So, after years of hard work and sacrifics you broke into the big league, and now you’re a professional athlete.That’s amazing! However, I hate to be the bearer of some bad news: Uncle Sam is now your biggest fan… (Other than that 400-pound bearded guy in Philadelphia)
Why? Not only do you owe over a third of your income in federal taxes, but you also owe additional taxes for many of those states (and some cities) that you played in.
This traveling tax burden is commonly called the jock tax, and is about as popular as jock itch with athletes, musicians, entertainers, and others who perform in other states.
Despite the nickname, the jock tax is not a special tax that applies only to athletes. The jock tax is essentially the ordinary nonresident income tax applied to the portion of a person’s compensation earned while working in another state.
Athletes receive most of the attention because their schedules, salaries, and work locations are unusually public. But touring musicians, actors, comedians, coaches, trainers, broadcasters, race-car drivers, and other traveling performers can face similar rules.
Here’s everything you should know about the jock tax, including how it works, who pays it, how it’s calculated, best and worst states, and a brief history.
Jock tax: What is it? | Calculators | History | By state | College NIL | Musicians
What is the Jock Tax?
The jock tax is a state or local income tax imposed on money earned while an athlete or entertainer is working in a jurisdiction where they do not live.
So, a Philadelphia Eagles player who lives in Pennsylvania may owe nonresident income tax after playing road games in California, New Jersey, New York, or other states with an income tax. The player may need to file a separate return in each of those states.
The same basic principle can apply when:
- A musician performs at several arenas during a national tour
- A comedian earns money from shows in multiple states (not funny!)
- An actor works temporarily at an out-of-state filming location
- A coach, trainer, or team employee travels with a professional team
- A college athlete attends a paid NIL appearance in another state
New Jersey, for example, specifically warns that nonresident athletes, entertainers, media consultants, workers, and others participating in events there may have New Jersey income-tax obligations.
The jock tax is therefore not really a separate tax at all. It is a memorable name for the complicated way states tax highly mobile workers including athletes and performers.
Jock Tax Calculator: Rates by State & City
We made a calculator to see the jock tax (top nonresident income-tax rate) by state plus significant additional taxes for major cities:
JOCK TAX RATE BY STATE
Choose a state to view its top nonresident income-tax rate and additional taxes charged by major sports cities.
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Major city taxes to know
Rates last updated: July 2026
Disclaimer: This tool is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. It displays top marginal rates for states and selected major-city taxes only, and does not account for other variables that determine individual tax rates.
Jock Tax Calculator: How Much is Owed?
Want to estimate how much a pro athlete owes a specific state?
We made a jock tax calculator. You’ll need to know their salary and how many duty days they played or “worked” in your state. (You can estimate about 200 duty days per year for most pro sports)
JOCK TAX CALCULATOR BY STATE
Select a state, then enter salary, days worked, and duty days per year to estimate the state jock tax owed.
Important: This calculator is for entertainment purposes only and provides a simplified estimate using only the state income-tax rate, although there are other important factors to determine the specific jock tax owed!
Jock tax example, the NY Mets Juan Soto earns about $50 million and has about 200 total duty days per year. If 20 of those duty days are spent working in California, the state might treat 10% of the player’s covered compensation ($5,000,000) as California-source income. So, Juan would owe the state a jock tax of about $665,000.
The basic annual jock tax formula is:
“Workdays in the state ÷ total workdays × taxable salary × state rate = jock tax“
Most states use some version of the duty-days method. (Pro athletes might have 160-250 duty days per year) Duty days may include more than the actual days that games are played. Depending on the state and league, duty days can include:
- Games
- Practices
- Training camp
- Team meetings
- Playoff preparation
- Certain travel days
- Promotional or team-related appearances
Here’s an important detail: A football player who arrives in California on Monday, practices all week, and plays on Sunday may accumulate several California duty days, not merely one game day!
Some places have used a “games-played” formula, taxing athletes based on games played there rather than total workdays. That can inflate the bill, especially in the NFL, where games are few but practices and meetings fill much of the season.
Jock tax fact: In 2015, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Cleveland’s games-played formula, ruling that it overstated former Bears linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer’s taxable income by counting one game as 5% of his season despite only about two workdays in the city.
Do Athletes Pay Taxes Twice on the Same Income?
