We prove that the local A 1 -degree of a polynomial function at an isolated zero with finite separable residue field is given by the trace of the local A 1 -degree over the residue field. This fact was originally suggested by Morel's work on motivic transfers, and by Kass and Wickelgren's work on the Scheja-Storch bilinear form. As a corollary, we generalize a result of Kass and Wickelgren relating the Scheja-Storch form and the local A 1 -degree.