Take-home pay by state,
ranked across 5 salary levels.

Taxes included

• Federal income tax — 2026 IRS bracket math, single filer with standard deduction ($15,000)
• Social Security — 6.2% on the first $176,100 of wages
• Medicare — 1.45% on all wages (plus 0.9% surcharge above $200,000)
• State income tax — effective average rate at the salary level, drawn from each state's 2026 published brackets

What is NOT included

• City and local income tax (e.g., NYC adds up to 3.88%, Philadelphia 3.79%)
• State-specific payroll deductions (CA SDI 0.9%, NY SDI, etc.)
• Property tax, sales tax, vehicle registration, or other non-income taxes
• 401(k) contributions, HSA, or health insurance premiums
• Itemized deductions, dependents, or other adjustments to gross income

Why "effective" rates for state tax

Each state uses different bracket structures — some flat, some progressive with up to 9 brackets. To compare apples-to-apples across all 50, we calculate the effective rate (total state tax divided by gross income) at each salary level. For state-specific bracket math, see the individual state calculators.

Filing status

All rankings shown above use the single-filer standard deduction. Married-filing-jointly couples generally see ~5-10% higher take-home pay due to the larger deduction and wider brackets.

Update cadence

This page is updated annually each January when the IRS publishes new bracket adjustments, and again whenever a state changes its income tax structure mid-year.