Stacks — no credit
Covington, Newport, Florence, Georgetown, Nicholasville
2026 Kentucky local estimate
Kentucky local occupational tax calculator
Kentucky is the state where local wage levies genuinely stack — city, county and school board, all on the same dollar. On $60,000 of wages, a resident working in Newport owes $2,125 in local fees alone — an effective 3.54%.
Local fees on $60,000 of wages
Sorted by what a resident owes. The commuter column drops any levy that turns on residence rather than work location — mostly school board fees.
| City / county | How they interact | Resident owes | Commuter owes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NewportCampbell County | Stacks — no credit | $2,125 | $2,125 |
| FlorenceBoone County | Stacks — no credit | $2,005 | $1,705 |
| CovingtonKenton County | Stacks — no credit | $1,890 | $1,890 |
| GeorgetownScott County | Stacks — no credit | $1,500 | $1,200 |
| NicholasvilleJessamine County | Stacks — no credit | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| AshlandBoyd County | County fee stops at the city line | $1,425 | $1,425 |
| LexingtonFayette County | Merged city-county government | $1,350 | $1,350 |
| LouisvilleJefferson County | Merged city-county government | $1,320 | $870 |
| PaducahMcCracken County | County credits the city fee | $1,200 | $1,200 |
| Bowling GreenWarren County | County fee stops at the city line | $1,200 | $1,200 |
| RichmondMadison County | County fee stops at the city line | $1,200 | $1,200 |
| ElizabethtownHardin County | County fee stops at the city line | $1,170 | $1,170 |
| HopkinsvilleChristian County | No county fee found | $1,170 | $1,170 |
| OwensboroDaviess County | County fee stops at the city line | $1,068 | $1,068 |
Three mechanisms, not two
It is tempting to assume a county either credits the city fee or stacks on top of it. Kentucky has a third case, and it is the one that produces wrong numbers: in several counties the county fee simply does not reach inside the city limits, so there is nothing to credit. Treating that as a stack over-taxes every city worker in those counties.
County credits the city fee
Paducah
County fee stops at the city line
Bowling Green, Owensboro, Richmond, Ashland, Elizabethtown
Every jurisdiction
Each page shows that city's levies one by one, each at its own wage cap, with the source it was read from.
Every Kentucky occupational tax district
The 167 districts on file with the Secretary of State under KRS 67.766, from 0.15% to 3%. This is the rate each district levies on its own; it is not a total, because a city, its county and a school board can each levy on the same wages. The 14 cities above are the ones where that stacking has been worked out in full.
| District | Rate on wages | Wage cap |
|---|---|---|
| Adair County | 0.5% | None |
| Adairville | 1.5% | None |
| Alexandria | 1.5% | $184,500 |
| Ashland | 2.375% | None |
| Bardstown | 1% | None |
| Beattyville | 1% | None |
| Benton | 0.5% | None |
| Berea | 2% | None |
| Boone County Fiscal Court | 0.8% | $79,494 |
| Boone County Mental Health, Retardation/Aging | 0.15% | $16,666 |
| Boone County School Board | 0.5% | None |
| Bourbon County | 1.25% | None |
| Bowling Green | 2% | None |
| Boyd County | 1% | None |
| Boyle County | 1.25% | None |
| Breathitt County | 1% | None |
| Bromley | 1% | None |
| Brooksville | 1.75% | None |
| Brownsville | 1% | None |
| Butler County | 1% | None |
| Caldwell County | 1.5% | None |
| Calvert City | 0.5% | $65,000 |
| Camargo | 2% | None |
| Campbell County | 1% | $184,500 |
| Campbellsville | 1% | None |
| Carlisle | 1% | None |
| Carter County | 1% | None |
| Catlettsburg | 1.5% | None |
| Cave City | 1% | None |
| Clarkson | 1.2% | None |
| Clinton County | 1.25% | None |
| Coal Run Village | 1% | None |
| Cold Spring | 1% | $184,500 |
| Corbin | 1% | None |
| Covington | 2.45% | $184,500 |
