States With No Income Tax and Other State Tax Statistics (2026)

Eight states levy no individual income tax at all in 2026 (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming). A ninth, Washington, taxes capital gains but not wages or salaries, which makes nine states with no income tax on wages. The count comes from the Tax Foundation, a research organization, in its State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets 2026.

New Hampshire is the newest addition. Its tax on interest and dividend income was repealed as of 2025, so lists that still describe New Hampshire as taxing investment income are describing the law before 2025.

Of the other 41 states, 15 tax wages at a single flat rate and 26 use graduated rates, along with the District of Columbia. Missouri taxes wages but exempts capital gains. The Tax Foundation counts 42 states that levy some individual income tax, which is the 41 that tax wages plus Washington.

The nine states with no tax on wages are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Washington's capital gains tax applies at 7% to gains above a $278,000 standard deduction and at 9% on gains above $1 million. The 9% bracket was added by Senate Bill 5813 in May 2025, retroactive to January 1, 2025 (Tax Foundation). Washington also withholds a 0.58% payroll tax from wages for its WA Cares long-term care program, which the Tax Foundation excludes from income tax rates.

Several states without an income tax have high taxes elsewhere. Tennessee and Washington have the second- and third-highest combined sales tax rates in the country, and Washington's state and local tax burden in 2022 (10.7%) was above the 10.2% median. Alaska, Wyoming and Tennessee, on the other hand, had the three lowest tax burdens of any state.

The table below shows each state's income tax status, its combined sales tax rate, the single largest source of state tax revenue in fiscal 2025 and its overall tax burden.

Most states without an income tax lean on the sales tax. In fiscal 2025 the general sales tax supplied 62.9% of Florida's state tax revenue, 62.8% of Texas's, 61.6% of South Dakota's, 59.4% of Washington's, 57.5% of Tennessee's and 52.4% of Nevada's, Walnut calculations from the Census Bureau's Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections. Across all 50 states the figure was 30.9%.

The exceptions are the resource and business-tax states. Severance taxes on oil and gas extraction supplied 43.9% of Alaska's $1.69 billion of state taxes and 27.7% of Wyoming's, and corporate income taxes added 21.7% in Alaska. Alaska has no statewide sales tax. New Hampshire, which has neither a broad income tax nor a sales tax, raised 32.9% of its state taxes from corporate income taxes, 31.1% from selective sales taxes on specific goods and services, and 12.3% from a statewide property tax.

Some states also collect from visitors. Amusement taxes brought in $1.26 billion in Nevada in fiscal 2025, 8.7% of its state taxes. Texas raised 8.9% of its state taxes from severance taxes, $8.0 billion. Tennessee collected $2.59 billion from corporate income taxes and $1.14 billion from license taxes on corporations.

Top marginal state income tax rates in 2026 run from 2.5% in Arizona and North Dakota to 13.3% in California, according to the Tax Foundation's 2026 table, which reflects law as of January 1, 2026. The table below lists the structure and top rate of all 50 states and DC, with the income level at which the top rate begins for a single filer.

The number of brackets varies widely. Arkansas, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana and North Dakota have two brackets, and Hawaii has 12. In some states the top bracket begins at a low income: Virginia's fourth and highest bracket starts at $17,000 of taxable income. In others it applies only to the very highest earners. California (counting its 1% surcharge on income over $1 million), Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and DC all have a top rate that starts at or above $1 million.

Local income taxes come on top in some states and are excluded from these rates. The Tax Foundation reports that ten states have county or city income taxes, with average local rates in 2023 equal to 2.4% of AGI in Maryland, 1.6% in New York, 1.2% in Ohio and 0.99% in Pennsylvania. For the federal side of the same question, see federal tax bracket statistics.

California's top rate is 13.3%, which includes a 1% mental health services tax on taxable income over $1 million. The Tax Foundation notes that California also levies a 1.3% payroll tax for state disability insurance with no wage ceiling since 2024, which brings the top rate on wage income to 14.6% (Tax Foundation). Hawaii is second at 11%, on income over $325,000 for a single filer, and New York third at 10.9%, on income over $25 million.

New Jersey and the District of Columbia tie for fourth at 10.75%, on income over $1 million. Oregon's 9.9% rate starts at $125,000 for a single filer, a much lower threshold than the other high-rate states, and Minnesota's 9.85% starts at $203,150. Massachusetts taxes income over $1,083,150 at 9%, against 5% below that level.

At the low end, Arizona taxes all income at 2.5%. North Dakota taxes no income below $48,475 for a single filer, then 1.95%, then 2.5% above $244,825. Ohio's new flat rate of 2.75% applies to nonbusiness income over $26,050, Indiana's flat rate is 2.95%, Louisiana's 3% and Pennsylvania's 3.07%.

