Take-home pay on a $30,000 salary in Arizona
A $30,000 salary in Arizona leaves $25,929 a year after federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Arizona income tax — $2,161 a month, or $997.26 in a two-week paycheck. The model is a single filer taking the standard deduction; nothing below is an estimate, it is all worked out from the published tables.
2025 standard deduction (2026 pending). Arizona's tax rates for 2026 are current, but it has not published its 2026 standard deduction yet, so this page subtracts its 2025 amount. We update this page when the state publishes.
Where every dollar of $30,000 goes
2026 rules, single filer, standard deduction, nothing pre-tax and nobody to claim. Of the lines below, Social Security takes the most at $1,860 and Arizona income tax the least at $356.
| Line | Per year | Per month | Per 2 weeks | % of gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | $30,000 | $2,500 | $1,153.85 | 100.0% |
| Federal income tax | −$1,420 | −$118 | −$54.62 | 4.7% |
| Social Security (6.2%) | −$1,860 | −$155 | −$71.54 | 6.2% |
| Medicare (1.45%) | −$435 | −$36 | −$16.73 | 1.5% |
| Arizona income tax | −$356 | −$30 | −$13.70 | 1.2% |
| Total withheld | −$4,071 | −$339 | −$156.59 | 13.6% |
| Take-home pay | $25,929 | $2,161 | $997.26 | 86.4% |
The federal income tax on $30,000, bracket by bracket
No single rate is applied to a whole salary federally. The $16,100 standard deduction is subtracted before anything else, and on $30,000 that is 53.7% of the pay — enough that a large part of this salary never meets a bracket at all. What is left, $13,900, is then cut across two bands, and only the topmost cut is charged at 12%.
| Federal band | Rate | Income taxed here | Tax from this band |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 – $12,400 | 10% | $12,400 | $1,240 |
| $12,400 – $50,400 | 12% | $1,500 | $180 |
| Total | $13,900 | $1,420 |
Federal tax on $30,000 totals $1,420, which is 4.7% of gross pay even though the top band reached is 12%. The gap between those two numbers is the whole point of a graduated system.
The Arizona income tax on $30,000, worked out
Arizona has one rate, 2.5%, and no ladder to climb. It subtracts $15,750 first, leaving $14,250 of Arizona taxable income, and charges the same rate on every dollar of it.
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | $30,000 |
| Less what Arizona subtracts first | −$15,750 |
| Arizona taxable income | $14,250 |
| Arizona rate, on all of it | 2.5% |
| Arizona income tax | $356 |
Arizona income tax on $30,000 totals $356, 1.2% of gross pay. The only gap between that share and the 2.5% headline is the $15,750 subtracted above.
What applies to you at $30,000, and what does not
Maxing a 401(k) is not realistic at $30,000
The 2026 elective deferral limit is $24,500, which is 81.7% of a $30,000 salary. Nobody at this income is hitting it, and the advice to "max out your 401(k)" is written for a salary several rungs up this ladder. What is worth knowing is the rate: every dollar you do defer comes off at 12% federally plus 2.5% in Arizona, so even a small contribution is bought at a real discount.
What Arizona's minimum wage keeps, and what $30,000 keeps
The minimum wage in Arizona is $15.15 an hour, which is $31,512 a year at forty hours a week. $30,000 is BELOW that: a full-time year at the Arizona minimum pays $1,512 more than this rung. Run the floor through the same engine and it keeps $27,106 of that $31,512 — 14.0% withheld — against 13.6% at $30,000. Both salaries sit low enough that the standard deduction is doing most of the work, which is why the two withholding shares are so close together despite the $1,512 between the salaries.
Effective Jan 1, 2026 (up from $14.70), CPI-indexed annually by the Industrial Commission of Arizona. Flagstaff ($18.35) and Tucson ($15.45) set higher local minimums.
The childcare credit rate that $30,000 buys you
Qualifying childcare costs earn a credit worth a percentage of the spend, on expenses of up to $3,000 for a single dependent and $6,000 where there are two or more. Which percentage you get depends on what you earn. At $30,000 it is 43.0%: you are on the first slide, where the rate drops a point for every $2,000 of income above $15,000. It levels off at 35.0% once income reaches $45,000, so a raise from here costs you a little of this credit on the way. It is a nonrefundable credit and none of the figures above include it: they model a filer with no dependents.
The federal tips and overtime break, and what Arizona does with it
The tips and overtime deductions described on this page are federal. On the state return Arizona treats them alike: it follows the federal tips and overtime deductions.
Arizona adopted full OBBBA conformity in HB 4168, signed June 13, 2026 as part of the FY2026 budget deal. It creates a mandatory individual income-tax subtraction for qualified overtime and tips under A.R.S. §43-1022, retroactive to tax year 2025 and applying to 2026 and forward. (Earlier standalone conformity bills were vetoed in early 2026; the budget resolved it.)
$30,000 is the bottom of this ladder
Nothing below this level is modelled here. Going up to $40,000 would add $7,785 a year, $649 a month, out of $10,000 of extra gross — 77.8% of the raise survives withholding, the highest keep rate anywhere on this page, because the bands down here are the cheapest ones.