Not really, although the jock tax can certainly feel like getting screwed twice! Here’s how it works:
An athlete’s home state usually taxes all of their income, while states visited during the season tax the portion earned there. The home state often gives a credit for taxes paid elsewhere, but it is not always a perfect wash, as higher rates and local taxes can still leave a bigger bill.
That is why signing with a team in Florida or Texas does not eliminate state jock taxes altogether. Home games may be more tax-friendly, but road games in places like California or New York still come with their own tax tab.
Michael Jorday: Origin of the Jock Tax
States taxed some visiting athletes before the 1990s, but the modern jock-tax boom is usually tied to Michael Jordan and the 1991 NBA Finals. After California taxed Jordan and the Chicago Bulls for work performed during the series, Illinois fired back with a retaliatory rule nicknamed “Michael Jordan’s Revenge.”
Other states quickly saw the appeal: athletes were highly paid, easy to track, and working on public schedules. Their big, juicy salaries were public, travel dates were published, and television provided convenient proof of exactly where they worked.
As more states adopted similar rules, teams and players began needing accountants to track duty days, road games, bonuses, and credits for taxes paid elsewhere. Before long, the jock tax had spread across the country.
Jock tax fact: Michael Jordan did not invent the jock tax, but his 1991 championship run helped turn a scattered practice into a highly visible, and increasingly lucrative, source of state revenue.
Which States Have the Highest Jock Taxes?
There is no single national jock-tax rate, but California is the worst. Athletes generally face the income-tax rate and nonresident rules of the state in which they perform.
For highly paid athletes and entertainers, the states with the highest top individual income-tax rates are often the most painful. As of 2026, states with the highest jock tax rates include:
| State | Top state individual income-tax rate |
|---|---|
| California | 13.3% |
| Hawaii | 11% |
| New York | 10.9% |
| New Jersey | 10.75% |
| Oregon | 9.9% |
| Minnesota | 9.85% |
These are top marginal rates, not flat taxes on every dollar earned. The final bill depends on how much income is assigned to the state, along with deductions, filing status, withholding, and other details.
California gets the most attention because it combines the nation’s highest state rate with plenty of teams, venues, playoff games, concerts, and film work. A long playoff series, residency, or production can create far more taxable days than a quick road trip.
New York can also be expensive, especially once local taxes and extra filing requirements enter the picture. (source)
Idea: If you’re a fan in a state with a high jock tax, why not taunt visiting athletes by yelling, “you owe our state nonresident income tax!“ 😂
Which States Have No Jock Tax?
The most favorable states are those with no individual income tax on wages.
These include:
- Alaska
- Florida
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Washington State*
- Wyoming
As you can imagine, this can make teams located in states without individual income tax more attractive to free agents as a player with half of his regular-season games in a no-income-tax state will keep more of his home-game salary than a similarly paid player based in California.
So, an athlete’s salary does not tell the whole story of their income, as state and local taxes are also important factors!
Jock tax fact: A $20 million contract with a California team and a $20 million contract with a Florida team will probably result in very different take-home pay, even when the players follow similar road schedules.
Do Bonuses Count Toward the Jock Tax?
Sometimes.
Whether a signing bonus is allocated among states can depend on the wording of the contract and the state’s rules. A bonus may receive more favorable treatment when it is separately stated, guaranteed, and not dependent on playing games or performing services in a particular state.
Performance bonuses are more likely to be connected to an athlete’s work. Playoff bonuses, appearance fees, roster bonuses, and incentives can therefore complicate the calculation.
Endorsement income introduces another question: Where was the work actually performed?
A national shoe endorsement may not be treated exactly like team salary. However, a commercial shoot, autograph appearance, promotional event, or social-media production completed in a particular state may generate income sourced to that state.
The IRS similarly treats income from performances, endorsements, merchandise, royalties, and related activities as potentially taxable U.S.-source income for foreign athletes and entertainers performing in the country.
Does the Jock Tax Affect Musicians and Entertainers?
Yes. A touring musician may owe tax in multiple states based on concert income earned at each stop.
Some states require venues or promoters to withhold part of a nonresident entertainer’s payment before the performer is paid. The definition of an entertainer can extend beyond the headliner to dancers, supporting performers, production workers, and setup crews.
Missouri, for example, requires withholding in certain situations involving visiting entertainers and professional athletes. Its rules can also affect organizations hosting those performances.
