States With No Income Tax: What You Actually Keep (2026)

The 9 states

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming. Washington taxes capital gains above a high threshold but not wages; New Hampshire repealed its tax on interest and dividends at the end of 2024 and now taxes no personal income; Tennessee did the same in 2021. None withholds anything from a paycheck, so the state line on the stub is zero and take-home is federal tax and FICA away from gross: $75,000 biweekly nets $2,368.94 in any of them for a single filer, against $2,262.23 in California, $2,236.13 in New York and $2,231.72 in flat-tax Illinois. Over a year the gap between Texas and California on $75,000 is $2,775.

What they charge instead

States fund themselves somehow. Texas and New Hampshire have among the highest property taxes in the country; Tennessee and Washington among the highest combined sales taxes; Alaska and Wyoming tax oil, gas and minerals and hand the surplus to residents (Alaska's dividend); Florida and Nevada tax tourists through sales and hotel taxes; South Dakota taxes sales and banking. For a renter with a modest salary the trade is usually favourable — sales tax on spending is a smaller share of income than a state income tax at 3.7% — and for a homeowner with a large house and a modest income it can reverse: a $400,000 house in Texas at a typical effective property tax rate near 1.6% is $6,400 a year, more than the $3,568 of Illinois income tax on $75,000.

The flat states and the graduated states

13 states charge a single rate on all taxable income: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah. The rest have brackets, from a handful of low rates to California's ten, with the state line on $75,000 ranging from under $52.79 per biweekly paycheck in Arizona to $220.34 in Oregon. The state ranking sorts all 51 for any salary, and each state page shows its brackets, deductions and how the state form changes the withholding.

Remote work and which state taxes you

Wages are taxed by the state where the work is performed, with two twists. Your resident state taxes all your income and gives a credit for tax paid to the work state, so a Texas resident working remotely for a California company owes California nothing on work done in Texas, and a California resident working remotely for a Texas company owes California on everything. Five states — New York, Delaware, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Connecticut in some cases — apply a «convenience of the employer» rule that taxes a non-resident's remote work as if done in the state when the remote arrangement is for the employee's convenience; a New Jersey resident working from home for a Manhattan employer pays New York. Moving to a no-tax state while keeping a job in one of those five may save nothing.

Is the move worth it?

The state tax saving is the easy part: $2,775 a year on $75,000 from California to Texas, $9,705 on $150,000. Against it: housing costs, which vary more than any tax; property tax on a house you own; sales tax on what you spend; the income you might earn in each market; and, for a job kept remotely, the convenience rule. The BEA's regional price parities, shown on each state page, deflate a paycheck by the state's price level, and the compare two jobs tool prices two offers in two states side by side.

the same salary by state

9 states have no income tax on wages — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming — so the state part is zero there. 13 charge a single flat rate and 29 use brackets, and each has its own rule for the case this page covers. Every state has its own page: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

The three taxes on a paycheck, and why they behave differently

Federal income tax is progressive and starts from zero: the first $16,100 a single filer earns in 2026 is untaxed because that is the standard deduction, and the rate then climbs through seven brackets from 10% to 37%. It is the only line your W-4 changes. FICA is flat from the first dollar — 6.2% for Social Security up to $184,500 of wages and 1.45% for Medicare without limit — and no form changes it. State income tax is whatever your state decided: nothing in 9 states, one flat rate in 13, brackets in the other 29, and 11 states let a city or county add a line of their own.

On the $2,307.69 biweekly example above: $193.08 of federal withholding, $176.54 of FICA and $0.00 of Texas tax. Keeping them on separate lines is the point: a 401(k) contribution moves the first and third but not the second; a raise moves all three at different rates; the Social Security cap moves only the second. A single «taxes» figure hides which lever does what.

What changed in 2026

The standard deduction is $16,100 single, $32,200 joint and $24,150 head of household; every bracket threshold moved up with inflation; the Social Security wage base is $184,500; the 401(k) elective limit is $24,500. Each is read from the document that sets it — IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, the SSA's contribution and benefit base, IRS Notice 2025-67 — and listed with its source under the calculator.

The bigger change is the set of new federal deductions: qualified overtime premium pay up to $12,500 ($25,000 joint), reported tips up to $25,000, and $6,000 more for each person aged 65 or over, all phasing out above $150,000 of income. None of them changes what an employer withholds, because Publication 15-T does not know about them; they reduce the tax owed at filing, which is why the calculators on this site show them in the «withholding vs what you owe» box rather than on the paycheck. The what changed in 2026 guide keeps the dated list, including state changes.

A worked example: $120,000 in California, paid twice a month

Take $120,000 a year in California, paid twice a month (24 paychecks), single, standard W-4, no pre-tax deductions. The gross per paycheck is $5,000.00. Federal income tax withholding, from the 2026 Publication 15-T percentage method, takes $732.08. Social Security takes 6.2% of gross, $310.00, and Medicare 1.45%, $72.50. California withholds $288.12 under its brackets and deductions. The net deposit is $3,597.30, 71.9% of gross; over the year that is $86,335 from $120,000, an effective rate of 28.1% on all taxes together. Every line is reproducible from the documents on the sources page, and the table below lists them in the order they appear on a stub.

