Bowling Green local tax
On $60,000 of wages, working in Bowling Green costs $1,200 a year in local occupational fees.
Levy by levy
Each levy is applied at its own wage cap. Adding the rates together and applying them once would give a different, wrong answer wherever the caps differ.
| Levy | Rate | Wages it applies to | Annual amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowling Green occupational fee | 2% | $60,000 | $1,200 |
| Total | $1,200 |
How Bowling Green and Warren County interact
The county fee does not reach inside the city limits at all. There is nothing to credit, because the county never levies on this worker — which is a different thing from a credit, and modelling it as a stack would over-charge every city worker by the full county rate.
- Warren County is explicit that its 1% fee and the city fee "cannot be charged on the same dollar earned, you pay either/or based on where the work is being performed"; the county 1% reaches only "within Warren County, outside the city limits of Bowling Green".
- The county's own 1% therefore does NOT appear in the levies above for someone working inside Bowling Green.
- The Warren County SCHOOLS levy of 0.5% is NOT included above. It is gated on residence in the Warren County School District, not on residence in Bowling Green -- and the city is served largely by the separate Bowling Green Independent School District. KRS 160.611 and the district ordinance forbid collecting it from a non-resident of the levying district, so most Bowling Green city residents do not owe it.
- Bowling Green addresses in outer, later-annexed parts of the city DO fall in the Warren County School District and owe that 0.5% (live in the district and work in Bowling Green or Warren County, no wage cap). A city name alone cannot tell those addresses apart, so this estimate leaves the levy out rather than charging it to everyone.
- No Bowling Green Independent School District occupational tax was found; Warren County's own local-tax sheet enumerates only three for the area -- county 1%, city 2%, county schools 0.5%.
Warren County's own occupational fee does not reach inside Bowling Green's city limits, so it is not owed on wages earned there.
Source: Warren County — Bowling Green/Warren County Local Occupational Taxes, verified 2026-08-22.
Bowling Green local tax: common questions
How much local tax do I pay working in Bowling Green?
On $60,000 of wages, $1,200 a year if you live in Bowling Green. That is a single levy, and each is capped at its own wage base rather than sharing one — which is why the total is not simply the rates added together.
Does Warren County charge on top of Bowling Green?
The county fee does not reach inside the city limits at all. There is nothing to credit, because the county never levies on this worker — which is a different thing from a credit, and modelling it as a stack would over-charge every city worker by the full county rate.
Is this the same as Kentucky state income tax?
No. This is a local occupational licence fee, levied by the city, county or school board, and it is separate from Kentucky's state income tax. It is also not waived by Kentucky's reciprocity agreements with neighbouring states — Form 740-NP-R, the reciprocal-state refund return, instructs "Do not include local tax withheld."