States Ranked by Total Tax Burden
All 50 states ranked by total state and local tax burden as a share of income, using the Tax Foundation's latest burden estimates, with each state's 2026 income tax structure on the record.
How this ranking works
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 and supply the subscores published with the top 15 states: state and local tax collections per capita for fiscal year 2023, from the Tax Foundation's 2026 Facts and Figures compilation, and each state's individual income tax structure as of January 1, 2026, from the Tax Foundation's 2026 state income tax rates dataset. The three subscores are the burden share (inverted, so a lower burden reads as a fuller meter), per-capita collections (also inverted), and a structure score that rewards no or flat income taxes. 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.
1AlaskaNo income tax, no state sales tax95.8
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.
The receipts: Lowest tax burden in America at 4.6 percent of state income (Tax Foundation, 2022). It levies neither a state income tax nor a state sales tax; oil severance revenue paid largely by nonresident energy consumers funds the government (Tax Foundation, 2022).
2WyomingNo income tax93.4
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).
The receipts: A 7.5 percent burden, second lowest in the nation (Tax Foundation, 2022), and the best-structured tax code in the country on the 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index (Tax Foundation, 2026). Mineral severance revenue lets residents pay little directly.
3TennesseeNo income tax92.1
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).
The receipts: A 7.6 percent burden, third lowest in the nation (Tax Foundation, 2022), and second-lowest collections per capita at $4,912 (Tax Foundation, FY2023). It climbed to eighth on the 2026 competitiveness index after eliminating its investment income tax (Tax Foundation, 2026).
4South DakotaNo income tax90.6
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).
The receipts: One of only two states that levy neither an individual nor a corporate income tax, and second overall on the 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index (Tax Foundation, 2026). Its low collections per capita keep the resident burden among the nation's lightest (Tax Foundation, FY2023).
5TexasNo income tax89.3
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.
The receipts: No personal income tax and consistently among the lowest total burdens in the Tax Foundation series (Tax Foundation, 2022). The trade-off is property taxes that run above the national average, the mechanism by which a no-income-tax state still funds schools and local services.
6FloridaNo income tax88.2
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).
The receipts: No personal income tax, with a meaningful share of sales taxes exported to tourists (Tax Foundation, 2022). It has ranked among the lowest-burden states in every recent edition of the burden study, one reason the state absorbed heavy in-migration this decade.
7New HampshireNo income tax, no state sales tax87.0
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.
The receipts: Completed the phase-out of its interest and dividends tax, leaving it with neither an income tax nor a sales tax, and climbed three places on the 2026 competitiveness index as a result (Tax Foundation, 2026). High property taxes are the offsetting cost.
8OklahomaGraduated income tax, cut in 202685.4
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).
The receipts: Among the lowest burdens in the country (Tax Foundation, 2022), and one of eight states that cut individual income tax rates on January 1, 2026 (Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes). Low housing and living costs reinforce the light overall load.
9MississippiFlat 4.0 percent income tax, phasing to 3 percent84.6
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).
The receipts: The lowest tax collections per capita in America at $4,868 (Tax Foundation, FY2023). Its flat income tax fell from 4.4 to 4.0 percent in 2026 on a legislated path to 3 percent by 2030 (Tax Foundation, 2026), one of the clearest cutting trajectories in the country.
10AlabamaGraduated income tax, low property taxes83.7
Third-lowest collections per capita at $4,950 (Tax Foundation, FY2023) and some of the lowest property taxes in the nation.
The receipts: Third-lowest collections per capita at $4,950 (Tax Foundation, FY2023) and among the lowest property taxes in the nation. The light load lined up with positive net domestic migration of 23,358 in the Vintage 2025 estimates (Census Bureau, 2025).
11South CarolinaGraduated income tax82.9
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).
The receipts: Fourth-lowest collections per capita at $4,984 (Tax Foundation, FY2023), paired with the fastest population growth in the country at 1.5 percent (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025). The light load and the inflow reinforce each other.
12ArizonaFlat 2.5 percent income tax82.0
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).
The receipts: 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). Few states pair a low burden with such a simple rate structure.
13NevadaNo income tax81.2
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).
The receipts: No personal income tax, with gaming and sales taxes heavily exported to visitors (Tax Foundation, 2022). The visitor economy lets residents bear a below-average share of the state's total tax collections.
14MontanaGraduated income tax, cut in 2026, no state sales tax80.5
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).
The receipts: No general sales tax, and an income tax rate reduction effective January 1, 2026 (Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes). Its overall tax structure ranks sixth best in the nation on the 2026 competitiveness index (Tax Foundation, 2026).
15GeorgiaFlat 5.19 percent income tax79.8
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).
