The short answer
- Nine states don’t tax wages at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
- Fourteen use a single flat rate, from 2.5% in Arizona to 4.99% in Georgia.
- The other 27 states and DC use brackets, with top rates up to 13.3% in California.
- On $75,000 of wages, single, the median state with an income tax takes $2,830 for 2026.
Three kinds of state
Every state falls into one of three groups. Some have no income tax on wages. Some charge one flat percentage on all taxable income above their deductions. The rest work like the federal system, with brackets that charge higher rates on higher slices of income. Within each group the details differ a lot: what you can deduct, whether you get a personal exemption or a credit, and whether the brackets double for married couples.
That is why a headline rate on its own tells you little. Illinois’s flat 4.95% takes more from a $50,000 single worker than California’s graduated system with its 13.3% top rate, because California’s low brackets are very low at that income.
The nine states with no wage tax
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming have no personal income tax. Tennessee and New Hampshire used to tax interest and dividends but have repealed those taxes, so neither taxes wages. Washington doesn’t tax wages either, though it has a tax on large long-term capital gains.
These states raise money in other ways: higher sales taxes (Tennessee and Washington), higher property taxes (Texas and New Hampshire) or taxes on oil, gas and tourism (Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada and Florida). The sales tax calculator and the property tax calculator show that side of the bill.
The flat-tax states
| State | Rate |
|---|---|
| Arizona | 2.50% |
| Ohio | 2.75% |
| Indiana | 2.95% |
| Louisiana | 3.00% |
| Pennsylvania | 3.07% |
| Kentucky | 3.50% |
| Iowa | 3.80% |
| North Carolina | 3.99% |
| Mississippi | 4.00% |
| Michigan | 4.25% |
| Colorado | 4.40% |
| Utah | 4.45% |
| Illinois | 4.95% |
| Georgia | 4.99% |
A flat rate does not mean everyone pays the same share. Most flat states take a standard deduction or an exemption first, so low earners pay a smaller share of their pay. Colorado starts from federal taxable income, so it uses the federal standard deduction ($16,100 single). Georgia gives $15,000 single, North Carolina $12,750, Arizona $8,350. Illinois and Ohio give small exemptions instead, and Pennsylvania gives nothing at all.
Graduated states and top rates
The highest top rates are concentrated on the coasts. These rates apply only to the slice of income in the top bracket, often far above a typical salary.
At the other end, North Dakota’s brackets top out at 2.5% and start so high that a single worker on $50,000 owes nothing. Oregon is the odd one out: its top rate is only the sixth highest, but it reaches 8.75% on taxable income above about $11,400, so middle earners pay more there than anywhere else.
How a state works out your tax
- Start from your wages, usually after pre-tax 401(k) and health insurance deductions (the same figure as box 16 of your W-2).
- Take off the state’s standard deduction, if it has one.
- Take off personal and dependent exemptions, if the state uses them.
- Apply the state’s rate or brackets to what is left: your state taxable income.
- Take off credits, such as California’s personal exemption credits or Utah’s taxpayer credit.
Some states phase their deductions, exemptions or credits out as income rises (Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Wisconsin among them), so the real rate on the next dollar can be higher than the bracket rate.
Example: single in California on $75,000
- Wages$75,000
- California standard deduction−$5,706
- Taxable income$69,294
- Tax less the personal exemption credit$2,775
- State Disability Insurance at 1.3%$975
The income tax is 3.7% of pay, even though the next dollar is taxed at 8%. California also takes 1.3% State Disability Insurance from every dollar of wages, with no ceiling since 2024. SDI is not income tax, but it comes out of the same paycheck, so the calculator shows it.
Example: a New York family on $150,000
- Wages$150,000
- New York standard deduction−$16,050
- Dependent exemptions (2 × $1,000)−$2,000
- Taxable income$131,950
- Marginal rate5.4%
That is state tax only. A family living in New York City also pays city income tax, which you can add in the calculator’s local tax field. The same family would pay $4,599 in California and nothing in Texas or Florida.
Every state at $75,000
For a single filer with $75,000 of wages and no dependents, the lowest and highest 2026 bills are:
- North Dakota
- $203
- Ohio
- $1,287
- Arizona
- $1,666
- Louisiana
- $1,864
- South Carolina
- $2,160
- Oregon
- $5,733
- Hawaii
- $4,170
- Maine
- $3,881
- Delaware
- $3,609
- Minnesota
- $3,577
The big names sit in the middle: California $2,775, New York $3,453, Illinois $3,568, Pennsylvania $2,303 and North Carolina $2,484. California ranks lower than many people expect at this income because its first brackets are 1% to 6%.
A family on $150,000
For a married couple filing jointly with $150,000 of wages and two children, the median state with an income tax takes $5,489.
California does well here because its joint brackets are double the single ones and it gives a credit for each child. Flat-tax Illinois takes more than California at this income.
How the bill grows with income
| Wages | Arizona | North Carolina | Illinois | New York | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25,000 | $416 | $489 | $1,093 | $753 | $122 |
| $50,000 | $1,041 | $1,486 | $2,330 | $2,103 | $1,040 |
| $100,000 | $2,291 | $3,481 | $4,805 | $4,860 | $5,055 |
| $250,000 | $6,041 | $9,466 | $12,230 | $13,962 | $19,005 |
| $500,000 | $12,291 | $19,441 | $24,750 | $31,087 | $43,968 |
| $1,000,000 | $24,791 | $39,391 | $49,500 | $65,337 | $102,982 |
Flat states grow in a straight line. Graduated states start below them and overtake them: California is the cheapest of the five at $25,000 and by far the most expensive at $1 million, where it takes more than four times Arizona’s bill.
