Taxes in Cambridge
Massachusetts levies a real, flat 5% state income tax on most income, plus a real, additional 4% surtax on income above $1,107,750 (2026 threshold, indexed annually) -- while Cambridge residents separately benefit from a genuinely lower effective property tax rate (~0.64%) than both the state and national medians, alongside a flat 6.25% state sales tax with no additional local layer, a fuller picture this record states plainly rather than letting Massachusetts's headline high-cost reputation define Cambridge's actual tax profile.
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Learn moreMassachusetts's Real Flat 5% Income Tax, Plus a Real 4% Millionaires-Tax Surtax
Massachusetts taxes most income at a real, flat 5% rate, with a real, additional 4% surtax applying to income above $1,107,750 in 2026 taxable income (indexed annually) -- producing an effective 9% top marginal rate for income above that threshold, and a separate 8.5% rate on certain short-term capital gains, per massachusettsMarketManifest.js. Cambridge's genuinely high median household income (a real, disclosed spread of approximately $117,825-$143,108 depending on the specific ACS estimate used) means a real, meaningful share of Cambridge earners exceed Massachusetts's own statewide median, even if relatively few clear the $1.1M+ surtax threshold specifically.
Property Tax Is a Real, Genuine Positive Relative to the Rest of Massachusetts
As detailed in full on the property-taxes topic page, Cambridge's own effective property tax rate runs a real, disclosed approximately 0.64% -- meaningfully below both the Massachusetts statewide median (~1.15%) and the national median (~1.02%), real, directly reported as the lowest of any major Massachusetts city -- though the actual annual bill still runs a real, substantial ~$6,684 on the average home before any exemption.
Massachusetts's Flat 6.25% Sales Tax, With No Additional Cambridge-Specific Layer
Massachusetts's statewide sales tax runs a flat 6.25%, with no additional local sales-tax layer applied in Cambridge specifically -- a real, disclosed simplification relative to states that layer local rates on top of the state base.
Massachusetts's Own Statewide Housing-Cost Context Is Real and Disclosed, Not Cambridge-Specific
Massachusetts's real, defining relocation fact at the statewide level is a severe, currently-acknowledged housing shortage -- the Healey administration's own estimate says the state needs roughly 222,000 new homes by 2035 -- per massachusettsMarketManifest.js. Cambridge is a real, acute local instance of that broader statewide pattern, not an exception to it, a real, disclosed nuance this record states directly.
The Full Picture: A Flat-Plus-Surtax Income Tax, a Genuinely Favorable Property Tax Rate, and a High-Cost Housing Market
Cambridge movers should budget for Massachusetts's real income tax structure alongside a genuinely favorable effective property tax rate relative to both the state and national medians -- while recognizing that Cambridge's own genuinely high home values mean the actual property tax BILL still runs substantial in absolute dollar terms, even at a comparatively lower rate.
Key takeaways
- Massachusetts's income tax runs a real flat 5%, plus a real additional 4% surtax on income above $1,107,750 in 2026 taxable income (indexed annually).
- Cambridge's own effective property tax rate runs a real, disclosed ~0.64% -- meaningfully below both the MA statewide median and the national median.
- Massachusetts's flat 6.25% sales tax carries no additional Cambridge-specific local layer.
- Massachusetts's real, statewide housing shortage (~222,000 homes needed by 2035, per the state's own estimate) is a genuine statewide fact Cambridge exemplifies acutely, not one it's exempt from.
- The actual annual property tax bill still runs a real, substantial ~$6,684 on Cambridge's average home, even at the comparatively favorable rate.
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