The receipts: Converted to a flat income tax now at 5.19 percent and scheduled to keep falling (Tax Foundation, 2026), with collections per capita well below the national average (Tax Foundation, FY2023). The structural move earned it a strong competitiveness ranking.
16North DakotaLow income tax rates, energy-backed78.9
Residents bear a modest burden because oil severance revenue does much of the work, even though the state ranks third for collections per capita at $9,834 (Tax Foundation, FY2023). Collections and burden diverge sharply here.
17LouisianaFlat 3.0 percent income tax for 202678.1
Adopted a flat 3.0 percent individual income tax for 2026, among the lowest flat rates in the country (Tax Foundation, 2026), aimed at reversing persistent net domestic out-migration (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025).
18MissouriGraduated income tax, low collections77.3
Below-average tax collections per capita in the Tax Foundation series (Tax Foundation, FY2023), part of a low-cost Midwest that drew positive net domestic migration in 2025 (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025).
19IndianaFlat income tax, cut in 202676.6
A flat individual income tax cut further on January 1, 2026 (Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes), with a below-average overall burden that helps explain its ninth-place CNBC business ranking (CNBC, 2025).
20WisconsinGraduated income tax75.8
A middle-of-the-pack total burden in the Tax Foundation series (Tax Foundation, 2022), with property taxes above the national average balanced by moderate income and sales rates.
21IdahoFlat income tax75.0
A flat individual income tax and a below-average overall burden (Tax Foundation, 2026), a structure that accompanies the nation's second-fastest population growth (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025).
22UtahFlat 4.55 percent income tax74.3
A flat individual income tax and a moderate overall burden (Tax Foundation, 2026). Utah pairs a lean tax structure with AAA credit and disciplined budgeting (S&P Global Ratings).
23KentuckyFlat income tax, cut in 202673.5
One of eight states that cut individual income tax rates on January 1, 2026 (Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes), with a flat structure and a below-average total load.
24North CarolinaFlat income tax, cut in 202672.8
A flat individual income tax reduced again on January 1, 2026 (Tax Foundation, 2026), part of a decade of cuts that accompanied its rise to the nation's top migration destination (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025).
25ColoradoFlat 4.4 percent income tax72.0
A flat individual income tax and a moderate overall burden (Tax Foundation, 2026), though rising housing costs, not taxes, appear to be driving its recent net domestic out-migration (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025).
26New MexicoGraduated income tax, energy-backed71.2
Oil-and-gas severance revenue lets residents bear a moderate burden relative to what the state collects (Tax Foundation, 2022), a milder version of the Alaska and Wyoming pattern.
27MichiganFlat 4.25 percent income tax70.5
A flat individual income tax and a middle-of-the-pack total burden (Tax Foundation, 2026), a structure that accompanied its best CNBC business ranking in years at sixth (CNBC, 2025).
28West VirginiaGraduated income tax, cutting69.7
A below-average total burden with the most affordable housing in America (Tax Foundation, 2022), though slow income growth limits how much a light burden can do for the economy.
29ArkansasGraduated income tax, cutting68.9
A below-average total burden with home values among the five lowest of any state (Tax Foundation, 2022; Zillow, 2026), and a rate on a downward path in recent years.
30OhioNew flat income tax in 202668.1
Became the 14th flat-tax state in 2026 (Tax Foundation, 2026), a structural improvement, though property and local taxes keep the total burden near the national middle (Tax Foundation, 2022).
31OregonGraduated income tax, no sales tax67.3
No general sales tax, but high income tax rates push the total burden toward the upper-middle of the table (Tax Foundation, 2022). The absence of a sales tax is the state's defining structural feature.
32VirginiaGraduated income tax66.4
A moderate total burden in the Tax Foundation series (Tax Foundation, 2022), though federal workforce exposure, not tax policy, is now the dominant force on the state's economy (BLS, 2026).
33KansasGraduated income tax65.6
A middle-of-the-pack total burden (Tax Foundation, 2022), with property taxes above average balanced by moderate income and sales rates.
34NebraskaGraduated income tax, cut in 202664.8
One of eight states that cut individual income tax rates on January 1, 2026 (Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes), moving from an upper-middle burden toward the center of the table.
35PennsylvaniaFlat 3.07 percent income tax, high local taxes64.0
A low flat state income tax offset by high local wage and property taxes, leaving the total burden near the national middle (Tax Foundation, 2022).
36DelawareGraduated income tax, no sales tax63.2
No sales tax, but graduated income taxes and franchise-tax reliance leave the resident burden in the upper-middle range (Tax Foundation, 2022). The corporate-franchise machine funds much of the budget.
37WashingtonNo income tax, high sales and gross-receipts taxes62.3
No personal income tax, but a high sales tax and the business and occupation gross-receipts tax push its structure to 45th on the 2026 competitiveness index despite the missing income tax (Tax Foundation, 2026).
