What payroll taxes does a North Carolina employer pay?

Employers pay the employer half of FICA (6.2% Social Security up to $168,600 and 1.45% Medicare on all wages), federal FUTA (0.6% effective on the first $7,000), and North Carolina state unemployment insurance (SUI) on the first $31,400 of wages at the employer's assigned rate.

What is North Carolina's SUI wage base and rate?

For 2024 North Carolina's unemployment insurance taxable wage base is $31,400 per employee. New employers are assigned a 1.0% rate, while experienced employers receive a rate from roughly 0.06% to 5.76% based on their layoff history. SUI is paid by the employer only.

How is FUTA calculated?

Federal unemployment tax (FUTA) is 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages, but employers in states that pay SUI timely receive a 5.4% credit, making the effective FUTA rate 0.6%, or $42 per employee per year. North Carolina is a credit-eligible state.

Does North Carolina have a state disability or PFML payroll tax?

No. Unlike states such as California or New York, North Carolina does not levy a state disability insurance (SDI) or paid family and medical leave (PFML) payroll tax. The main state employer tax is SUI, so this tool omits SDI/PFML for North Carolina.

Is this the full cost of an employee?

No. This covers statutory payroll taxes only. The total cost of an employee also includes wages, benefits, workers' compensation insurance, and any retirement match. Use this to size your tax burden, then add benefits for a full loaded-cost figure.

North Carolina Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

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Employing staff in North Carolina carries payroll taxes beyond wages: the employer share of FICA, federal unemployment tax (FUTA), and North Carolina state unemployment insurance (SUI). This calculator adds them up per employee and across your headcount.

How it works

Each tax has its own wage base. Per employee:

employer FICA = 6.2% × min(wage, $168,600)   ← Social Security
              + 1.45% × wage                  ← Medicare (no cap)
FUTA          = 0.6% × min(wage, $7,000)      ← effective after state credit
NC SUI        = SUI rate × min(wage, $31,400) ← North Carolina wage base

The new-employer SUI rate in North Carolina is 1.0 percent; experienced employers get a rate set by their claims history. North Carolina has no state disability or paid-leave payroll tax, so those are omitted. Multiply the per-employee total by your headcount for the full burden.

Example

For one employee earning $50,000: employer FICA is 6.2% of $50,000 ($3,100) plus 1.45% ($725) = $3,825; FUTA is 0.6% of $7,000 = $42; SUI at 1.0% of $31,400 = $314. Per-employee payroll tax is about $4,181, or roughly 8.4 percent of wages.

Notes

This covers statutory payroll taxes only — not wages, benefits, workers’ compensation, or retirement match. The Social Security and SUI bases cap the taxable wage, while Medicare has no cap. Your real SUI rate depends on your experience rating; verify your assigned rate with the North Carolina Division of Employment Security and confirm federal figures at irs.gov.