What payroll taxes does a North Dakota employer pay?

An employer pays a 6.2% Social Security match up to the annual wage base, a 1.45% Medicare match with no cap, federal FUTA, and North Dakota state unemployment insurance (SUI). North Dakota has no employer disability or paid-family-leave tax.

What is the effective FUTA rate?

FUTA is nominally 6.0% on the first $7,000 of wages, but employers who pay their state unemployment tax on time receive a 5.4% credit. That leaves a net effective rate of 0.6%, a maximum of $42 per employee per year.

What is North Dakota's SUI wage base and new-employer rate?

North Dakota charges SUI on roughly the first $45,100 of each employee's annual wages in 2025. New non-construction employers are typically assigned about a 1.09% rate; experienced employers receive a rate that can range from roughly 0.08% to 9.69% based on their account history.

Does North Dakota have an employer disability or paid leave tax?

No. Unlike California, New York, or Washington, North Dakota does not levy a state disability insurance (SDI) or paid family and medical leave (PFML) employer tax. Those lines are zero for North Dakota employers.

What is the true cost of a North Dakota employee?

It is the gross wage plus all employer payroll taxes. Because North Dakota has a high SUI wage base, the added employer tax can be roughly 8 to 9 percent of wages, before benefits, workers' compensation insurance, and overhead, which add more on top.

North Dakota Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

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Hiring in North Dakota costs more than the salary you quote. On top of wages, an employer owes matching Social Security and Medicare, federal unemployment tax, and North Dakota’s state unemployment insurance. This calculator adds all four to show the true cost of a North Dakota employee.

How it works

Four employer taxes are summed:

Social Security = 6.2%  × min(wages, 176,100)
Medicare        = 1.45% × wages                 (no cap)
FUTA (net)      = 0.6%  × min(wages, 7,000)
North Dakota SUI = your rate × min(wages, 45,100)

The Social Security match stops at the annual wage base. FUTA is effectively 0.6 percent after the 5.4 percent state credit, capping at 42 dollars per worker per year. North Dakota charges SUI on a high wage base — about 45,100 dollars in 2025 — so the SUI line is larger than in states with a low base. The default rate is the 1.09 percent assigned to new non-construction employers, but you can enter your own experience rate.

Example

For an employee earning 50,000 dollars, the employer pays 3,100 dollars Social Security, 725 dollars Medicare, 42 dollars FUTA, and about 492 dollars North Dakota SUI at 1.09 percent on the first 45,100 dollars — about 4,359 dollars total, roughly 8.7 percent of wages. The true cost of that employee is about 54,359 dollars before benefits.

Notes

This covers statutory payroll taxes only. Workers’ compensation insurance (in North Dakota, provided through WSI), health benefits, retirement matching, and overhead add further cost. Your exact North Dakota SUI rate is reassigned each year by Job Service North Dakota based on your account’s history. Verify federal figures at irs.gov and state figures at jobsnd.com.