| Crescent Springs | 1% | None |
| Crestview Hills | 1.15% | $184,500 |
| Crittenden County | 1.5% | None |
| Cynthiana | 1.5% | None |
| Danville | 1.25% | None |
| Daviess County Fiscal Court | 0.35% | None |
| Dayton | 2.5% | None |
| Earlington | 1.5% | None |
| Edgewood | 1% | None |
| Edmonton | 1.5% | None |
| Elizabethtown | 1.95% | None |
| Elsmere | 1.75% | None |
| Erlanger | 1.5% | None |
| Estill County | 2% | None |
| Fayette County Public School District | 0.5% | None |
| Flemingsburg | 1% | None |
| Fordsville | 1.25% | None |
| Fort Mitchell | 1.25% | None |
| Fort Thomas | 1.25% | None |
| Fort Wright | 0.99% | $184,500 |
| Frankfort | 1.95% | None |
| Franklin | 1% | None |
| Franklin County | 1% | None |
| Gamaliel | 1% | None |
| Garrard County | 2% | None |
| Georgetown | 1% | None |
| Glasgow | 1.75% | None |
| Grant County | 2.5% | None |
| Greensburg | 1% | None |
| Guthrie | 1% | None |
| Hancock County | 1.25% | None |
| Hardin County Industrial Tax District | 1% | None |
| Harrodsburg | 1.5% | None |
| Hartford | 1% | None |
| Hazard | 1.25% | None |
| Hickman | 1.5% | None |
| Hickman County | 1% | None |
| Highland Heights | 1.5% | $184,500 |
| Hillview | 1.8% | None |
| Hodgenville | 1% | None |
| Hopkins County | 0.5% | None |
| Independence | 1.25% | None |
| Irvington | 3% | None |
| Jackson | 3% | None |
| Jackson County | 1% | None |
| Jeffersontown | 1% | None |
| Jessamine County | 1% | None |
| Johnson County Fiscal Court | 0.5% | None |
| Knox County | 1% | None |
| Lakeside Park | 1% | None |
| Laurel County | 1% | None |
| Lebanon | 1% | None |
| Lebanon Junction | 0.5% | None |
| Leitchfield | 1.2% | None |
| Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government | 2.25% | None |
| Livingston County | 1% | None |
| Logan County | 0.75% | None |
| Louisville Metro (resident, includes school board) | 2.2% | None |
| Ludlow | 2% | None |
| Lyndon | 1% | None |
| Madison County | 1% | None |
| Madisonville | 2.5% | None |
| Marion | 1.5% | None |
| Marion County | 1% | None |
| Marshall County | 1% | $65,000 |
| Marshall County Occupational License Tax For Schools | 0.5% | None |
| Martin County Fiscal Court | 2% | None |
| McCracken County | 1% | None |
| McCreary County | 1.5% | None |
| McKee | 1% | None |
| McLean County | 1% | None |
| Mercer County | 1% | None |
| Metcalfe County | 1.6% | None |
| Midway | 2% | None |
| Millersburg | 1% | None |
| Monroe County | 1% | None |
| Montgomery County | 2% | None |
| Morehead | 1.5% | None |
| Morgantown | 2% | None |
| Mt. Vernon | 1% | None |
| Nicholas County | 1% | None |
| Nicholasville | 1% | None |
| Nortonville | 1% | None |
| Oak Grove | 1.5% | None |
| Owensboro | 1.78% | None |
| Owenton | 1% | None |
| Paintsville | 1.25% | None |
| Paris | 1.5% | None |
| Park Hills | 1.5% | None |
| Perry County | 1% | None |
| Perryville | 1% | None |
| Pike County | 1% | None |
| Pineville | 1.5% | None |
| Powell County | 1% | None |
| Prestonsburg | 1.5% | None |
| Pulaski County | 1% | None |
| Raceland | 1.5% | None |
| Richmond | 2% | None |
| Robertson County | 1.5% | None |
| Rockcastle County Fiscal Court | 1.5% | None |
| Rowan County | 1.5% | None |
| Russell | 1.5% | None |
| Russellville | 2% | None |
| Ryland Heights | 1% | None |
| Salem | 1% | None |
| Scott County | 1% | None |
| Scott County Public School District | 0.5% | None |
| Scottsville | 1.5% | None |
| Shepherdsville | 2% | None |
| Shively | 1.5% | None |
| Somerset | 0.6% | None |
| Southgate | 2.5% | None |
| Spencer | 0.8% | None |
| Springfield | 1.5% | None |
| Stanford | 0.65% | None |
| Taylor County | 1% | None |
| Taylor Mill | 2% | None |
| Todd County | 1% | None |
| Union County Fiscal Court | 0.5% | None |
| Vanceburg | 1% | None |
| Versailles | 1.5% | None |
| Villa Hills | 1.5% | None |
| Vine Grove | 2% | None |
| Warren County | 1% | None |