Two things on that stub are not obvious from the totals. First, the federal line is withholding, not tax: the tables annualise this paycheck as if all 24 were identical, and the year's actual tax, $17,570, differs from the $17,570 withheld by $0, which becomes a bill in April. Second, Social Security and Medicare are the same fraction of every paycheck of the year, because the salary is under the wage base, and no form can change them; only Section 125 deductions reduce their base. The reading guide walks each line and names what it should equal.

Nearby salaries: what $100,000 to $155,000 leave in California

A raise or a job offer is rarely at the round number on this page, so here is the ladder around it: the same twice a month paycheck at 6 salaries from $100,000 to $155,000, single, standard W-4, no deductions. The effective rate climbs from 25.9% to 30.9% across the range because federal income tax is progressive while FICA is flat; each extra $10,000 of salary leaves less than the last, and the pay raise calculator prices any step exactly. The salary after tax pages carry the full range, one page per amount.

Reading the ladder the other way answers the interview question: to take home $10,000 more a year in California takes a raise of roughly $14,481 in gross at this level, because the new dollars are taxed at the marginal rate rather than the average. The state column grows faster than the salary, since California's brackets rise with income; the FICA column grows in a straight line until the wage base. The gross-up calculator runs the reverse computation for any net.

The same paycheck under each filing status

Filing status is the one W-4 line everyone fills in, and it moves the federal line more than most people expect. On $120,000 in California, paid twice a month, a single filer is withheld $732.08 per paycheck; married filing jointly (one income) $418.33, because the joint table doubles the standard deduction to $32,200 and widens every bracket; head of household $582.83, with its $24,150 deduction and its own brackets. Married filing separately uses the single table. California's own deductions and brackets follow the state’s own joint schedule, which is why the state column moves too. Picking «married» with two incomes and skipping step 2 is the commonest cause of an April bill; the W-4 guide covers the choice.

The last column shows why the status matters beyond the paycheck: the year's federal income tax on $120,000 is $17,570 single and $10,040 married filing jointly on one income, a difference of $7,530 that the W-4 status either delivers through the year or holds back for a refund. Head of household is the status most often missed by single parents, who leave $3,582 a year on the single table. FICA is identical in every row, since it has no status.

The whole year on $120,000: withholding, tax due, and the settlement

24 paychecks of $5,000.00 withhold $17,570 of federal income tax over 2026. The tax actually due on the return, with the $16,100 standard deduction and no credits, is $17,570, so the year ends with about $0 owed — the gap between the withholding tables' approximation and the exact computation. The marginal rate on the last dollar is 22%; the effective rate on all taxes together is 28.1%. Social Security applies to every paycheck of the year, because $120,000 is under the $184,500 wage base. The 2026 deductions for overtime premium and tips apply at filing to anyone with qualifying pay; they do not change these paychecks. California takes $6,915 for the year, 5.8% of salary.

Refund or bill: what the year settles

Withholding is a prepayment; the return computes the tax and returns or collects the difference. On $120,000 with these settings the year withholds $17,570 against $17,570 due, so the settlement is a bill of about $0. A refund is money lent to the Treasury at no interest for up to sixteen months; a bill is fine up to a point and penalised beyond it. The point is the safe harbour: withholding of at least 90% of this year's tax ($15,813 here) or 100% of last year's (110% above $150,000 of income) avoids the underpayment penalty, which is interest on each quarter's shortfall. These paychecks clear the 90% harbour on their own.

What makes the settlement move: credits the W-4 does not carry (the earned income credit, education credits, the 2026 overtime and tip deductions), which enlarge the refund; a second income, other income, or too many dependents on the form, which produce the bill; a bonus withheld at the flat 22% when the marginal rate is 22%, which over-withholds at this salary; and a change of job or a partial year, which annualises each paycheck wrongly. The W-4 fixer sets the lines that bring the settlement to zero, or to a chosen refund.

What deductions do to this paycheck

Deductions are where the same salary produces different paychecks. A 6% traditional 401(k) contribution — $300.00 per paycheck on $120,000, well under the $24,500 annual limit — reduces federal and state taxable wages but not FICA wages, so it costs $206.10 of take-home rather than its face value. A $150 Section 125 deduction for health premiums or an HSA reduces every base including FICA, and costs $91.58. A Roth contribution of the same 6% comes out after tax and costs the full amount now in exchange for tax-free withdrawals later. The table gives each case for this paycheck; the pre-tax deductions calculator runs any amount and the 401(k) calculator draws the whole curve.

The order matters on the stub as well as in the arithmetic. Section 125 items come off first and reduce the FICA wages line, which is why a health premium lowers the Social Security and Medicare figures by 7.65% of itself; the 401(k) comes off next and reduces federal taxable wages only. Both appear in the W-2: box 1 (federal wages) is gross minus both, boxes 3 and 5 (Social Security and Medicare wages) are gross minus the Section 125 items alone. An employer match, where there is one, is added on top of the contribution and never touches the paycheck; the compare two jobs tool values it.

