This ranking measures how much of residents' income is consumed by state and local taxes of every kind: income, sales, property, excise, and severance. The anchor dataset is the Tax Foundation's State and Local Tax Burdens study, whose most recent edition estimates burdens for calendar year 2022. That study is unique because it assigns taxes to the state whose residents economically bear them, not merely the state that collects them; tourist-heavy and energy-exporting states export part of their tax bill to nonresidents.
Two supplementary datasets refine the picture. First, state and local tax collections per capita for fiscal year 2023, from the Tax Foundation's 2026 Facts and Figures compilation, the most recent collections data available. Second, each state's individual income tax structure as of January 1, 2026, from the Tax Foundation's 2026 state income tax rates dataset: nine states levy no broad-based income tax, and Ohio in 2026 became the 14th state with a flat tax.
Ranks blend the burden share, per-capita collections, and structure. Where the Tax Foundation publishes an exact burden percentage, it is quoted. The ordering is analytical; no government agency ranks states this way, and mid-table states differ by fractions of a percentage point. The framework is indifferent to party. It does not ask whether taxes fund good things. It measures one variable: how much is taken, relative to what residents earn.
", "entries": [ { "rank": 1, "name": "Alaska", "detail": "No income tax, no state sales tax", "score": "95.8", "blurb": "The lowest tax burden in America at 4.6 percent of state income (Tax Foundation, calendar year 2022). Oil severance taxes paid largely by nonresidents carry the budget." }, { "rank": 2, "name": "Wyoming", "detail": "No income tax", "score": "93.4", "blurb": "A 7.5 percent burden, second lowest in the nation (Tax Foundation, 2022). Like Alaska, mineral severance revenue lets residents pay little directly; Wyoming also ranks first on the 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index (Tax Foundation, 2026)." }, { "rank": 3, "name": "Tennessee", "detail": "No income tax", "score": "92.1", "blurb": "A 7.6 percent burden, third lowest (Tax Foundation, 2022), and among the five lowest states for tax collections per capita at $4,912 (Tax Foundation, FY2023 data)." }, { "rank": 4, "name": "South Dakota", "detail": "No income tax", "score": "90.6", "blurb": "No individual or corporate income tax, one of only two states that forgo both, and a top-3 finish on the 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index (Tax Foundation, 2026)." }, { "rank": 5, "name": "Texas", "detail": "No income tax", "score": "89.3", "blurb": "No personal income tax and consistently among the lowest total burdens in the Tax Foundation series (Tax Foundation, 2022). Property taxes are the trade-off and run above the national average." }, { "rank": 6, "name": "Florida", "detail": "No income tax", "score": "88.2", "blurb": "No personal income tax, with sales taxes partly exported to tourists. Florida has ranked among the lowest-burden states in every recent edition of the Tax Foundation burden study (Tax Foundation, 2022)." }, { "rank": 7, "name": "New Hampshire", "detail": "No income tax, no state sales tax", "score": "87.0", "blurb": "As of 2025 New Hampshire completed the phase-out of its interest and dividends tax, leaving it with no income tax and no sales tax; the move lifted it three places on the Tax Foundation's 2026 competitiveness index (Tax Foundation, 2026). Property taxes are the highest-profile cost." }, { "rank": 8, "name": "Oklahoma", "detail": "Graduated income tax, cut in 2026", "score": "85.4", "blurb": "Among the lowest burdens in the country in the Tax Foundation series (Tax Foundation, 2022), with a further individual income tax rate reduction effective January 1, 2026 (Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes)." }, { "rank": 9, "name": "Mississippi", "detail": "Flat 4.0 percent income tax, phasing to 3 percent", "score": "84.6", "blurb": "The lowest tax collections per capita in America at $4,868 (Tax Foundation, FY2023), and a flat income tax that dropped from 4.4 to 4.0 percent in 2026 on a scheduled path to 3 percent by 2030 (Tax Foundation, 2026)." }, { "rank": 10, "name": "Alabama", "detail": "Graduated income tax, low property taxes", "score": "83.7", "blurb": "Third-lowest collections per capita at $4,950 (Tax Foundation, FY2023) and some of the lowest property taxes in the nation." }, { "rank": 11, "name": "South Carolina", "detail": "Graduated income tax", "score": "82.9", "blurb": "Fourth-lowest tax collections per capita at $4,984 (Tax Foundation, FY2023). A low-burden state that is also the nation's fastest-growing (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025)." }, { "rank": 12, "name": "Arizona", "detail": "Flat 2.5 percent income tax", "score": "82.0", "blurb": "Fifth-lowest collections per capita at $5,006 (Tax Foundation, FY2023) and the lowest flat income tax rate in the country at 2.5 percent (Tax Foundation, 2026)." }, { "rank": 13, "name": "Nevada", "detail": "No income tax", "score": "81.2", "blurb": "No personal income tax, with gaming and sales taxes heavily exported to visitors. Nevada has ranked among the lower-burden states throughout the Tax Foundation series (Tax Foundation, 2022)." }, { "rank": 14, "name": "Montana", "detail": "Graduated income tax, cut in 2026, no state sales tax", "score": "80.5", "blurb": "No general sales tax, and an income tax rate reduction that took effect January 1, 2026, one of eight states cutting rates that day (Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes)." }, { "rank": 15, "name": "Georgia", "detail": "Flat 5.19 percent income tax", "score": "79.8", "blurb": "Converted to a flat income tax now at 5.19 percent and scheduled to keep falling (Tax Foundation, 2026). Collections per capita remain well below the national average (Tax Foundation, FY2023)." }, { "rank": 41, "name": "Maryland", "detail": "Graduated income tax plus county income taxes", "score": "44.7", "blurb": "One of the few states where counties levy their own substantial income taxes on top of the state rate, pushing the combined burden into the nation's top tier (Tax Foundation, 2022)." }, { "rank": 42, "name": "Maine", "detail": "Graduated income tax", "score": "43.5", "blurb": "A high-burden state in every recent edition of the Tax Foundation study, with property and income taxes both above national norms (Tax Foundation, 2022)." }, { "rank": 43, "name": "Minnesota", "detail": "Graduated income tax, top rate near 10 percent", "score": "42.2", "blurb": "One of the highest top marginal income tax rates in the nation and a perennial bottom-third finisher on the Tax Foundation's competitiveness index (Tax Foundation, 2026)." }, { "rank": 44, "name": "Illinois", "detail": "Flat 4.95 percent income tax, high property taxes", "score": "41.0", "blurb": "The income tax is flat, but property taxes are among the highest in America and the total burden lands in the nation's top ten (Tax Foundation, 2022)." }, { "rank": 45, "name": "California", "detail": "Graduated income tax, top rate 13.3 percent plus", "score": "39.6", "blurb": "The highest top marginal income tax rate in the country and a total burden among the nation's highest (Tax Foundation, 2022). High earners carry an outsized share, which makes revenue volatile." }, { "rank": 46, "name": "Vermont", "detail": "Graduated income tax", "score": "38.4", "blurb": "Among the highest burdens in the Tax Foundation series (Tax Foundation, 2022), with property taxes that fund education driving much of the load." }, { "rank": 47, "name": "New Jersey", "detail": "Graduated income tax, highest property taxes", "score": "36.9", "blurb": "The highest property tax burdens in the country, the highest-rate corporate income tax, one of the highest individual income taxes, and an inheritance tax; the Tax Foundation ranks its structure 49th of 50 (Tax Foundation, 2026 Index). Collections were $9,178 per capita (FY2023)." }, { "rank": 48, "name": "Hawaii", "detail": "Graduated income tax, broad excise tax", "score": "35.5", "blurb": "A 14.9 percent burden, third highest in the nation (Tax Foundation, 2022), and collections of $9,758 per capita, fourth highest (Tax Foundation, FY2023). The general excise tax reaches nearly everything residents buy." }, { "rank": 49, "name": "Connecticut", "detail": "Graduated income tax", "score": "34.2", "blurb": "A 15.4 percent burden, second highest in America (Tax Foundation, 2022), with collections of $9,388 per capita (FY2023). High income, high property, and high estate taxes stack." }, { "rank": 50, "name": "New York", "detail": "Graduated income tax, highest total burden", "score": "31.8", "blurb": "The heaviest tax burden in the United States at 15.9 percent of state income (Tax Foundation, 2022), the highest state collections per capita at $12,506 (FY2023), and rank 50 of 50 on the 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index (Tax Foundation, 2026)." } ], "narrative": [ { "heading": "The spread is enormous, and it is measured", "html": "The distance between the lightest and heaviest taxed states is not a rounding error. In the Tax Foundation's most recent burden study, covering calendar year 2022, Alaskans surrendered 4.6 percent of state income to state and local taxes. New Yorkers surrendered 15.9 percent (Tax Foundation, 2022). That is a factor of three and a half between the two ends of the same country.
