Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Canada has no state income tax, because it has no states. It has ten provinces and three territories, and each one charges its own income tax on top of the federal tax. On an $80,000 salary in 2026, the combined bill runs from $12,132 in Nunavut to $16,352 in Quebec, a gap of $4,220.
What if you meant the American states?
Then this page won’t give you the figures. Each US state sets its own rules, and we have no verified 2026 numbers for them. Any state’s revenue department publishes its own rates, and that’s where to check.
What we can do is show the Canadian equivalent, which is how the provinces stack up. One note on the word itself: provinces get their powers from the Constitution, while territories have powers delegated by Parliament. For the tax on your paycheque, the practical difference is small. Both take a cut.
How do provincial income tax rates compare?
You pay federal tax first and provincial tax second, both on the same taxable income. The federal brackets are the same across the country, so the differences between provinces come from the provincial part. Here are the ones whose 2026 rates we could confirm on official pages.
| Province or territory | Lowest rate | Top rate |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta | 8% | 15% |
| Ontario | 5.05% | 13.16% |
| Saskatchewan | 10.5% | 14.5% |
| Manitoba | 10.8% | 17.4% |
| Northwest Territories | 5.9% | 14.05% |
| Nunavut | 4% | 11.5% |
| Quebec | 14% | 25.75% |
British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island are missing on purpose. Their official sources disagree on some 2026 figures, and we won’t guess. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Yukon are left out of this table.
Which province takes the most from $80,000?
The first table says little on its own, because rates apply to slices of income and every province sets its own personal amount, and a low starting rate can be undone by low bracket limits further up. A real salary is the better test. We ran $80,000 of employment income through the income tax calculator, with no other income and no deductions.
| Province or territory | Income tax |
|---|---|
| Nunavut | $12,132 |
| Northwest Territories | $13,264 |
| Alberta | $13,733 |
| Ontario | $14,128 |
| Saskatchewan | $15,409 |
| Manitoba | $16,202 |
| Quebec | $16,352 |
The federal part is $9,243 everywhere except Quebec, which gets a federal abatement, so its federal share is $7,675 and its Quebec share is $8,677. Ontario’s figure includes the health premium, which is $750 at this income in our data.
Alberta comes in $395 below Ontario here. That’s the gap for this one salary, and it won’t hold at every income.
Put it in dollars a person feels. Take two friends who each earn $80,000, one in Iqaluit and one in Montreal. The Montreal friend pays $4,220 more income tax a year, which is about $352 a month, or roughly $162 per biweekly paycheque, before anyone compares rent or groceries.
What does this table leave out?
A lot. Income tax is one bill among several. CPP or QPP and EI come out of your pay too, and the amounts differ a little in Quebec, where the total for this salary is $5,935 against $5,570 elsewhere. Sales tax, property tax and housing costs vary far more than income tax does. The guide to GST, HST, PST and QST shows how sales tax changes from coast to coast.
Our numbers also assume one job and a single person. Add a spouse, children or an RRSP deduction and the order can change. The marginal tax rate calculator shows the rate on your next dollar in your province. Its Ontario result reads unusually high near $200,000, and we haven’t pinned down why, so don’t take it as a plain bracket rate.
Moving for tax reasons? The take-home pay calculator shows what lands in your account. That’s what you’d compare, along with rent and the cost of living.
Federal income tax and provincial income tax: how the two add up
A Canadian income tax bill is two layers on the same taxable income. The federal layer is the same across the country, and the provincial or territorial layer is the part a US-style state income tax would correspond to. On the $80,000 salary used above, the federal share is $9,243 in every province except Quebec.
Take the provincial layer out of the totals and you see what each place adds. Nunavut adds $2,889, Alberta adds $4,490 and Ontario adds $4,885, which includes its health premium. Those differences, and not the federal part, explain the gap between provinces.
The provincial rates in the first table are marginal rates, so they apply only to the slice of income inside each bracket. That is why a province with a higher top rate does not always take more tax from a middle salary. To see your own result, run your income through the income tax calculator for your province and compare it with the take-home pay figure.
Which return do you file, and where?
You file the tax for the province where you lived on 31 December, per the CRA. Move in November and the whole year goes to the new province.
Outside Quebec, one return goes to the CRA and covers both federal and provincial tax. Quebec runs its own tax administration, Revenu Québec, so Quebec residents file a separate provincial return. For a look at how one province works in detail, read our page on an Alberta tax return, or browse the taxes by province and territory hub.
The sources behind this page
Provincial rates for Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut come from the CRA‘s 2026 rates page and payroll tables. Quebec’s come from Revenu Québec and the CRA, and we treat the secondary Quebec items as unconfirmed. Results are our own calculator output for 2026, verified in September 2026. This is an independent guide, not linked to any tax authority.
Frequently asked questions
Does Canada have state income tax?
No. Canada has provinces and territories, and each charges its own income tax alongside the federal tax.
Do I file a separate return for my province?
Outside Quebec, no. One return to the CRA covers federal and provincial tax. Quebec residents also file with Revenu Québec.
Which province do I pay tax to if I moved this year?
The one where you lived on 31 December, according to the CRA.
Where can I find US state tax rates?
On each state's own revenue department site. We haven't verified any 2026 US figures, so this page doesn't quote them.