How Danish municipal tax is calculated — and why it varies between municipalities
Denmark has 98 municipalities, and they do not levy the same tax. In 2026 the municipal income tax rate ranges from 23.39% in København to 26.30% in Svendborg, Vesthimmerland and Vordingborg. A spread of under three percentage points sounds modest, but on an ordinary salary it comes to several thousand kroner a year — and on top of it sit church tax, land tax and childcare fees, which the municipality also sets itself. This guide explains what the municipality decides, how the calculator computes its numbers, and what it deliberately leaves out.
What the municipality decides for itself
Four of the items that shape a Danish household's finances are set locally by the municipal council, not by parliament: • Municipal income tax (kommuneskat): a percentage of your taxable income. Across the 98 municipalities the average sits around 25.4%, with a median of 25.6%. • Church tax (kirkeskat): paid only by members of the Danish National Church. Rates run from 0.38% in Gentofte to 1.30% on Læsø. • Land tax (grundskyld): a per-mille rate on the land value of your home. This is where the relative spread is widest — from 3.1‰ in Frederiksberg to 17.7‰ in Varde, more than a fivefold difference. • Childcare fees for childminders, nurseries and kindergartens: set locally by the municipality, and they can differ by several hundred kroner per month per child. The state taxes — bottom-bracket, middle-bracket, top-bracket and top-top-bracket tax — are identical nationwide. They do not change when you move, which is why a municipal comparison can leave them out without distorting the difference between two municipalities.
How the calculator works
Municipal tax and church tax are not levied on your gross salary but on your taxable income. The calculator follows the same four steps the Danish tax authority does: 1. Labour market contribution (AM-bidrag): 8% is deducted from gross income. 2. Employment allowance (beskæftigelsesfradrag): 12.75% of income after AM-bidrag, capped at DKK 63,300. 3. Personal allowance (personfradrag): DKK 54,100 is deducted. 4. What remains is your taxable income. Municipal tax and church tax are charged as a percentage of that amount. Take a monthly salary of DKK 40,000, or DKK 480,000 a year. The 8% AM-bidrag comes to DKK 38,400, leaving DKK 441,600. The employment allowance is 12.75% of that, DKK 56,304, which falls below the DKK 63,300 cap. After the DKK 54,100 personal allowance, taxable income is DKK 331,196. On that DKK 331,196 you pay DKK 77,467 in municipal tax in København, where the rate is 23.39%. In Svendborg, at 26.30%, you pay DKK 87,105. The difference is DKK 9,638 a year for exactly the same salary and exactly the same work. If you are a member of the National Church, church tax is added on top — 0.8% in København, or DKK 2,650. Transfer income such as state education support, unemployment benefit and pensions is treated differently: neither AM-bidrag nor the employment allowance applies. The calculator accounts for this when you mark an income as transfer income, and it computes two household incomes separately, because the personal and employment allowances follow the individual rather than the household.
Church tax: the tax you can opt out of
Church tax is paid solely by members of the Danish National Church and is collected alongside municipal tax through your preliminary tax assessment. You are a member by default if you were baptised into the National Church, and you can leave by writing to your local parish office. The rate looks small next to municipal tax, but on the income in the example above it typically costs between DKK 1,300 and DKK 4,300 a year depending on the municipality. Over a working life that is a substantial sum. Note that the calculator always includes church tax in the total tax burden. If you are not a member, subtract it yourself when reading the result. The amount appears as its own line in the calculation details, so it is easy to find.
Land tax: levied on the land, not the house
Land tax is charged on the land value — the value of the ground itself, not the building standing on it. The rate is quoted in per mille (thousandths), not percent. The spread between 3.1‰ and 17.7‰ is the largest relative variation between Danish municipalities of any figure here. Land assessed at DKK 1,000,000 costs DKK 3,100 a year in Frederiksberg and DKK 17,700 in Varde. Land values are of course typically higher in Frederiksberg than in Varde, so the gap narrows in practice — but it does not disappear. In the calculator you must enter the land value, not the property value and not the purchase price. The three figures are rarely the same, and the difference can be large. You will find the land value in your property assessment at vurderingsportalen.dk. Property value tax (ejendomsværdiskat), levied on the total assessed value of the home, is a state tax with the same rate nationwide. It is therefore not part of the comparison.
Childcare is a municipal cost — and often the biggest difference
For families with young children, the difference in childcare fees often exceeds the difference in municipal tax. It is the item people most often overlook when comparing municipalities. The calculator uses each municipality's own monthly fees for childminders and nurseries (ages 0–2) and for kindergarten (ages 3–5), scaled up to annual amounts. You choose the type of care for the youngest children yourself, because a childminder and a nursery rarely cost the same within a given municipality. Children aged 6 and over are not included. After-school care fees vary too much by school district and module type for a single number to be honest. Be aware that sibling discounts, subsidised places and income-based fee reductions are not included. If you have several children in care at once, or your household income falls below the subsidy threshold, your actual cost will be lower than the calculator shows. This holds in every municipality, so the difference between two municipalities remains roughly right. A few municipalities have not published a fee for every type of care. Those items are left out of the calculation rather than guessed.
What the calculator leaves out
The calculator compares the items that actually change when you move municipality. It is not a full tax calculation, and it does not replace your preliminary or annual tax assessment. The following are not included: • Bottom-bracket, middle-bracket, top-bracket and top-top-bracket tax — state taxes, identical nationwide. • Property value tax — a state tax, levied on the property value rather than the land value. • Interest deductions, commuting deductions, union fees and other personal allowances. • Pension contributions, ATP and employer-funded schemes. • Sibling discounts, subsidised childcare places and income-based fee reductions. • Tax rebates and deferral schemes attached to the housing taxes. Because the omitted items are identical regardless of municipality, they do not affect the difference between two municipalities. They do mean the total the calculator shows is lower than your actual total tax. Use the figure to compare, not to budget.
Sources and updates
The municipal rates — income tax, church tax, land tax and childcare fees — come from Nøgletal.dk, run by the Danish Ministry of the Interior and Health. The personal allowance of DKK 54,100, the employment allowance of 12.75% capped at DKK 63,300, and the 8% labour market contribution are set in national law and apply countrywide for the 2026 income year. They can be looked up at skat.dk. Municipalities set their rates when they adopt their budgets in the autumn, and we update the site once the new figures are published. If you find a rate that does not match your municipality's, we would like to hear from you at kommuneskat@kommuneskat.dk. We correct errors and publish the correction so others benefit from it too.
The rates on this page apply to the 2026 income year and will be updated when the municipalities adopt their 2027 budgets.