Locum tenens take-home pay in New York, 2026
New York State takes roughly $18,762 from a $336,000 locum contract year. New York City takes a further $13,023 — but only if you live there. That distinction is worth more than most rate negotiations, and it is the single most useful thing on this page.
Figures below are produced by the same take-home calculator you can run yourself, with the inputs stated. Tax data last reviewed 3 August 2026.
The number, on a standard contract
MD/DO, $1,600 a day, 5 days a week, 42 weeks a year, single filer, no business expenses claimed:
| Line | Living outside NYC | NYC resident |
|---|---|---|
| Gross contract receipts | $336,000 | $336,000 |
| Self-employment tax | −$32,869 | −$32,869 |
| Federal income tax | −$75,156 | −$75,156 |
| New York State income tax | −$18,762 | −$18,762 |
| New York City income tax | $0 | −$13,023 |
| Cash you keep | $209,213 | $196,190 |
| Share of the headline rate you keep | 62.3% | 58.4% |
| Effective hourly, after everything | $124.53 | $116.78 |
NYC column modelled at 3.876%, the top city rate for a single filer.
The city tax is a residency tax, not a workplace tax
A locum who takes a thirteen-week assignment at a hospital in Manhattan while remaining domiciled in another state pays New York State income tax on the New York-sourced income and no New York City tax at all. The city taxes residents, not people who work inside its boundary. Getting this wrong in either direction is expensive: paying it when you do not owe it costs $13,023 a year, and assuming you escape it after moving into the city costs the same amount in the other direction.
New York State's 2026 schedule
| Taxable income over | Marginal rate |
|---|---|
| $0 | 3.90% |
| $8,500 | 4.40% |
| $11,700 | 5.15% |
| $13,900 | 5.40% |
| $80,650 | 5.90% |
| $215,400 | 6.85% |
| $1,077,550 | 9.65% |
| $5,000,000 | 10.30% |
| $25,000,000 | 10.90% |
Standard deduction $8,000 for a single filer. A full-time locum contract year lands in the 6.85% band, which begins at $215,400. New York's ladder starts higher than California's but climbs more gently through the range a locum actually occupies — which is why the state bill here is lower than California's despite New York's reputation.
New York City is the worst S-corp jurisdiction in the country
This is not a figure of speech. Two separate problems stack:
- New York State charges S-corporations a fixed-dollar minimum tax, payable regardless of profit.
- New York City does not recognise federal S-corporation status at all. An S-corp operating in the city pays the General Corporation Tax on the same income — the city taxes the entity as though the election had never been made.
The federal saving from an S-corp election is only 2.9% of the amount characterised as distribution rather than salary, once you are above the Social Security wage base. Against that, an NYC locum is paying corporate-level city tax on the entity's income, a state minimum tax, a payroll service, and a separate 1120-S return. The election does not merely underperform in New York City — it can leave you worse off than doing nothing.
Outside the five boroughs the state minimum tax still applies but the General Corporation Tax does not, which is a materially different calculation. The full S-corp analysis, with the arithmetic →
The QBI deduction will not rescue this either
Medicine is a specified service trade or business under IRC § 199A(d)(2)(A), and for 2026 the deduction phases out completely above $276,775 of taxable income for single filers. A full-time locum physician is above that. Forming a PLLC or electing S-corp status does not change it — the test is what the business does, not how it is organised.
New York against the states locums actually compare it to
| State | State + local tax | Cash you keep | Effective hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | $0 | $227,975 | $135.70 |
| New York (outside NYC) | −$18,762 | $209,213 | $124.53 |
| California | −$25,521 | $202,454 | $120.51 |
| New York City resident | −$31,785 | $196,190 | $116.78 |
New York State on its own is cheaper than California for a locum — $18,762 against $25,521. It is the city tax that moves New York from mid-table to last, and the city tax is the one line on this page you may be able to decide rather than accept.
A New York assignment outside the city needs to pay $11.17 an hour more than a Texas one to match it. For an NYC resident that rises to $18.92 an hour — about $9,800 on a 13-week 40-hour contract. All fifty states ranked after tax →
Run your own New York numbers
Your rate, your weeks, your expenses. If you are a New York City resident, put 3.876 in the optional local tax field — the calculator will add the city line.
Also worth reading before a New York assignment
- Quarterly estimated taxes — New York wants its own instalments on its own form, and New York City residents have a further obligation.
- How to read a locum contract — including where the assignment location is actually defined.
- Deductible business expenses — these reduce the state and city lines as well as the federal one.
Sources
- Internal Revenue Service, Revenue Procedure 2025-32 — 2026 federal brackets and standard deduction.
- Social Security Administration, 2026 COLA fact sheet — Social Security contribution and benefit base.
- Internal Revenue Service, Self-Employment Tax — IRC § 1401 and § 1402 treatment.
- Tax Foundation, 2026 State Income Tax Rates and Brackets, compiled from state revenue department schedules.
- Legal Information Institute, 26 U.S. Code § 199A — specified service trade or business definition.