Why Arizona's share of $30,000 is easier to work out than the federal share
Arizona has no bracket ladder to climb. One rate, 2.5%, applies to every taxable dollar, so unlike the federal schedule above there is no band edge anywhere near $30,000 and no step for a raise to fall over: the first taxable dollar and the last are charged identically, and the $356 of Arizona income tax on this salary is simply 2.5% of $14,250.
Arizona subtracts $15,750 before that rate touches anything, which is 52.5% of a $30,000 salary. That is the only thing on the state side that changes as you climb this ladder: the subtraction is a fixed number of dollars, so it covers a smaller share of pay at every rung, and the effective Arizona rate here — 1.2% of gross — creeps toward the 2.5% headline without ever reaching it.
Where Arizona ranks on $30,000
Run the same $30,000 through all fifty states and the District of Columbia and Arizona comes twelve from the top on take-home pay — 40 from the bottom — keeping $25,929. The jurisdictions immediately above it at this salary are South Carolina and New Mexico; immediately below are Washington and Ohio. North Dakota tops the table at $26,285, $356 more than Arizona on identical gross pay, and Oregon is last at $24,024. That ranking is specific to $30,000: flat-rate and graduated states change places as income rises, so Arizona's neighbours on this table are different at other salaries.
Where your next federal dollar lands
At $30,000 your next dollar falls in the second band up, a stretch of $38,000 — 3.1 times the run of the band below it. A raise here is about as cheap as a raise gets: the extra income is treated exactly like the income underneath it, all the way to the edge. You have $36,500 of taxable income left inside it, which is about $36,500 more salary before the next band starts taking a larger share of the extra.
The same $30,000 on the other filing statuses
Your filing status moves the standard deduction and stretches every federal band, and on $30,000 that is worth having: filing jointly on this same salary leaves $1,776 more in the year than filing single, and head of household $1,032 more. FICA does not move at all across the three: Social Security and Medicare are indifferent to who you are married to.
| Filing status | Federal tax | AZ income tax | Take-home a year | Share withheld |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single / Married filing separately | $1,420 | $356 | $25,929 | 13.6% |
| Married filing jointly | $0 | $0 | $27,705 | 7.6% |
| Head of household | $585 | $159 | $26,961 | 10.1% |
How this figure was computed
All of the figures on this page come out of the same open paycheck engine the Arizona calculator uses, run against the 2026 tax data file in this repository at build time — not typed in, not lifted from anyone else's table.
- Gross
- $30,000 a year, spread evenly: $14.42 an hour, $1,153.85 a fortnight.
- Federal
- 2026 brackets on $13,900 taxable (gross less the $16,100 standard deduction), Rev. Proc. 2025-32 → $1,420.
- FICA
- Social Security $1,860 on all of $30,000, under the $184,500 base. Medicare $435.
- Arizona
- 2.5% on $14,250 ($30,000 less the $15,750 Arizona subtracts first) → $356.
What this does not include
- What the figures do not touch. Pre-tax money of any kind — 401(k), HSA, FSA, health premiums — plus credits, dependants, itemising, non-wage income and the employer's own FICA share. Arizona levies no local wage income tax, so nothing is absent there.
- What is specifically live at $30,000. None of the following is in the take-home figure above, and all of it is real at this income: the Child and Dependent Care Credit, whose rate at this income is set by the §21 schedule described above.
A computed estimate, not tax advice. Your own W-4, benefits and credits move the number.
Frequently asked questions
What is the take-home pay on a $30,000 salary in Arizona?
About $25,929 a year for a single filer taking the standard deduction, after federal income tax of $1,420, Social Security of $1,860, Medicare of $435 and Arizona income tax of $356. In total 13.6% of gross pay is withheld.
$30,000 a year is how much a month, after tax, in Arizona?
$2,161 a month, $997.26 on a fortnightly cycle and $1,080.36 paid twice a month. Federally you are in the 12% bracket, and Arizona charges its single 2.5% rate, though neither applies to the whole salary.
Is a raise from $30,000 to $40,000 worth it after tax?
$7,785 more a year, $649 a month. That is 77.8% of the $10,000 raise; the rest goes to federal tax, FICA and Arizona withholding.
Is $30,000 a good salary in Arizona?
Context, not advice: it is below Arizona's median HOUSEHOLD income of $79,964, a figure that often covers two earners, so a single earner on $30,000 is not as far off the middle as that comparison suggests. Housing cost is not modelled anywhere here.
Will this match my actual paycheck?
Not exactly. It models a single filer on the standard deduction with no 401(k), no premiums and no dependents; your W-4 and benefits move it. Use the Arizona paycheck calculator for your own.
Sources
- Arizona: source for the state figures on this page
- Arizona: source for the state figures on this page
- IRS: 2026 inflation-adjusted tax brackets
- IRS: Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (2026 brackets, all statuses)
- Social Security Administration: Contribution and Benefit Base
- IRS: Topic no. 751, Additional Medicare Tax
Federal figures were last verified 2026-08-02.
Found an error? See our corrections log or contact us.