Fifteen states tax wages at one flat rate in 2026: Arizona (2.5%), Colorado (4.4%), Georgia (5.19%), Idaho (5.3%), Illinois (4.95%), Indiana (2.95%), Iowa (3.8%), Kentucky (3.5%), Louisiana (3%), Michigan (4.25%), Mississippi (4%), North Carolina (3.99%), Ohio (2.75%), Pennsylvania (3.07%) and Utah (4.5%) (Tax Foundation).

Ohio is the newest. Under its budget bill, HB 96, it moved to a flat 2.75% rate on January 1, 2026, and limited its joint filing credit and personal exemptions to taxpayers with modified AGI of $500,000 or less. Seven states have switched from graduated to single-rate taxes since 2021, according to the Tax Foundation.

A flat rate does not always mean every dollar is taxed. Idaho taxes nothing below $4,811 of taxable income for a single filer, Mississippi nothing below $10,000 and Ohio nothing below $26,050.

Most states start from the federal tax code but set their own deductions. The federal standard deduction for tax year 2026 is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for joint filers after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the higher amounts permanent, and states such as Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, New Mexico and North Dakota use that figure (Tax Foundation). Arizona, Maine and South Carolina conform to a pre-OBBBA version of the federal code, which gives a standard deduction of $8,350 for single filers and $16,700 for joint filers in 2026 unless their legislatures update their conformity dates.

Other states set their own amounts. Georgia's standard deduction is $12,000 for a single filer, North Carolina's $12,750, Louisiana's $12,875, New York's $8,000, Virginia's $8,750 and Alabama's $3,000. Some states, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, offer no standard deduction, and Pennsylvania offers no personal exemption either. Illinois's personal exemption is $2,925 per person and Michigan's $5,900.

Eight states cut individual income tax rates on January 1, 2026: Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio and Oklahoma (Tax Foundation). Indiana went from 3% to 2.95%, Kentucky from 4% to 3.5%, Mississippi from 4.4% to 4%, and North Carolina from 4.25% to 3.99%, the last step of its planned phasedown. Montana cut its top rate from 5.9% to 5.65%, Nebraska from 5.2% to 4.55%, and Oklahoma from 4.75% to 4.5% while cutting its six brackets to three.

More cuts are scheduled. Indiana's rate is set to fall to 2.9% in 2027 and possibly as low as 2.55% from 2030 if revenue triggers are met. Mississippi is scheduled to reach 3.75% in 2027 and 3% in 2030. Montana's top rate is set to fall to 5.4% in 2027 and Nebraska's to 3.99% by 2027. Oklahoma's law can phase out its income tax in 0.25 percentage point steps if revenue conditions are met. South Carolina's temporary top rate of 6% was scheduled to revert to 6.2% on July 1, 2026.

Over a longer window, 26 states have reduced individual income tax rates since 2021, including 23 that lowered their top rate. Only Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Washington and DC raised top rates in that period. Maryland's two new brackets of 6.25% and 6.5% took effect retroactively for 2025, and it added a 2% surtax on capital gains for filers with AGI above $350,000.

The average combined state and local sales tax rate, weighted by population, was 7.53% on July 1, 2026, according to the Tax Foundation's midyear 2026 sales tax report. Louisiana had the highest combined rate at 10.13%, followed by Tennessee (9.61%), Washington (9.57%), Arkansas (9.48%) and Alabama (9.46%). Alaska, where only local governments tax sales, had the lowest nonzero combined rate at 1.82%, followed by Hawaii (4.50%), Wyoming (5.39%) and Maine (5.50%).

California has the highest statewide rate at 7.25%. Indiana, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Tennessee tie for second at 7%. Colorado has the lowest nonzero state rate at 2.9%, followed by Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, New York and Wyoming at 4%. Local rates can rival the state's: the average local rate is 5.46% in Alabama, 5.13% in Louisiana, 4.99% in Colorado, 4.56% in Oklahoma and 4.54% in New York. Chicago's combined rate is 10.25%.

No state changed its statewide rate between January and July 2026. Louisiana made the most recent increase, from 4.45% to 5% in January 2025. Illinois dropped its 1% state sales tax on groceries on January 1, 2026, though many local governments imposed their own. Sales taxes supply 32% of state tax collections, 13% of local collections and 24% of the two combined, per the Tax Foundation.

Five states have no statewide sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. Only Alaska lets local governments levy one (Tax Foundation). Forty-five states levy a statewide sales tax and 38 allow local sales taxes.

