State Income Tax Rates & Brackets 2026: All 50 States Compared

Where you live changes your paycheck almost as much as what you earn. Of the 51 jurisdictions in the table below — the 50 states plus the District of Columbia — 42 tax wage income and 9 do not: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming take nothing out of your pay at the state level. Among the states that do tax wages, 14 use a single flat rate, 27 use graduated brackets that climb with income, and Ohio sits in between, charging 0% on the first $26,050 and a flat 2.75% above it.

The headline story of 2026 is another year of cuts. Georgia trimmed its flat rate to 4.99%, Kentucky dropped to 3.5%, Indiana to 2.95%, and Utah to 4.45%. Louisiana's single flat rate is now just 3.0%, Arkansas cut its top rate to 3.7%, West Virginia's top rate fell to 4.58%, and North Carolina moved down to 3.99%. South Carolina went furthest of all: it scrapped its old bracket schedule and replaced it with a brand-new two-rate system — 1.99% on taxable income under $30,000 and 5.21% above that. Even high-tax New York trimmed its five lowest brackets for 2026.

For flat-tax states, the rate shown is the single rate on taxable income. For graduated states, it is the top marginal rate — the rate on the highest slice of income, not on your whole paycheck. The standard deduction is the single-filer amount where the state publishes one; "None" means the state offers no standard deduction (several give a personal exemption or credit instead), and "—" means no single-filer figure applies or was published for 2026.

• California: the 12.30% top bracket becomes 13.3% on taxable income over $1,000,000 once the 1% Behavioral Health Services Tax is added. Maine: a 2% surcharge applies over $1,000,000 of taxable income (single), lifting the effective top rate to 9.15%. Massachusetts: the 5% flat rate carries a 4% surtax on taxable income over $1,107,750, for a 9% combined top rate.
• Mississippi charges 0% on the first $10,000 of taxable income and 4.00% above it. South Carolina's 5.21% applies to taxable income of $30,000 or more (computed as 5.21% of taxable income minus $966), and its $15,000 deduction is the state's own SCIAD, which phases out as income rises. Ohio's tax is $332 plus 2.75% of the amount over $26,050.
• Maryland's rates are state-only: every Maryland county (and Baltimore City) adds a mandatory local income tax of 2.25%–3.20% on top. The District of Columbia's $15,000 deduction is the statutory base amount under D.C. Act 26-214; the cost-of-living-adjusted figure for 2026 had not been published when we verified it. Vermont's 2026 standard deduction had likewise not been published, so it is shown as "—" rather than guessed.
• Alabama and Wisconsin phase their standard deductions down as income rises, so no single fixed amount applies.

The steepest top rates in the country are on the coasts. California leads at 13.3% on income over $1 million (12.3% before the surtax), followed by Hawaii at 11%, New York at 10.9%, and New Jersey and the District of Columbia at 10.75%. Oregon (9.9%) and Minnesota (9.85%) round out the high end. Two warnings before ranking states by this table alone: a top marginal rate only touches the income above its threshold — no California filer pays 12.3% on every dollar — and state rates are not the whole bill. New York City adds up to 3.876% on residents, and Maryland's counties add 2.25%–3.20%.

At the other end, the nine no-tax states are only the start. Arizona's 2.5% flat tax is the lowest single rate in the country, and North Dakota matches that 2.5% as a top rate while charging 0% on roughly the first $49,575 of taxable income for single filers. Indiana (2.95%), Louisiana (3.0%), and Pennsylvania (3.07%) all levy flat rates near 3%, and Arkansas's 3.7% top rate is the lowest of any graduated system after North Dakota. On a $100,000 salary, the gap runs from $0 in Texas or Florida to several thousand dollars in California or New York — which is exactly what our per-state calculators quantify.

In a flat-tax state, one rate applies to every dollar of taxable income. Fourteen states work this way in 2026 — Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Utah. Flat does not automatically mean low: Illinois (4.95%) and Idaho (5.3%) levy higher single rates than the top rates of graduated neighbors like Arkansas (3.7%) or West Virginia (4.58%). What a flat tax buys is simplicity — your state withholding is easy to predict at any income.

In a graduated state, income is sliced into brackets, and each slice is taxed at its own rate: the first dollars at a low rate, higher dollars at higher rates, up to the top marginal rate in the table. Only the income inside a bracket pays that bracket's rate, which is why a graduated state's effective rate — the share of your whole income paid in state tax — is always below its top rate. Graduated schedules range from North Dakota's three gentle steps (0%, 1.95%, 2.5%) to Hawaii's twelve brackets climbing to 11%. Neither structure is inherently cheaper; the standard deduction matters just as much. A state like Georgia pairs its 4.99% flat rate with a $15,000 single standard deduction, so the first $15,000 of income is never taxed at all.

Use the table to shortlist, then use a calculator to decide. Find your state and click through to its paycheck calculator: each one runs your salary through the same federal brackets, FICA limits, and official state schedule used to build this page, and shows your estimated take-home pay by pay period. Comparing two states? Run the same salary through both — every state page uses identical federal math, so the difference you see is purely the state system: its rate structure, its standard deduction, and any state payroll deductions. Our Sources & Methodology page lists the official authority behind each state.