The 9 States With No Income Tax in 2026 (And What They Charge Instead)
Updated July 2026 · 6 min · 2026 IRS figures (Rev. Proc. 2025-32)
Nine states charge no tax on wage income in 2026: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Move $75,000 of salary from a 5% state to one of these and you keep roughly $2,900 more per year — the single biggest paycheck lever most workers control.
But "no income tax" is not "no taxes." These states fund themselves through property taxes, sales taxes, or in two cases, taxes that touch investors specifically. Here is the honest picture, state by state.
The list, with the fine print
Texas and Florida are the heavyweight destinations — no wage tax, big job markets, but property taxes among the highest in the country (Texas especially). Nevada and Tennessee lean on sales tax: combined state and local rates run above 8–9.5% in much of both states. South Dakota and Wyoming are genuinely low-tax across the board, with small populations to match. Alaska not only charges nothing — most years it pays residents a Permanent Fund Dividend.
The two asterisks: New Hampshire taxes no wages and, after fully phasing out its interest-and-dividends tax, is now clean for most filers — but it carries some of the nation's highest property taxes. Washington has no wage income tax but does levy a capital gains tax on large stock sales (above roughly a quarter-million dollars in gains) — irrelevant for paychecks, relevant if a startup exit is in your future.
What you actually save
Federal tax and FICA follow you everywhere — a single filer earning $75,000 pays the same ~$7,670 of federal income tax and ~$5,738 of FICA in Miami as in Manhattan. What changes is the state layer: at California's top rates that same salary loses about $5,500 more per year than in Texas. Our calculator shows the exact gap for any salary and any pair of states.
The honest math also includes what replaces the income tax. A renter in Austin captures most of the benefit; a homeowner hands part of it back through a 1.6–2% effective property tax. High earners nearly always win by moving; middle-income homeowners should run both sides of the ledger before assuming the savings.
Remote workers: your employer's state can still tax you
Moving to Florida doesn't automatically free you. A handful of states (New York most aggressively) apply a "convenience of the employer" rule: if your job is based there and you work remotely by choice, they may still tax your wages. Check your withholding after any move — if your employer keeps withholding for the old state, you are lending it money you'll have to claim back at filing time.
FAQ
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Figures in this guide use the 2026 federal parameters published by the IRS (Rev. Proc. 2025-32): standard deduction, brackets, FICA and the Child Tax Credit — the same engine behind our calculator. Educational information, not tax advice; consult a CPA about your situation. hello@mypaycal.org
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