Paycheck Taxes by State: All 51 Compared

Same salary, different state line, and up to $6,258 a year of difference. Here is what every state actually takes from a paycheck in 2026 — and why the headline rates mislead.

The short version

Two people earning the same $75,000 salary can differ by more than $6,200 a year in take-home pay purely because of the state line between them. Nine jurisdictions take nothing from wages. Oregon takes 8.34%. Everything else sits in between, and the ranking is not the one most people expect.

Every figure on this page is state income tax plus mandatory state payroll insurance, for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare are identical in all 51 and are excluded, because they never vary by state.

All 51, mapped

Three systems, not fifty-one

Before comparing rates it helps to see that states use fundamentally different machinery.

• No wage income tax (9). Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. New Hampshire and Tennessee once taxed interest and dividends; neither taxes earned income now.
• Flat rate (15). One percentage applied to all taxable income. Simple to predict, and the effective rate barely moves as income rises — Pennsylvania sits at exactly 3.07% at both $75,000 and $120,000 because it has no standard deduction to dilute.
• Graduated (27). Rising rates across bands, from Montana’s two to Hawaii’s twelve. Here the effective rate climbs with income, which is why the ranking reshuffles between the two salary columns below.

The full comparison

L marks states where cities or counties add their own income tax. P marks states with mandatory payroll insurance deducted alongside income tax. Both are covered in detail further down.

Where it costs least

Setting aside the nine zero-tax jurisdictions, the cheapest states are not the ones with the lowest headline rates — they are the ones with generous deductions or a wide zero-rate band at the bottom.

North Dakota is the standout and the clearest illustration of why headline rates mislead. Its lowest bracket is 1.95%, which sounds ordinary. But that bracket does not begin until $48,475 of taxable income, and the state allows a $16,100 standard deduction. A $75,000 earner is left with $58,900 of taxable income, only $10,425 of which is exposed to tax at all — producing a bill of $203, or 0.27% of gross.

Washington appears here only because of payroll insurance. Its income tax is genuinely zero; the 1.39% is WA Cares and Paid Family & Medical Leave.

Where it costs most

Oregon leads by a wide margin, and does it in an unusual way: its 8.75% bracket starts at just $11,400 of taxable income, so a middle income is taxed at close to the top rate almost immediately. Hawaii reaches 6.06% through twelve brackets and a small standard deduction. The states people expect to see at the top — California and New York — sit sixth and fifth at this income level.

Top marginal rate is not what you pay

California has the highest top marginal rate in the country at 13.3%. A single filer on $75,000 pays an effective 5.02% including SDI, and $2,788 in income tax. The 13.3% band does not begin until $1,000,000 of taxable income.

New Jersey’s 10.75% applies above $1,000,000; its effective rate at $75,000 is 3.88%, cheaper than flat-rate Illinois. Oregon is the exception that proves the rule — a top rate below the others but by far the highest effective burden, because its brackets compress at the bottom rather than the top. This is the same mechanic explained in how tax brackets actually work.

The local income tax layer

Twelve states let cities, counties or school districts levy income tax on top of the state rate. This is the single largest source of error in state-to-state comparisons, because it can exceed the state tax itself.

A New York City resident on $75,000 pays $2,597 in city tax on top of $3,808 in state tax and insurance — total 8.54%, which moves New York from sixth-highest to worse than Oregon. Maryland is the most systematic: every county levies one, from 2.25% to 3.20%, so there is no untaxed corner of the state. Ohio’s low 2.75% flat rate looks very different once Columbus or Cleveland adds 2.5%.

State payroll insurance

Eleven jurisdictions deduct mandatory disability, paid-leave or long-term-care premiums. These are not income tax, but they leave the payslip the same way.

Rhode Island’s TDI at 1.1% is the heaviest single premium and pushes the state four places up the ranking. Washington collects $1,040 despite having no income tax at all.

Deductions swing the result more than rates

Rate comparisons assume the same taxable income, and states do not agree on how to reach it.

• Standard deductions range from nothing to $16,100. Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and DC track the federal figure. California allows $5,540. Pennsylvania allows none.
• Some states use exemptions instead. Illinois subtracts a $2,925 personal exemption, New Jersey $1,000, Massachusetts $4,400.
• Some use credits. California subtracts $153 from the tax itself rather than from income, which is worth more to low earners than a deduction of the same size.
• South Carolina phases its deduction out. The $15,000 allowance shrinks as income rises above $40,000 and disappears entirely by $95,000 — so the effective rate climbs faster than the brackets suggest.
• Arkansas switches tables. Above $94,700 of taxable income a different, flatter bracket schedule applies to the whole amount.

What changed for 2026

• Georgia moved to a flat 4.99% with a $15,000 standard deduction.
• South Carolina restructured to 1.99% and 5.21% with the phasing deduction described above.
• Arkansas cut its top rate to 3.7% and adopted the two-tier structure.
• Utah cut to a flat 4.45%; West Virginia cut its top rate to 4.58%.
• Washington enacted a 9.9% tax on income above $1,000,000, but it does not take effect until 2028 and is not reflected in these figures. Its 7% capital gains tax above a $278,000 deduction applies to investment gains, not wages.

How to read these numbers

Figures assume a single filer, standard deduction, no dependants, no local tax, and no pre-tax retirement or health contributions. Married filing jointly changes the brackets in every graduated state. Pre-tax 401(k) and HSA contributions reduce state taxable income in most states, which shifts every number down.

State income tax is also only one line on a payslip. For the full deduction stack see where your paycheck goes, and if you are weighing a move, what a no-income-tax state actually saves you covers the property and sales tax that offset the headline saving.

Rates are for tax year 2026, last verified 2026-08-17. Use the calculator for your own state below to run your real salary, filing status and pre-tax deductions. This is general information, not tax advice.