Yonkers, New York · 2026 tax year

Yonkers Resident Tax Guide

The plain-English guide to Yonkers’ 16.75% resident income tax surcharge — how it is calculated, what it costs at a real salary, and how it compares to New York City and the rest of New York State.

If you live in Yonkers, New York, your paycheck carries something most Americans never encounter: a city-level income tax. Yonkers is one of only a handful of cities in the United States with its own income tax — and it works differently from anywhere else in the state. This guide explains exactly how the Yonkers resident tax surcharge works, shows the real math for 2026, and compares take-home pay in Yonkers against New York City and the rest of New York State.

What Is the Yonkers Resident Tax Surcharge?

The Yonkers resident income tax surcharge is an extra local income tax charged to people who live in the City of Yonkers. It is not a separate set of tax brackets. Instead of building its own rate schedule the way New York City does (NYC has four graduated brackets from 3.078% to 3.876%), Yonkers takes a simpler approach: it piggybacks on your New York State tax bill.

The rule is straightforward:

Yonkers resident surcharge = 16.75% of your New York State income tax liability.

So whatever you owe New York State in income tax for the year, Yonkers adds 16.75% of that amount on top. If your state tax bill is higher, your surcharge is higher; if it is lower, your surcharge is lower. The surcharge is a resident tax — it is based on where you live, not where you work. Living in Yonkers but working in Manhattan, White Plains, or remotely from your kitchen table all trigger the same surcharge.

It is also worth knowing what the surcharge is not. It is not the same as New York City’s income tax, it is not a commuter tax, and it has nothing to do with Westchester County taxes. If you live elsewhere in Westchester County — say Scarsdale, White Plains, or New Rochelle — you do not owe the Yonkers surcharge at all.

How the Surcharge Is Calculated (2026)

The calculation has two steps. First, your New York State income tax is figured using the 2026 state rate schedule (rates from 3.9% to 10.9% for 2026, after the FY2026 budget cut the five lowest brackets by 0.1 percentage points). Second, Yonkers takes 16.75% of that state tax number.

Here is a fully worked example using verified 2026 figures for a single filer with no dependents, taking the standard deduction:

Single filer, 2026 standard deduction, no pre-tax deductions. State tax and take-home figures verified against our 2026 calculator on October 14, 2026.

To estimate the surcharge at any other salary, use the same formula: find your New York State income tax first, then multiply by 0.1675. The easiest way to get your state tax number is to run your salary through our free New York take-home pay calculator and read the state tax line in the breakdown — then apply the 16.75% yourself. Because the surcharge is a straight percentage of your state tax, it scales smoothly: earn more and owe more state tax, and the surcharge rises in lockstep.

One more thing the math reveals: the $487.99 annual surcharge on a $65,000 salary works out to roughly $18.77 less in every biweekly paycheck compared with living anywhere else in New York State outside Yonkers and New York City. That is the real, per-paycheck price of Yonkers residency.

Resident vs Nonresident: Which Rules Apply to You?

Yonkers has two different local tax rules, and which one hits you depends on the live-versus-work question:

If you are a Yonkers resident, the 16.75% surcharge is your rule — it follows you even if your job is in another city. If you are a nonresident who earns wages in Yonkers, the city instead imposes a 0.5% nonresident earnings tax on the wages you earn there. You never owe both on the same income. Note that our calculator currently covers full-year Yonkers residents; nonresident and part-year situations need a separate calculation.

Yonkers vs New York City vs Rest of New York State

How does Yonkers stack up? Here is the head-to-head for a single filer earning $65,000 in 2026, paid biweekly — all three figures verified against our 2026 calculator:

Three takeaways. First, Yonkers sits in the middle: about $18.77 per paycheck below the rest of the state (that is the surcharge at work), but about $61.39 per paycheck above New York City. Second, the NYC gap exists because New York City levies its own fully separate graduated tax — 3.078%, 3.762%, 3.819%, and 3.876% across four brackets — which bites harder than Yonkers’ 16.75%-of-state-tax formula at this income level. You can see the full NYC breakdown on our NYC vs New York State taxes page. Third, none of these local taxes exist outside these cities: live anywhere else in New York State and you keep the full $1,980.54.

For the bigger picture on how state brackets feed into all of this, see our New York income tax guide.

Frequently Asked Questions