The Albion guide
Albion city income tax, explained
Albion, the small Calhoun County city home to Albion College, charges 1% to residents and 0.5% to non-residents who work there. This calculator applies the exact rate.
Albion’s rate: 1% resident, 0.5% non-resident
Albion levies 1% on residents and 0.5% on non-residents who earn wages in the city. It’s the standard Michigan 1% structure, applied to wages, salaries and self-employment income, with Social Security excluded. The tax is a long-standing general-fund revenue source for the city.
The college town economy
Albion’s employment base is anchored by Albion College — its faculty, staff and student workers — plus healthcare, education, and a light industrial sector. College employees who work in the city have city tax withheld at the 1% resident rate (if they live in Albion) or 0.5% (if they commute from Albion Township, Marshall, Homer or the surrounding area). Student workers are subject to the same rules as anyone else.
What $42,000 looks like in Albion
At $42,000, single, one exemption, an Albion resident pays about $420 a year at 1%, on top of roughly $1,785 to the state. A non-resident commuter pays about $210. In biweekly terms that’s about $16 (resident) or $8 (commuter) per check. Small — but it’s exactly what a city-tax calculator is for.
Withholding and filing
Employers with Albion workers withhold the tax as a stub line. Wage earners rarely file. Self-employed residents pay quarterly, and annual returns follow the state spring calendar. The city’s treasury office administers the tax.
The regional comparison
Albion sits between Marshall and Battle Creek. Marshall has no city income tax; Battle Creek charges 1%. A worker comparing a job in Albion against one in Marshall sees the city line disappear entirely, while a Battle Creek offer brings its own 1%. The calculator’s city selector makes all three exact.
Hourly work and overtime in Albion
Albion’s economy — the college, healthcare, and light industrial work — includes a meaningful hourly workforce, and the city tax applies to every shift and overtime dollar at the flat 1% (or 0.5% non-resident). A manufacturing worker at $23/hour grosses $920 a week; the city takes $9.20 as a resident or $4.60 as a non-resident on top of federal and FICA. The hourly and overtime modes apply the rate automatically.
Self-employment in Albion
Self-employed Albion residents owe the 1% on net profit, paid quarterly with state and federal estimates. A small-business owner clearing $45,000 net owes about $450 a year to the city. Independent contractors based outside the city who work inside it owe the 0.5% non-resident rate on in-city earnings. The self-employment mode includes the city rate in the annual total.
A real check, broken down
Here is what one biweekly check looks like for an Albion resident at $44,000, single, no pre-tax deductions: gross $1,692, federal about $137, FICA about $129, Michigan about $59, Albion about $17. That nets roughly $1,350 per check, or about $35,100 a year. Add a 6% 401(k) and the federal, state and city lines all shrink together while FICA stays.
Retirees in Albion
For retirees living in Albion, Social Security is excluded from the city income tax. Pension income follows the retirement phase-in by birth year: workers born after 1945 see up to $67,610 of retirement income excluded in 2026. A retired Albion resident with only Social Security and a modest pension often owes very little to the city. The calculator applies the same exclusion logic.
The college town commute
Albion College’s campus sits inside the city limits, which means the faculty, staff and student workers at the college all have the city line withheld — at 1% if they live in Albion, 0.5% if they commute from Albion Township or beyond. Student wages are modest, so the line is a few dollars a check, but the principle is the same: the tax follows the physical work location. The hourly mode captures the true net for part-time student hours.
What to watch in the next tax year
Albion’s 1%/0.5% structure is long-settled and no rate change is on the books for 2026. What does move each year is the federal standard deduction and brackets, Michigan’s exemption amount, and the Social Security wage base — all read from the current MI-2026 data file. Re-run the page after the new year to pick up the refreshed figures.
Who should use this calculator, and how
This tool is for anyone who lives or works in Albion: residents who want the true net on their pay, commuters from Albion Township or Marshall, self-employed residents building quarterly estimates, and students and staff at the college comparing their part-time income. Enter your gross, frequency, filing status, exemptions and pre-tax amounts; the calculator returns the exact net per period with the Albion line shown separately from state and federal. Toggle residency to see the half-rate commuter case, or switch to Marshall to price the no-tax comparison across the county.
How Albion fits the state picture
Albion is one of 24 Michigan cities with a wage tax and one of the smallest by population. Its 1%/0.5% split is the most common structure in the state — the same shape used by Lansing, Jackson, Battle Creek and a dozen others. The distinctive feature is the college: Albion College’s campus sits inside the city limits, so a large share of local workers — faculty, staff and students — are subject to the line, which is why so many people search for Albion’s rate even though the city is small.
How to check your withholding is right
After your first paycheck, check the stub for a line labeled for Albion. If the line is missing and you live or work in the city, ask payroll to set up city withholding. If it’s there, compare against this calculator’s city line: it should match your gross, reduced by pre-tax deductions, times 1% (resident) or 0.5% (commuter). A small variance is normal around the exemption; a systematic difference is worth a call to the city’s treasury office.
Three Albion scenarios
A $44,000 resident nets about $35,100 a year with the 1% line; a $42,000 non-resident commuting from Marshall pays 0.5% on Albion wages, about $210 a year; and a $44,000 resident with a 5% 401(k) plus health premiums sees the city line shrink with the pre-tax base. Run all three through the calculator and each comes back with a different per-check number.
The full withholding stack in Albion
An Albion resident’s check comes out in four visible layers: federal progressive tax after the standard deduction; FICA at 6.2% and 1.45%; Michigan’s flat 4.25% on the state taxable base after the $5,900 exemption; and Albion’s 1% on the city base. Pre-tax 401(k) and health contributions reduce the federal, state and city lines together, while FICA is computed on wages net of health only. The calculator reproduces that ordering exactly, so the per-check figure matches a real stub within a few dollars.
How the calculator handles Albion exactly
Set city to Albion and residency to resident (or non-resident). Enter your gross, frequency, filing status, exemptions and pre-tax amounts. The tool applies Albion’s 1% (or 0.5%), Michigan’s 4.25%, FICA and federal brackets, and returns the exact net per period. Toggle to Marshall to see the same salary with no city line, or to Battle Creek to compare the other 1% city in the area.
What the tax funds and its stability
Albion’s 1%/0.5% structure has been in place for decades and remains a steady general-fund revenue source for streets, public safety and city services. No rate change is on the books for 2026. The contrast with non-taxing Marshall keeps the line a live factor in housing and job decisions across the county — and the residency toggle is the fastest way to price it.
The comparison worth running
The single most useful run on this page is Albion against Marshall. Enter the same salary twice, change only the city, and read the difference on the city line: roughly $440 a year on a $44,000 income. For a worker choosing between the two, that gap is real money every check, and it’s exactly what the city selector exists to show.
Albion’s small footprint means many of its workers commute from non-taxing townships. Keep the residency toggle honest — it’s worth half the city line.