Arizona taxable income is 2.5%”; there are no state brackets, and the old Optional Tax Table and X and Y Tax Table are obsolete.

Arizona has conformed to the federal standard deduction since tax year 2019, so the state shields the same first slice of income the IRS does. ADOR published $15,750 as the Arizona standard deduction for a single taxpayer (or a married taxpayer filing separately) for 2025, and the federal single amount for 2026 is $16,100.

What really sets Arizona apart is the way the tax leaves your paycheck. Arizona income tax withholding is “a percentage of the employee’s gross taxable wages”, and the employee chooses that percentage — anywhere from 0.5% to 3.5% — on Arizona Form A-4. New employees must turn the form in within five days of hire; if they do not, ADOR requires the employer to withhold 2.0% by default. Because the elected percentage is applied to gross taxable wages (roughly box 1 of your W-2, meaning gross pay less pre-tax deductions such as your share of health premiums), the state tax on your pay stub is a flat slice of every check rather than a bracket calculation on annual income.

Arizona take-home pay by salary (2026)

The table shows estimated 2026 take-home pay for a single filer claiming the standard deduction, with no pre-tax deductions and 26 biweekly paychecks. Federal tax uses the 2026 brackets, FICA uses the current rates and the Arizona column applies the flat 2.5% to income above the $16,100 standard deduction.

Two things stand out. Your marginal Arizona rate never moves — the next dollar you earn is always taxed at 2.5%, because Arizona has no brackets to climb. Your effective rate does move, though, because the standard deduction is a fixed amount spread over a growing income: it is about 1.70% of gross at $50,000 and 2.23% at $150,000. Meanwhile every extra dollar is also exposed to a higher federal bracket, which is why take-home pay in the table grows more slowly than gross pay.

Figures are rounded to the nearest dollar and assume a single filer under 65, no 401(k) or pre-tax health premiums, and no local income tax withholding. Filing jointly, itemizing deductions or contributing to a retirement plan all change the result.

Worked example: a $60,000 salary in Arizona, line by line

Take a single filer on $60,000 a year paid biweekly, with no pre-tax deductions. Here is how the paycheck breaks down in 2026:

• Gross pay: $60,000
• Federal income tax: $5,020 — 10% on the first $12,400 of taxable income, then 12% on the remaining $31,500 left after the $16,100 standard deduction
• Social Security at 6.2%: $3,720
• Medicare at 1.45%: $870
• Arizona income tax at 2.5% on $43,900 of Arizona taxable income: $1,097.50
• Annual take-home pay: $49,292.50, or about $1,896 per biweekly check

Now add a $6,000 pre-tax 401(k) contribution. Because Arizona starts from federal adjusted gross income, that contribution lowers both federal and Arizona taxable income — down to $37,900 in each case. Federal income tax falls to $4,300 and Arizona tax to $947.50, while Social Security and Medicare stay exactly where they were: $3,720 and $870, since 401(k) contributions are not exempt from FICA. Take-home pay rises to $50,162.50, or $1,929 per check. Moving $6,000 into retirement costs only $870 in lost take-home pay for the year, because the 12% federal and 2.5% Arizona taxes on that money disappear.

Form A-4: the Arizona withholding percentage you choose

Arizona does not compute withholding from tax brackets. Your employer withholds a flat percentage of your gross taxable wages, and you elect that percentage on Form A-4. These are the only rates ADOR allows:

ADOR’s own withholding worksheet shows how to pick. In its published example, an employee with $52,000 of annual gross taxable wages paid 26 times a year sets an annual withholding goal of $1,800 and has already had $600 withheld. That leaves $1,200 to spread across 22 remaining paychecks, or $54.55 per check against wages of $2,000 — a 2.7% target. ADOR’s instruction is to select the largest percentage below that number, which is 2.5%, and put the remaining $4.55 in the additional-amount box on Form A-4.

It also helps to know what the percentages mean in tax terms. A single filer on $52,000 has Arizona taxable income of $35,900 after the $16,100 standard deduction, so the 2.5% rate comes to about $898 for the year. Electing 0.5% would withhold only $260 and leave you paying the difference at filing; electing 2.0% would withhold $1,040 and return about $142 as a refund. An employee who expects no Arizona tax liability at all can elect a zero percentage instead, but that election has to be renewed every year and does not excuse tax that turns out to be due.