The top of the low-burden list is stable: Alaska at 4.6 percent, Wyoming at 7.5 percent, Tennessee at 7.6 percent. The top of the high-burden list is equally stable: New York at 15.9 percent, Connecticut at 15.4 percent, Hawaii at 14.9 percent (Tax Foundation, 2022).
Per-capita collections for fiscal year 2023 tell the same story from the government's side of the ledger. Mississippi collected $4,868 per resident, the least in the nation, followed by Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, and Arizona. New York collected $12,506, the most of any state, with North Dakota, Hawaii, Connecticut, and New Jersey rounding out the top five. The District of Columbia exceeded them all at $15,009 (Tax Foundation, 2026 Facts and Figures).
" }, { "heading": "Who actually pays: the exporting states", "html": "The burden study's central insight is that the state that collects a tax is not always the state whose residents pay it. Alaska and Wyoming fund government substantially through severance taxes on oil, gas, and coal that are ultimately paid by energy consumers nationwide. Nevada and Florida export a meaningful share of their sales taxes to tourists. That is how Alaska can collect healthy revenue while its own residents bear the lowest burden in America (Tax Foundation, 2022).
North Dakota is the cleanest illustration. It shows up third in the nation for collections per capita at $9,834 (Tax Foundation, FY2023), yet its residents' burden is modest, because oil severance revenue does the heavy lifting. Judging states only by what their governments collect would mislead. This ranking uses burden, not collections, as the anchor for exactly that reason.
" }, { "heading": "The structure map is being redrawn", "html": "Rates are one thing. Structure is another, and the structural story of the 2020s is the flat tax wave. In 2026, nine states levy no broad-based individual income tax at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. New Hampshire joined the list outright after finishing the phase-out of its interest and dividends tax (Tax Foundation, 2026).
Ohio became the 14th flat-tax state in 2026. Georgia now sits at a flat 5.19 percent, Iowa at 3.8 percent, Louisiana at 3 percent. Mississippi's flat rate fell from 4.4 to 4.0 percent this year on a legislated path to 3 percent by 2030. Eight states cut individual income tax rates on January 1, 2026, alone: Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oklahoma (Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes; CBS News, 2026).
No comparable movement exists in the other direction. High-burden states have mostly held rates steady rather than raised them. The gap between the two Americas of taxation is widening because one side keeps cutting.
" }, { "heading": "What the burden does not tell you", "html": "Honesty requires the caveats. A low burden is not free. Alaska and Wyoming ride volatile commodity revenue; when energy prices fall, their budgets crack first. Texas and New Hampshire compensate for missing income taxes with property taxes that rank among the nation's highest. Tennessee and other low-burden Southern states lean on sales taxes, which take a larger share of income from poorer households than from richer ones.
Nor does the burden measure what taxpayers receive. New York's 15.9 percent funds the country's largest transit system and extensive social services. Whether that is worth the price is a political judgment. This table does not make it. The table records what is taken, from whom, as a share of what they earn. The Census Bureau's migration data records how many people find the trade acceptable, and the correlation between the bottom of this list and the out-migration list is left for the reader to weigh (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025).