| Warren County Public Schools | 0.5% | None |
| West Buechel | 0.25% | None |
| West Liberty | 1% | None |
| Whitley County | 1% | None |
| Wilder | 2.25% | $184,500 |
| Wilmore | 2% | None |
| Winchester | 2% | None |
| Woodford | 1.5% | None |
A wage cap stops the fee once your wages pass it, so a capped district costs a high earner less than its rate suggests. Rates from the Kentucky Secretary of State - Occupational Tax Districts, filed under KRS 67.766, read 2026-08-17. Kentucky taxes stack: a city, its county and a school board can each levy on the same wages, and some counties credit the city fee against theirs. Only the single district selected here is applied, so a filer owing more than one is understated.
Kentucky local tax: common questions
Do I pay both city and county occupational tax in Kentucky?
In much of the state, yes — and this is the thing that surprises people. Kentucky local occupational license fees genuinely stack: a worker can owe a city fee, a county fee and a school board fee on the same dollar of wages. Boone County answers the question in as many words: there is no reduction or credit of one tax against the other, and both must be withheld. Campbell County says county withholding applies in addition to city withholding even where the county is not the collection agent for the city.
Doesn't Kentucky law require the county to credit my city fee?
It looks that way until you read the next subsection. KRS 68.197(7) does say a person paying both shall be allowed to credit the city fee against the county fee — but KRS 68.197(10)(a) removes that credit in any county whose fee was authorised by a public question approved by the voters, and (10)(d) makes that retroactive. Subsection (10) was enacted in 2005 after the Kentucky Supreme Court allowed Covington taxpayers exactly such a credit. Because the pre-1986 statute required a ratification election, most long-standing county fees fall into the no-credit bucket.
Why do some counties charge nothing inside the city limits?
Because their fee never reaches there. This is a third mechanism, distinct from both stacking and crediting: Warren County states that its fee and Bowling Green's cannot be charged on the same dollar earned — you pay one or the other based on where the work is performed. Madison County's fee applies only outside Richmond and Berea; Boyd County levies only in unincorporated areas; Hardin County has no county-wide fee at all. There is no credit involved because there is nothing to credit.
Is the fee based on where I work or where I live?
Where you work. KRS 68.197(2)(a) levies on wages earned "for work done and services performed or rendered in the county". The exceptions are school-board levies: the Boone County school board fee requires that you BOTH work in AND reside in the district, and Louisville's school board component is the difference between its 1.45% non-resident rate and its 2.2% resident rate.
Is there a cap on Kentucky occupational tax?
Often, and the caps differ per levy rather than applying to a combined rate — which is why they cannot be added into one percentage. Boone County is the clearest case: its county fee caps at $79,494 of wages (a maximum of $635.95 a year), its mental health levy at $16,666 (a maximum of $25), and its school board levy has no cap at all. Kenton County and several Campbell County levies cap at the Social Security wage base. Louisville and Lexington have no cap.
Which Kentucky cities are covered here?
14 city and county pairs, each read from the locality's own ordinance, form or published rate sheet on 2026-08-22. Kentucky has hundreds of taxing localities and this is not all of them. Owensboro and Daviess County are deliberately excluded: both rates are sourced, but whether the county fee reaches inside the city limits is not — and guessing wrong there changes the bill by the entire county rate.