The no-sales-tax states raise their money elsewhere. Oregon drew 63.7% of its state tax revenue from individual income taxes in fiscal 2025, and its top income tax rate is 9.9%. Montana drew 47.7% from income taxes. Delaware drew 39.6% from income taxes and 38.7% from license taxes. These shares are Walnut calculations from Census data.

What a sales tax covers matters as much as its rate. Most states exempt groceries, and some exempt clothing. Hawaii's sales tax is the broadest in the country: by one estimate cited by the Tax Foundation it reaches 119% of the state's personal income because it taxes many products more than once, against a national median of 36%.

Property taxes are mostly a local tax. State governments collected only $25.5 billion from property taxes in fiscal 2025, 1.7% of state tax revenue, according to Census data. Counting local governments, property taxes are the largest single state and local tax. In the four quarters through June 2026, property taxes brought in $846.0 billion, 37.2% of all state and local tax revenue, a Walnut calculation from the Census Quarterly Summary of State and Local Tax Revenue.

Several no-income-tax states lean on property taxes at the state level too. A statewide property tax supplied 15.3% of Wyoming's state taxes in fiscal 2025, 13.8% of Nevada's, 12.3% of New Hampshire's and 12.0% of Washington's.

Effective property tax rates, median bills and rankings by state are on the property tax statistics page, which this page does not repeat.

New Yorkers faced the highest state and local tax burden in 2022: 15.9% of income went to state and local taxes, according to the Tax Foundation's State and Local Tax Burdens study. Connecticut (15.4%) and Hawaii (14.1%) followed, then Vermont (13.6%), California (13.5%) and New Jersey (13.2%). Calendar year 2022 is the latest year the Tax Foundation has published.

Alaska had the lowest burden at 4.6%, followed by Wyoming (7.5%), Tennessee (7.6%), South Dakota (8.4%), Michigan (8.6%) and Texas (8.6%). The median state burden was 10.2%. Nationwide, state and local taxes equaled 11.2% of national product, and burdens in 2020, 2021 and 2022 were higher than in any year since 1978.

The study counts taxes residents pay to other states, which is why it differs from simple collections data. About 20% of state tax revenue comes from nonresidents, and 60% of Alaska's state and local collections in 2022 came from residents of other states, mainly through oil taxes. Per person, Connecticut residents paid the most, $12,151, followed by New York ($12,083) and DC ($11,654). Alaska residents paid the least, $2,943, followed by Tennessee ($4,036) and Mississippi ($4,220).

How a state taxes matters for who pays. In Who Pays?, 7th edition, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a research organization, estimated that the average state and local tax rate paid to residents' home states is 11.4% for the lowest-income 20% of families, 10.5% for the middle 20% and 7.2% for the top 1%. The study models tax law in effect on January 1, 2024, at 2023 income levels.

ITEP found that 42 states tax the top 1% at a lower rate than the bottom 20%, and 46 tax the top 1% less than middle-income families. Sales and excise taxes take 7.0% of income from the lowest-income 20%, 4.8% from the middle 20% and 1.0% from the top 1%. Property taxes take 4.4%, 3.1% and 1.9%.

ITEP ranked Florida's tax system as the most regressive, followed by Washington, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Illinois, Arkansas and Louisiana. Eight of the ten rely heavily on sales and excise taxes, and of those eight, six levy no broad-based personal income tax and two levy flat-rate taxes. ITEP also estimated that tax breaks for seniors reduce state personal income tax revenue by roughly 9% nationwide.

The 50 state governments collected $1.536 trillion in taxes in fiscal 2025, up 4.3% from $1.472 trillion in fiscal 2024, Walnut calculations from the Census Bureau's FY2025 Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections. Individual income taxes were the largest source at $517.4 billion (33.7%), up 7.9%. General sales taxes brought in $475.2 billion (30.9%), up 2.1%, and corporate income taxes $163.7 billion (10.7%), down 1.0%.

Selective sales taxes on specific goods raised $222.1 billion, including $60.0 billion from motor fuel, $37.7 billion from insurance premiums, $14.8 billion from tobacco (down 5.3%) and $8.3 billion from alcohol. Taxes on sports betting and pari-mutuel wagering rose 28.6% to $3.3 billion. Severance taxes fell 9.9% to $19.8 billion, and death and gift taxes rose 9.5% to $7.5 billion.

California collected the most, $275.0 billion, followed by New York ($131.3 billion), Texas ($89.9 billion), Illinois ($71.3 billion) and Florida ($63.6 billion). Alaska collected the least, $1.69 billion, followed by Wyoming ($2.57 billion) and South Dakota ($2.69 billion). Individual income taxes made up 46.8% of California's state taxes, 46.6% of New York's and 53.0% of Massachusetts's.

