🏛️ State Income Tax Comparison 2026

📖 Understanding State Income Taxes

Which States Have No Income Tax?

The following 9 states impose no state-level income tax on wages and salaries:

Note: New Hampshire previously taxed interest and dividend income at 5%, but this tax was fully repealed effective January 1, 2025. New Hampshire now has no state income tax of any kind. Tennessee's Hall Tax on investment income was phased out in 2021.

Flat vs. Progressive Tax Systems

Flat tax:

Progressive tax states (such as California at 1%–12.3% plus a 1% Behavioral Health Services Tax over $1M, New York at 4%–10.9%, and Hawaii at 1.4%–11%) use multiple tax brackets where higher portions of income are taxed at higher rates. The first dollars you earn are taxed at the lowest bracket rate, and only income above each threshold moves into the next bracket. Your effective tax rate (total tax ÷ total income) will always be lower than your top marginal bracket.

How State Taxes Interact with Federal Taxes

Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), the state and local tax (SALT) deduction on your federal return is capped at $10,000 ($5,000 for married filing separately). This means:

• You can deduct up to $10,000 of combined state income taxes (or state sales taxes) and property taxes on your federal Schedule A.
• If your state tax bill exceeds ~$10,000, you cannot deduct the excess on your federal return, raising your overall tax cost in high-tax states.
• Residents of no-tax states (TX, FL, etc.) effectively benefit twice: no state tax bill, and no SALT cap limitation.
• State income tax payments are deductible in the year you pay them, not the year they are earned (withholding counts as paid throughout the year).

Additionally, state income tax is paid with after-tax dollars.

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Remote and hybrid work have made state tax residency rules critically important. Key principles:

• Residency-based states: Most states tax all income of their residents regardless of where the work is performed. If you live in California but work remotely for a New York company, you pay California tax.
• Source-based states (the "convenience of the employer" rule): New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania have rules that tax non-residents on income earned while working remotely if the work could have been performed at the employer's in-state location.
• Physical presence: Most states require you to spend more than 183 days in the state to be considered a resident. Some states (California, New York) are notoriously aggressive in auditing remote workers.
• Multi-state filers: If you live in one state and work in another, you generally file a non-resident return in the work state and claim a credit on your resident return. But with the convenience rule, some workers end up double-taxed.

Bottom line: If you work remotely, your state tax liability depends on where you physically live (for most states) and where your employer is based (for convenience-rule states). Always consult a tax professional if you work across state lines.

States Taxing Retirement & Social Security

As of 2025, most states do not tax Social Security benefits. Only Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia still tax some or all Social Security income (many with income-based exemptions). States that fully tax pension/retirement income include California, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Vermont (with some exemptions). States like Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi, New York, and Pennsylvania fully exempt retirement income.

Sales Tax vs. Income Tax Trade-off

States with no income tax (like Texas, Florida, Nevada, Washington) typically have higher sales taxes or other taxes to make up the revenue. Texas has an 8.2% average combined state-local sales tax rate; Washington's is 9.4%. Conversely, states with high income taxes (like Oregon, which has no sales tax) shift the burden differently. When comparing states, consider the full tax picture: income, sales, property, and excise taxes.

Data notes and caveats by state

Most calculators on this page use the simple formula (income − standard deduction − exemption) × rate/brackets. For a few states the real rules differ, and we flag them here so the numbers are not read as more precise than they are:

• Utah (UT): Utah's TC-40 does not levy a flat tax after a state standard deduction. It taxes all Utah taxable income (line 9, essentially federal AGI with adjustments) at the flat rate (SB 60: 4.45% retroactive to Jan 1, 2026), then subtracts a Taxpayer Tax Credit = 6% × (federal standard or itemized deductions + the personal exemption of $2,111 per qualifying dependent, per the 2025 TC-40 instructions), subject to a phase-out. The small "$892 / $1,784 / $1,338" figures shown in the Utah row are this site's internal deduction-equivalent approximation of that credit and do not correspond to any official published Utah deduction amounts (we could not match them to the TC-40 tables; treat them as modeling parameters, not tax-law figures). Utah's calculator output should be read as an estimate of the 4.45% flat rate net of the credit. Official source: Utah State Tax Commission, 2025 TC-40 instructions, files.tax.utah.gov/tax/forms/current/tc-40inst.pdf (line 11: "The Utah personal exemption is $2,111 per dependent"; lines 12–16: federal deductions + exemption × 6%).
• Kentucky (KY): Kentucky has no head-of-household filing status — Form 740 only allows Single, Married filing joint, Married filing separate, and Married filing separately on a combined return (KRS 141.019). Kentucky's standard deduction is the same amount per return regardless of status. If you pick "Head of Household" above, Kentucky applies the same flat $3,360 (the 2026 amount announced by the Department of Revenue; $3,270 for 2025) — i.e. the "head" column simply mirrors the joint value, it is not a separate HOH deduction. Official source: KY DOR, "Kentucky DOR Announces 2026 Standard Deduction" (the 2026 deduction is $3,360 per return; one $3,360 deduction is allowed on a joint return).
• Hawaii (HI) — mixed tax years: Hawaii's tax brackets shown here are the latest officially published schedule, for taxable years beginning after 12/31/2024 (tax year 2025) — Hawaii has not yet published its tax-year-2026 rate schedule table (d_26table). The standard deduction shown ($8,000 single / $16,000 joint / $12,000 head) is the tax year 2026 amount (Act 46 SLH 2024 phase-in; tax year 2025 was $4,400 / $8,800 / $6,424). So one row spans two years: brackets = TY2025, standard deduction = TY2026. Sources: Hawaii DOR Tax Form Website (tax.hawaii.gov/forms) and the Act 46 / Act 24 SLH 2026 phase-in schedule.
• Idaho (ID) — mixed tax years: The Idaho State Tax Commission's published rate schedule shows 5.3% for tax year 2025 (single: 0% up to $4,811 taxable income, 5.3% above; married: $9,622), and no 2026 schedule is published yet, so the rate here is the TY2025 official figure. The standard deduction shown ($16,100 / $32,200 / $24,150) is the TY2026 federal-coupled amount (Idaho conforms to the federal standard deduction; IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32). Brackets/rate = TY2025, standard deduction = TY2026. Sources: Idaho State Tax Commission, Individual Income Tax Rate Schedule, tax.idaho.gov/…/individual-income-tax-rate-schedule; IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32.
• Alabama (AL): Alabama's standard deduction is not a flat amount — it phases down with Alabama AGI (Form 40 booklet, "Standard Deduction" chart, p. 9). This calculator implements the official step table (2025 Form 40): single $3,000 at AGI ≤ $25,999 stepping to $2,500 at AGI ≥ $35,500; married joint $8,500 → $5,000; head of family $5,200 → $2,500 (married filing separate: half the joint steps). Note also: the real Form 40 lets taxpayers deduct most of the federal income tax actually paid (Line 12, per Amendment 225 / Ala. Code §40-18-15) — this calculator does not model that federal-tax deduction, so Alabama results shown here overstate actual Alabama tax for most filers. Source: Alabama DOR 2025 Form 40 booklet, revenue.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026-01-25f40bk.pdf.
• Arizona (AZ): The standard deduction shown ($16,100 / $32,200 / $24,150) is a derived value: A.R.S. §43-1041(H) directs that Arizona's deduction be inflated "in the same manner as the federal basic standard deduction" under IRC §63, and the 2026 federal amounts are set by IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 / IR-2025-103 ($16,100 single / $32,200 MFJ / $24,150 HOH). The Arizona Department of Revenue has not yet published a 2026 figures table, so this is the statutory derivation, not a state-published number. Sources: azleg.gov ARS §43-1041(H); irs.gov Rev. Proc. 2025-32.
• Arkansas (AR): The $2,470 single / $4,940 joint standard deduction is a fixed state amount (it does not follow the federal deduction) and matches the official AR1000F instructions verbatim: "The Standard Deduction for your filing status is: 1 Single $2,470; 2 Married Filing Joint $4,940; 3 Head of Household $2,470; 4 Married Filing Separately $2,470 each." The bracket thresholds shown ($5,600 / $11,200 / $16,000 / $26,400 / $94,700) and the 3.7% top rate match the official rate schedule for the tax year beginning January 1, 2026 (HB 1001, 2026 special session, cut the top rate from 3.9% to 3.7% retroactive to Jan 1, 2026). For net income above $94,700 the official schedule switches mechanics entirely (2% on the first $4,700 + 3.7% on the rest, instead of the graduated table); this calculator approximates that switch with a transitional bracket, so Arkansas results near/above ~$95K may differ slightly from a real AR1000F. Source: Arkansas DFA, AR1000F/AR1000NR instructions and withholding schedule, dfa.arkansas.gov.