Marginal and effective rates
Your marginal rate is what the state takes from your next dollar: the rate to use for a raise, a bonus or a 401(k) contribution. Your effective rate is the whole bill divided by your wages. For the single $75,000 earner, California’s marginal rate is 8% but its effective rate is 3.7%; New York’s are 5.4% and 4.6%; Oregon’s are 8.75% and 7.6%.
Where a deduction or credit phases out, the marginal rate can be higher than any bracket. The calculator works it out by adding $1,000 of wages and measuring the change. For a bonus, the bonus tax calculator shows the flat rates states use to withhold from one.
Dependents and filing status
Most states give something for each child, but in very different forms: a deduction, an exemption or a credit. For a head of household on $75,000 with two children, compared with a single filer with none:
| State | Single | Head of household, 2 children |
|---|---|---|
| California | $2,775 | $1,825 |
| Georgia | $2,994 | $2,495 |
| Virginia | $3,498 | $3,391 |
| Illinois | $3,568 | $3,278 |
| Ohio | $1,287 | $1,169 |
Many states have no separate head of household brackets, so the calculator uses the single brackets for that status. Married couples filing separately get half the joint brackets and deductions, which is how most states treat them.
401(k) contributions and Pennsylvania
Traditional 401(k) contributions come off your wages before state tax in almost every state. A single Illinois worker on $75,000 who puts $6,000 into a 401(k) pays $3,271 instead of $3,568: a saving of $297, exactly 4.95% of the contribution.
Pennsylvania is different
Pennsylvania taxes 401(k) contributions when you earn them. The same $6,000 contribution leaves a Pennsylvania worker’s state tax at $2,303, unchanged. The money isn’t taxed again by Pennsylvania when you withdraw it.
The 401(k) calculator shows the federal saving, which is usually larger.
City and county income taxes
In a handful of states, cities, counties or school districts add their own income tax. The best known are New York City, Yonkers, Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania localities, Detroit and other Michigan cities, most Ohio cities, every Maryland county, every Indiana county, and Kentucky cities and counties. Rates are usually between about 1% and 4%.
Some local taxes follow where you live, some where you work, and some both. Enter your combined local rate in the calculator’s local tax field to add it to the state bill.
Living in one state, working in another
Normally the state where you work taxes your wages there, and your home state taxes all your income but gives you a credit for tax paid to the other state. The result is that you pay roughly the higher of the two states’ taxes, not both.
Some neighboring states have reciprocity agreements, so you pay only your home state. Examples include Pennsylvania and New Jersey; Illinois with Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin; and Virginia with DC, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. You file an exemption form with your employer to stop work-state withholding. Remote workers should also know that a few states, such as New York, can tax remote work for an in-state employer.
Deducting state tax on your federal return
If you itemize deductions on your federal return, you can deduct state and local income tax (or sales tax instead) plus property tax, up to the SALT cap. For 2026 the cap is $40,400 ($20,200 married filing separately), and it shrinks for incomes over about $505,000, never falling below $10,000.
Most people take the standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 joint for 2026), so state tax gives them no federal saving at all. The federal income tax calculator shows whether itemizing would beat it for you.
Moving to save tax
A single worker on $100,000 pays $5,055 of California income tax plus $1,300 SDI, and no income tax in Texas. That $6,355 a year is real money, but it is only one line of the budget.
- Income tax on $100,000
- $5,055
- Median property tax rate
- 0.71%
- Property tax on a $400,000 home
- $2,840
- Income tax on $100,000
- $0
- Median property tax rate
- 1.31%
- Property tax on a $400,000 home
- $5,240
Housing costs, insurance, sales tax and wages all differ between states too. In the year you move you usually file part-year resident returns in both states, each taxing the income you earned while you lived there.
Income this calculator leaves out
The calculator covers wages. Most states tax interest, dividends, rental and self-employment income the same way, but many treat other income differently:
- Social Security benefits are untaxed in all but a few states.
- Many states exempt part or all of pensions and retirement account withdrawals, especially for older residents.
- Some states tax long-term capital gains at a lower rate or exclude part of them.
- Military pay is exempt in many states.
If most of your income isn’t wages, check your state’s own rules or a tax professional.
What changed for 2026
The trend is toward lower and flatter rates. Several states cut rates for 2026, retroactive to January 1: Georgia to 4.99% with a $15,000 single standard deduction, Arkansas’s top rate to 3.7%, Utah to 4.45%, Ohio to a flat 2.75%, South Carolina to a two-rate system topping out at 5.21%, and West Virginia, which cut every rate by 5%. Most graduated states also index their brackets for inflation each year.
What the calculator simplifies
- It starts from wages after pre-tax deductions (Pennsylvania adds 401(k) contributions back).
- Head of household uses the single brackets; married filing separately uses half the joint ones.
- It leaves out New York’s and Connecticut’s high-income recapture rules and Missouri’s and Oregon’s partial deduction of federal tax.
- It doesn’t include state earned income credits, renter credits or other credits you might claim.
- Where a state hadn’t published 2026 inflation adjustments by early 2026, it uses the 2025 figures.
For the whole paycheck, federal and state together, use the paycheck calculator.