What each W-4 line does to this paycheck

The federal line is the only tax on the stub that a form can change, and each step of the W-4 moves it by a predictable amount. One qualifying child on step 3 lowers withholding by $91.67 per paycheck — the $2,200 credit spread over 24 paychecks — taking the net to $3,688.96. Checking box 2(c) for a second job raises it by $270.09, because the checkbox table halves the brackets so that each job is withheld as if it earned half the household income. Extra withholding on 4(c) is dollar for dollar. Other income on 4(a) adds the tax on it at the marginal rate; deductions on 4(b) remove it. The table runs each case for $120,000 in California; the W-4 fixer computes the combination that makes the year's withholding equal the year's tax.

None of these lines changes the tax; they change when it is paid. Claiming a child that is not yours on step 3, or deductions you will not take on 4(b), enlarges every paycheck and produces the same amount plus a penalty in April. The lawful levers are the ones you are entitled to — the children you have, the deductions you will itemise, the second income you must account for — and the fixer applies exactly those. A new W-4 takes effect from the next payroll run after your employer receives it, and the year-to-date withholding already taken is not recomputed.

$120,000 in California against nine other states

Federal tax and FICA are the same everywhere; the state line is what moves. On $120,000 paid twice a month, the nine states with no wage tax leave $3,885.42 per paycheck; California leaves $3,597.30, $288.12 less, or $6,915 over the year. Flat-rate states sit in between and their rate is the whole story; bracket states depend on the salary. Prices move more than taxes between most of these states, and the state pages carry the BEA price index beside the take-home; the state ranking sorts all 51 for any salary.

Two cautions before reading the table as a moving guide. The state taxes wages where the work is done, with the resident state taxing everything and crediting the work state, so a remote job does not change the column unless you change where you live — and five states apply a «convenience of the employer» rule that keeps taxing remote work done elsewhere. And the no-tax states collect the difference elsewhere: property tax in Texas and New Hampshire, sales tax in Tennessee and Washington. The no-income-tax guide and the local taxes guide cover both.

A raise on $120,000: what arrives

A raise is taxed at the margin, so what reaches the account is the raise minus the marginal federal rate, FICA and the state's marginal rate on the new dollars only. A 3% raise on $120,000 in California adds $150.00 of gross to a twice a month paycheck and $90.07 of net, 60.0% of it; against 3% inflation it is a real raise of about 0.0%. Nothing about the raise changes the tax on the salary below it — the «pushed into a higher bracket» fear describes arithmetic that does not exist in a progressive system. The table runs three sizes; the pay raise calculator runs any, with the inflation figure you enter.

A bonus on top of $120,000

A bonus paid separately is withheld at the flat 22% federal rate plus FICA and state: a $1,000 bonus leaves $699.62 and a $5,000 bonus $3,498.12 in California. Paid inside a regular paycheck under the aggregate method, the same bonuses are withheld $238.50 and $1,272.25 federally instead of $220.00 and $1,100.00, because the combined paycheck is annualised as if it recurred. The tax actually owed is the marginal rate — 22% at this salary — so the $5,000 bonus is really taxed $1,164.00 federally and the flat method leaves $64.00 owed at filing. The bonus calculator shows both methods for any amount and state.

$120,000 on each pay schedule

The annual figures do not change with the pay schedule — $120,000 in California leaves the same $86,335 whether it arrives 52 times or 12 — because the withholding tables are the annual tables divided by the number of periods. What changes is the slice: a semi-monthly paycheck is 8.3% larger than a biweekly one, a monthly one more than double a biweekly one, and a weekly one half. Budgets are built from the slice, which is why the pay periods guide and the biweekly vs semi-monthly guide matter more than the small difference in withholding precision between them.

Employers choose the schedule, within the minimum their state sets, and the choice follows the workforce: hourly staff are usually paid weekly or biweekly because overtime is computed by the workweek, and salaried staff semi-monthly or monthly because their pay does not vary. A change of schedule re-spreads every per-paycheck deduction — a monthly premium divided by 2 instead of 2.1667 — and usually leaves a one-time gap between the last paycheck on the old schedule and the first on the new. The table gives $120,000 on all four; the frequency pages carry the calendar for each.

Common mistakes

Counting only the income tax. Property and sales tax replace it. Ignoring the convenience rule when moving with a New York job. Assuming the no-tax state's employer withholds nothing for a resident of a taxed state; the resident state still taxes it.

Reading the flat 22% on a bonus as the tax on it. It is withholding; the tax is your marginal rate. Budgeting from the wrong paycheck: biweekly and semi-monthly differ by about 7.7%. Claiming the same child on two W-4s, which under-withholds the household by the credit. Assuming a raise can push you into a bracket that leaves you worse off — in a progressive system it cannot. Forgetting the Social Security cap: above $184,500 the later paychecks are larger, and a budget built on January's paycheck is too tight for December's.