" } ], "settled": "The magnitudes are settled. New York, Connecticut, and Hawaii impose the heaviest state and local tax burdens in America, at roughly double to triple the share of income taken in Alaska, Wyoming, and Tennessee (Tax Foundation, calendar year 2022 burdens; FY2023 collections). It is also settled fact that nine states levy no broad-based income tax in 2026, that 14 states now use a flat tax, and that eight states cut income tax rates on January 1, 2026.", "contested": "What the burden buys remains contested. High-tax states argue their spending yields better schools, transit, and safety nets, and that burden studies undercount the value of services received. Low-tax states argue the migration ledger is the verdict that matters. Economists also debate the Tax Foundation's incidence assumptions, particularly how much tax genuinely gets exported to nonresidents, and note the burden data lags by several years. Both critiques are fair, and neither changes the relative order of the extremes.", "charts": [ { "type": "bar", "title": "State-local tax burden, share of state income, calendar year 2022", "unit": "percent of income", "data": [ { "label": "Alaska", "value": 4.6 }, { "label": "Wyoming", "value": 7.5 }, { "label": "Tennessee", "value": 7.6 }, { "label": "Hawaii", "value": 14.9 }, { "label": "Connecticut", "value": 15.4 }, { "label": "New York", "value": 15.9 } ] }, { "type": "bar", "title": "State and local tax collections per capita, FY2023", "unit": "dollars", "data": [ { "label": "Mississippi", "value": 4868 }, { "label": "Tennessee", "value": 4912 }, { "label": "Alabama", "value": 4950 }, { "label": "South Carolina", "value": 4984 }, { "label": "Arizona", "value": 5006 }, { "label": "New Jersey", "value": 9178 }, { "label": "Connecticut", "value": 9388 }, { "label": "Hawaii", "value": 9758 }, { "label": "North Dakota", "value": 9834 }, { "label": "New York", "value": 12506 } ] } ], "sources": [ { "title": "Tax Foundation, State and Local Tax Burdens by State (calendar year 2022 edition)", "url": "https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/tax-burden-by-state-2022/" }, { "title": "Tax Foundation, State and Local Tax Collections Per Capita by State, 2026 (FY2023 data)", "url": "https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-local-tax-collections-per-capita/" }, { "title": "Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Data: Facts and Figures", "url": "https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/2026-state-tax-data/" }, { "title": "Tax Foundation, 2026 State Income Tax Rates and Brackets", "url": "https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates-2026/" }, { "title": "Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes Taking Effect January 1st", "url": "https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/state/2026-state-tax-changes/" }, { "title": "Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index", "url": "https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/state/2026-state-tax-competitiveness-index/" }, { "title": "CBS News, 9 states are cutting individual income taxes in 2026", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nine-states-cutting-income-taxes-2026/" }, { "title": "U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 State Population Estimates", "url": "https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2026/national-state-population-estimates.html" } ], "faq": [ { "q": "Which state has the lowest overall tax burden?", "a": "Alaska, at 4.6 percent of state income in the Tax Foundation's most recent burden study (calendar year 2022). Wyoming (7.5 percent) and Tennessee (7.6 percent) are next. All three shift much of their tax load to nonresidents or forgo income taxes entirely." }, { "q": "Which state taxes its residents the most?", "a": "New York. Its residents bore 15.9 percent of state income in state and local taxes, the highest in the nation, and the state collects $12,506 per capita, also the highest (Tax Foundation)." }, { "q": "Which states have no income tax in 2026?", "a": "Nine states: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. New Hampshire completed the phase-out of its tax on interest and dividends, making it fully income-tax free (Tax Foundation, 2026)." }, { "q": "Are low-tax states cutting taxes further?", "a": "Yes. Eight states cut individual income tax rates on January 1, 2026: Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oklahoma. Ohio also became the 14th flat-tax state (Tax Foundation)." } ] }