Payroll taxes

State employer payroll taxes for a first employee

· Last updated Nov 2026 · General information, not tax, legal, or insurance advice.

Short answer: a first W-2 employee anywhere in the United States costs the employer the same federal payroll taxes — Social Security, Medicare, and FUTA — plus that jurisdiction’s unemployment tax, and in some places a disability or paid-leave contribution. This index uses one consistent example ($20 an hour, 40 hours a week, $41,600 a year) and official 2026 sources so you can compare states without mixing wage assumptions. On that example, federal employer taxes are $3,224.40 everywhere; the state unemployment piece is what changes.

How to use this index

Each state page, and the District of Columbia page, walks through four first-hire items: the federal stack, that jurisdiction’s unemployment wage base and new-employer rate, whether state income tax must be withheld, any official disability or paid-leave program identified here, and the new-hire reporting deadline. Every page links the administering agency from the DOL directory of state unemployment tax agencies and a prefilled calculator at $20 an hour, 40 hours, and that state.

The dollar column in the table is employer FICA + net FUTA + official new-employer SUTA only. It leaves out workers’ comp, benefits, overtime, and any disability or paid-leave tax whose 2026 employer rate was not verified on an official page. Indiana already had a richer page in this series; this index points to that existing URL rather than replacing it.

2026 comparison at $20 an hour, 40 hours a week

SUTA totals use the official DOL new-employer rate and the official wage base. Seven jurisdictions (Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) are listed as an industry average in that table, so their SUTA dollars are omitted on purpose.

States with no income tax on wages

These jurisdictions do not levy a state personal income tax on wages, so a first-hire employer typically has no state income-tax withholding to set up: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming. Confirm current rules on each official state tax site. Federal withholding still applies, and unemployment tax still applies.

Disability and paid-leave programs noted in this series

Official programs are described, with agency links, on the pages for California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington. Those pages do not invent an employer-share dollar amount unless a 2026 rate was verified on the official site. If a program is not listed for your state, check the agency notice rather than assuming none exists.

Shorter new-hire reporting deadlines

Federal law requires a new-hire report within 20 days unless the state requires it sooner. Official ACF matrix deadlines shorter than 20 days in this series: Alabama (7 days), Georgia (10 days), Iowa (15 days), Maine (7 days), Massachusetts (14 days), Mississippi (15 days), Rhode Island (14 days), Vermont (10 days), West Virginia (14 days). Maryland’s official matrix extract checked for this series did not clearly restate a day count, so that page tells you to confirm the current deadline instead of guessing.

What none of these pages include

Workers’ compensation is insurance, not a payroll tax. See workers’ comp for a first employee. For the week-by-week federal pattern at this same wage, see payroll taxes on a $20-an-hour employee. For the filing checklist, see paperwork to hire your first employee.

Frequently asked questions

Federal figures were checked against 2026 IRS Publication 15 and IRS Topics 751 and 759 in November 2026. State unemployment wage bases and new-employer rates come from the U.S. DOL January 2026 Significant Provisions table. New-hire reporting deadlines come from the official ACF State New Hire Reporting matrix. Confirm the rate on your unemployment insurance notice, and confirm current withholding, disability, and paid-leave rules with the linked state agencies before you hire.