Which U.S. States Have the Lowest Income Taxes?

Another U.S. tax deadline has passed, and you may be wondering how green the grass is on the other side of the state border. Today’s maps and charts, from cost information website HowMuch.net, show the difference in tax rates between states to help you discover which states pay the lowest income taxes.

Before we dive in to the data, it is worth noting that there are seven states that currently have zero interest tax, including Florida, Nevada, Texas, Alaska, South Dakota, Washington State and Wyoming. New Hampshire and Tennessee also have no income tax, but they do tax interest and dividends.

The other 41 states (and one district) all levy an income tax. Here’s the average amount paid in each state:

Average Income Tax

California has the highest average tax of any state at 10.4%. Oregon, Minnesota, Hawaii, DC, New York, Vermont, and Maine also have average state income taxes that are higher than 7.5%.

Aside from the states with zero income tax, there are also 14 that have average tax rates below 5%.

However, as HowMuch.net notes, the average isn’t necessarily the best indicator when it comes to this data. Since most tax schemes are progressive, the tax rates of most states vary heavily depending on the level of personal income each year.

Here’s the difference between what the highest income group (top 0.1%) and the median income group (top 50%) are paying:

Income Tax Gap: Rate for Top 0.1% vs. Top 50%

Illustrated a different way, see how this changes based on moving up the tax bracket from the top 25% to the top 0.1%:

Income Tax Rate: Top 25%

The top 25% of earners ($74,955 per year and up) pay the most in Oregon, which has a tax rate of 7.4%. Three other states charge 6% or more: Hawaii (6.89%), Idaho (6.05%) and Maine (6.00%).

Compare this to the top 0.1% bracket of earners ($1,860,848 per year and up):

Income Tax Rate: Top 0.1%

California now charges the most at 11.54%, while Oregon, Minnesota, and Hawaii all have rates hovering around 10%.