Foreign performers face another layer. A nonresident foreign artist or athlete earning U.S.-source income may be subject to federal withholding, sometimes at 30% of gross income unless a treaty or Central Withholding Agreement provides different treatment.
So when a British singer announces a 30-city American tour, the itinerary may look exciting to fans and slightly terrifying to the accounting department.
Do College Athletes Pay a Jock Tax on NIL Income?
Yes, college athletes can face their own version of the jock tax when they earn money from name, image, and likeness activities (NIL).
A student-athlete might owe jock taxes in other states by traveling for:
- Paid autograph signings & merch sales
- Sponsored appearances
- Commercial shoots
- Camps or clinics
- Social-media productions
- Exhibition events
The athlete’s home state may tax all income, while another state may tax the amount connected to services performed there. The IRS considers cash and non-cash NIL compensation, including merchandise and gift cards, generally taxable income.
A college quarterback accepting a free car, a paid appearance, and various national sponsorships may need professional tax help long before signing an NFL contract. Sorry, but this goes way beyond TurboTax!
Jock tax: Why are athletes singled out?
Technically, they are not. It’s just a narrow name for a broad tax, as any employee who works temporarily in another state can create a nonresident tax obligation.
Athletes are simply very easy visible:
- Their salaries are often public
- Their travel schedules are published months in advance
- Television proves exactly where they were working
- Teams have organized payroll departments
- The dollar amounts can be enormous
A traveling salesperson may spend three days working in another state without attracting much notice. When a quarterback earns $30 million and plays on national television, the state tax department does not need to conduct an elaborate investigation to know where he spent time.
The jock tax is controversial. Supporters argue that athletes use local stadiums, police services, roads, and other public resources and should pay tax where they earn their money. Critics argue that the system creates unreasonable compliance costs and targets visible workers who cannot easily hide where they perform.
Both sides have a point. Visiting athletes do earn income in those states, but preparing a stack of nonresident returns for each state is not anyone’s idea of an efficient tax system.
How many tax returns might a professional athlete file?
The highest-profile athletes may have to file tax returns in 10 or more states, along with city or local taxes where required. However, it depends on the league, schedule, home state, playoff appearances, international games, endorsement work, and local rules.
Consider that an NFL player will probably file fewer state returns than an NBA, NHL, or MLB player because the football schedule is only 17 games. In contrast, a baseball player can visit a long list of states over 162 games, and a touring musician could perform in 20 or 30 states during one tour.
Their accountants must track travel schedules, duty days, bonuses, endorsements, withholding, residency, and credits for taxes paid elsewhere. That’s a lot of work!
Jock Tax: Not Just for Athletes
The jock tax is not an extra penalty placed only on professional athletes. It is the regular system of nonresident taxation applied to people whose work happens to move from state to state, and whose salaries and schedules are very easy to find.
High-tax states such as California, New York, New Jersey, and Hawaii can take a noticeable share of income allocated there. States including Florida, Texas, Nevada, Tennessee, and Washington are generally more favorable because they do not impose a conventional income tax on wages.
For athletes, entertainers, touring crews, and even college stars earning NIL money, the lesson is simple: crossing a state line for work can also mean crossing into another tax return. The game may last three hours, but the paperwork has an impressively long season.
Do you have an opinion about the jock tax? Let us know with a comment below.
Jock Tax FAQs
The jock tax is state or local income tax charged to nonresident athletes and entertainers on money earned while playing, performing, or working in that jurisdiction.
Most states divide the athlete’s workdays in the state by total duty days for the season, then apply that percentage to covered compensation.
Athletes may owe tax in every state with an income tax where they perform services. States without a tax on wages generally do not impose a standard jock tax.
States without a broad individual income tax include Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. Washington does not tax ordinary wage income.
California is generally the most expensive because its top individual income-tax rate reaches 13.3%, the highest state rate in the country.
Yes. Musicians, actors, comedians, dancers, and other touring performers can owe nonresident tax in states where they earn performance income.
They can. Paid appearances, shoots, camps, and other NIL work performed outside an athlete’s home state may create nonresident state filing requirements.
California taxed Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls after the 1991 NBA Finals. Illinois retaliated against athletes from states taxing Illinois players, earning the nickname “Michael Jordan’s Revenge.”
Thanks for visiting NiftyTaxes.com! Written by Kevin McCormick