State and local governments together collected $598.4 billion in taxes in the second quarter of 2026, up 6.4% from a year earlier, according to the Census Quarterly Summary of State and Local Tax Revenue (not seasonally adjusted). Over the first half of 2026 they collected $1.137 trillion, up 5.8% from $1.075 trillion in the first half of 2025.

Income taxes grew fastest. Individual income tax revenue was $200.4 billion in the second quarter, up 9.2% from a year earlier, and corporate income tax revenue was $73.2 billion, up 10.7%. Sales tax revenue was $171.2 billion, up 4.0%, and property tax revenue $153.5 billion, up 3.6%.

Over the four quarters from July 2025 to June 2026, state and local governments collected $2.27 trillion: property taxes 37.2%, individual income taxes 27.3%, sales taxes 27.2% and corporate income taxes 8.2%, Walnut calculations from the Census quarterly table. Federal tax collections are covered on the tax statistics page.

California has the highest gas tax at 73.64 cents per gallon as of July 2026, followed by Illinois (70.4 cents) and Indiana (63.1 cents), according to the Tax Foundation's Gas Taxes by State 2026. Alaska has the lowest at 8.95 cents, followed by Hawaii (18.5 cents) and New Mexico (18.88 cents). Of the no-income-tax states, Washington's gas tax is fourth-highest at 60.17 cents, while Texas's is among the lowest at 20 cents.

Indiana had the largest increase in 2026, 8.6 cents, from a higher per-gallon tax and its 7% use tax being applied to higher-priced gas, moving it from fifth to third. Michigan rose 5.2 cents, New Jersey 4.2 cents and Illinois 4 cents. Utah cut its gas tax by 6.6 cents, dropping from 14th to 23rd.

States collected $60.0 billion in motor fuel taxes in fiscal 2025, up 2.6%, or 3.9% of all state taxes, per the Census Bureau. Pump prices themselves are on the gas price statistics page.

Eight states tax some Social Security benefits for tax year 2026: Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont, according to an AARP summary updated in April 2026 (AARP is a membership organization, not a government source). The other 42 states and DC either have no income tax or exclude benefits. The list has been shrinking: in the Tax Foundation's July 2023 map it was 13 states. Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska stopped taxing benefits in 2024, and West Virginia's exemption became complete in 2026 (AARP).

The rules turn on income thresholds. Minnesota lets taxpayers subtract all Social Security benefits included in federal AGI if that AGI is below $108,320 for married couples filing jointly or $84,490 for single filers, with the subtraction phasing out by 10% for each $4,000 of AGI above those levels (Minnesota Department of Revenue). Utah taxes benefits the way the federal government does but offers a nonrefundable retirement credit.

The nine states with no tax on wages do not tax Social Security or pension income. Benefit levels and claiming ages are covered on the Social Security statistics page.

The IRS tracks moves through changes of address on tax returns. In its latest migration data, for 2022 to 2023, Texas had the largest net gain from other states at 112,481 people, and Florida the largest gain in income: households moving in reported $43.4 billion of AGI and those moving out $22.7 billion, a net gain of $20.65 billion. Those are Walnut calculations from the IRS inflow and outflow files.

The nine states with no tax on wages gained a net 281,484 people and $31.1 billion of AGI together. The gains were concentrated: Florida, Texas, Tennessee (net 42,899 people and $2.75 billion) and Nevada ($1.51 billion) accounted for nearly all of it, while Washington roughly broke even on people and lost a net $0.27 billion of AGI, and Alaska lost 4,149 people. States with income taxes also gained: South Carolina gained $4.13 billion and North Carolina $3.91 billion.

The largest net losses were in California (200,547 people and $11.92 billion), New York (157,970 people and $9.89 billion), Illinois (54,182 people and $5.99 billion) and Massachusetts (28,367 people and $4.02 billion). Across all states, about 6.59 million people moved between states in the data, with $335.2 billion of AGI. Taxes are one of many reasons people move, and the IRS data does not record why anyone moved.

A household's state tax bill depends on the mix of taxes more than on any single rate. Residents of Washington and Tennessee pay no tax on wages but face combined sales taxes above 9.5%, while Oregon and Delaware residents pay no sales tax and higher income taxes. Investment income can be taxed differently too: Washington taxes large capital gains, and Missouri exempts them.

Walnut is an AI investing app that can read a connected brokerage account and show how the holdings in it are doing. The figures on this page describe state tax law and collections; they are not tax or financial advice.