Key facts at a glance
Lowest kommunalskatt
28.93%
Österåker, 2026
Highest kommunalskatt
35.65%
Dorotea, 2026
Spread on 600,000 kr salary
28,278 kr/yr
≈2,356 kr/month difference
Here's the number before the mechanics: on an identical 600,000 kr gross salary, someone living in Österåker (kommunalskatt 28.93%) takes home 28,278 kr more per year, about 2,356 kr a month, than someone living in Dorotea (35.65%), purely because of where they're registered as resident. Nothing else about their income, job, or employer needs to differ.
The 32.38% figure you see quoted as Sweden's "national average" tax rate is exactly that, an average, and it papers over a real, meaningful 6.72 percentage-point spread across the country's 290 municipalities. Where you live inside Sweden matters just as much for your take-home pay as the country-level tax system does.
See your take-home pay at the national-average rate, then adjust for your municipality.
Open the Sweden calculatorWhy kommunalskatt varies so much by municipality
Kommunalskatt is set independently by each of Sweden's 290 kommuner (municipalities) and 21 regioner (regions), based on their own budget needs, population size and demographics, tax base, and cost of delivering local services like schools, elderly care, healthcare, and public transport. There's no central government-set rate, and no requirement that neighbouring municipalities charge similar amounts.
For the 2026 tax year, per Statistics Sweden (SCB), the combined municipal-plus-regional rate ranges from 28.93% in Österåker (a relatively affluent Stockholm-area municipality with a strong tax base) up to 35.65% in Dorotea (a small, sparsely populated municipality in northern Sweden with higher per-capita service delivery costs). Crucially, this is based on where you're registered as living (folkbokförd), not where you work, a genuinely common pattern is commuting into a higher-cost city for work while living, and paying tax, in a lower-rate municipality nearby.
Kommunalskatt across the scale, worked at 600,000 kr gross
Net figures apply each municipality's total 2026 kommunalskatt rate to a 600,000 kr/year salary after the 17,400 kr grundavdrag, less that municipality's own jobbskatteavdrag and the skattereduktion för förvärvsinkomst, and deduct the public service fee (no state tax applies at this income, since it sits below the 660,400 kr brytpunkt).
| Municipality | Total kommunalskatt | Net (annual) | Net (monthly) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Österåker (lowest) | 28.93% | 478,578 kr | 39,881 kr |
| Stockholm | 30.55% | 471,761 kr | 39,313 kr |
| National average | 32.38% | 464,060 kr | 38,672 kr |
| Malmö | 32.42% | 463,892 kr | 38,658 kr |
| Göteborg | 32.60% | 463,134 kr | 38,595 kr |
| Dorotea (highest) | 35.65% | 450,300 kr | 37,525 kr |
Municipal rates per Statistics Sweden (SCB) and Skatteverket, 2026 tax year. Run the national average through the Sweden Salary Calculator, then adjust using the rates above for your own municipality.
The gap scales up with income, it isn't a fixed amount
The Österåker-to-Dorotea gap is a 6.72-point rate difference, but the jobbskatteavdrag, which is proportional to your municipal rate, claws part of it back, so the kronor gap is smaller than the headline rates imply. Once the credit is at its maximum (from roughly 480,000 kr), every extra 100 kr of salary widens the gap by about 6.72 kr. At 400,000 kr/year, the gap is 16,155 kr/year (1,346 kr/month). At 600,000 kr/year, it's 28,278 kr/year (2,356 kr/month). At 800,000 kr/year, it widens to 41,718 kr/year (3,476 kr/month).
For a higher-earning household weighing where to live within Sweden, particularly two nearby municipalities with meaningfully different rates, this spread is genuinely worth running the actual numbers on rather than assuming a percentage-point difference doesn't add up to much in real kronor.
Residence, not workplace, decides your rate
Kommunalskatt follows where you're registered as living (folkbokförd) on 1 November of the previous year, not where your employer's office is or where you physically do your job. This is why commuting from a lower-tax neighbouring municipality into a higher-cost city for work is such a common, and entirely legitimate, pattern in Sweden.
If you're weighing where to register your residence within a metro area, for example around Stockholm, checking each candidate municipality's specific kommunalskatt rate on Skatteverket's published table is a genuinely useful, concrete step, not just a rounding consideration.
Model your own Swedish take-home pay
Get the national-average figure first, then adjust for your specific municipality's rate above.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does kommunalskatt actually vary across Sweden's municipalities?
By a real, meaningful amount. For 2026, per Statistics Sweden (SCB), the total kommunalskatt (municipal plus regional tax combined) ranges from 28.93% in Österåker, the lowest of Sweden's 290 municipalities, up to 35.65% in Dorotea, the highest. That's a 6.72 percentage-point spread on otherwise identical income, purely a function of where you're registered as living on 1 November of the previous year.
How much is the Österåker-to-Dorotea gap actually worth in kronor?
On a 600,000 kr/year gross salary, a household in Österåker keeps 28,278 kr more per year than an identical household in Dorotea, roughly 2,356 kr a month, purely from the municipal tax difference. It's less than the 6.72-point rate gap suggests because the jobbskatteavdrag is proportional to your municipal rate, so Dorotea's residents get a larger credit. At 800,000 kr/year the gap widens to 41,718 kr a year (3,476 kr/month).
Where do Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö fall on the scale?
All three sit close to the national average, but not identically. Stockholm's 2026 total rate is 30.55% (18.22% municipal + 12.33% regional), meaningfully below the 32.38% national average, one of the lower rates among major Swedish cities. Malmö sits just above the national average at 32.42%, and Gothenburg slightly higher still at 32.60%. None of the three big cities comes close to either extreme, Österåker's 28.93% or Dorotea's 35.65%, those extremes tend to sit in smaller, less populous municipalities.
Why does Stockholm have a lower tax rate than Gothenburg or Malmö?
Kommunalskatt is set independently by each municipality and region based on their own budget needs, population size, demographics, and local economic base, there's no central formula tying city size to tax rate. Stockholm's larger tax base and different cost structure for local services happen to produce a lower combined rate than Gothenburg's or Malmö's for 2026, but this isn't a fixed rule, relative rankings between cities can and do shift from year to year as municipal budgets change.
Can I choose which municipality I'm taxed in if I work in one city but live in another?
No, kommunalskatt is based on where you're registered as a resident (folkbokförd), not where you physically work. A common pattern is commuting into a city like Stockholm for work while living, and being taxed, in a lower-tax neighbouring municipality, this is a completely legitimate and common arrangement, not a loophole, since Swedish municipal tax has always been tied to residence rather than workplace.
Does this calculator use a specific municipality's rate, or the national average?
This site's Sweden Salary Calculator uses the 32.38% national average throughout, for simplicity and because it doesn't ask which municipality you live in. If your own municipality is meaningfully above or below the average, for example if you live in Österåker or Dorotea specifically, use this article's figures to manually adjust the calculator's result up or down for a more accurate personal estimate.
Does the spread between municipalities ever change from year to year?
Yes, municipalities and regions set (and can change) their rates annually, typically announced in November or December for the following tax year. The 2026 spread of 28.93% to 35.65% is very close to the 2025 range, but individual municipalities do adjust their rates most years, sometimes up, sometimes down, so a rate you read for a specific municipality is only current for the year it was published, always confirm the latest rate directly with Skatteverket before relying on it.