38IowaFlat 3.8 percent income tax61.5
Adopted a flat 3.8 percent income tax, a structural improvement, but property taxes keep the total burden in the upper-middle of the table (Tax Foundation, 2026; Tax Foundation, 2022).
39Rhode IslandGraduated income tax60.7
An upper-middle total burden with high property and income taxes (Tax Foundation, 2022), part of what makes it one of the more expensive states to do business (CNBC, 2025).
40MassachusettsFlat income tax plus millionaire surtax59.9
A flat base income tax topped by a millionaire surtax, pushing high earners into an upper-tier burden (Tax Foundation, 2026), even as the state's labor market stays strong (BLS, 2026).
41MarylandGraduated income tax plus county income taxes44.7
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).
42MaineGraduated income tax43.5
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).
43MinnesotaGraduated income tax, top rate near 10 percent42.2
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).
44IllinoisFlat 4.95 percent income tax, high property taxes41.0
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).
45CaliforniaGraduated income tax, top rate 13.3 percent plus39.6
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.
46VermontGraduated income tax38.4
Among the highest burdens in the Tax Foundation series (Tax Foundation, 2022), with property taxes that fund education driving much of the load.
47New JerseyGraduated income tax, highest property taxes36.9
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).
48HawaiiGraduated income tax, broad excise tax35.5
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.
49ConnecticutGraduated income tax34.2
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.
50New YorkGraduated income tax, highest total burden31.8
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).
Click any entry to open its full scorecard, sub-scores, and the receipts.
State-local tax burden, share of state income, calendar year 2022
The spread is enormous, and it is measured
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, a spread far wider than most Americans assume exists inside a single federal system.
The top of the low-burden list is stable across editions: 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). These are not one-year flukes. The same names have anchored both ends of the table for years, which is what gives the ranking its confidence at the extremes even where the middle is close.
Per-capita collections for fiscal year 2023 tell the same story from the government's side of the ledger, and they supply one of the three subscores here. Mississippi collected $4,868 per resident, the least in the nation, followed by Tennessee at $4,912, Alabama at $4,950, South Carolina at $4,984, and Arizona at $5,006. 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). Collections and burden usually agree, but not always, and where they diverge the reason is almost always tax exporting.
Who actually pays: the exporting states
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, and it is why the ranking anchors on burden rather than collections. It shows up third in the nation for collections per capita at $9,834 (Tax Foundation, FY2023), a figure that would suggest a heavily taxed population. Yet its residents' burden is modest, because oil severance revenue does the heavy lifting and much of it is borne by out-of-state energy buyers. Ranking North Dakota as a high-tax state on its collections alone would be flatly wrong. Its per-capita-collections subscore is low, but its overall rank stays in the top third because the burden measure corrects for exporting.
The exporting mechanism has limits worth naming. It works only for states with a commodity or a tourist economy to tax, and it ties those states' fortunes to volatile revenue. When oil prices fall, Alaska's and Wyoming's budgets crack first, which is a fiscal risk even if it keeps the resident burden low in good years. The light burden is real, but it is not free, and later sections return to the trade-off.
Reading the subscores: burden, collections, and structure
Each of the top 15 states carries three subscores that decompose its rank: the burden share inverted so a lighter load reads fuller, per-capita collections also inverted, and a structure score that rewards no or flat income taxes. Read together they explain why states that look similar on one measure diverge on the composite. Alaska tops the burden and structure meters but sits only in the middle on collections, because it collects substantial severance revenue even though its residents bear little of it (Tax Foundation, 2022; FY2023).
Mississippi is the inverse profile. Its collections subscore is the fullest in the country at $4,868 per resident, but its burden and structure meters are a notch lower because it still levies an income tax, even a low flat one (Tax Foundation, FY2023; 2026). The composite blends the three so that neither a single low number nor a single structural feature dominates. A state cannot ride one strong metric to the top; it needs a light load, low collections, and a clean structure together, which is why the no-income-tax states cluster at the very top.
The structure subscore is where the recent policy wave shows up most clearly. Ohio's jump into flat-tax territory in 2026 lifts its structure meter even though its overall burden sits near the national middle, which is why it appears at 30th rather than lower (Tax Foundation, 2026). The meters make the trade-offs visible: a state can have a modern, competitive tax code and still collect a middling total, and the subscores show exactly that combination rather than hiding it inside one number.
The structure map is being redrawn
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, with Massachusetts a partial exception through its millionaire surtax. The gap between the two Americas of taxation is widening because one side keeps cutting. A reader tracking this table over a five-year horizon should expect the low end to keep drifting lower and the high end to hold, which stretches the spread the ranking measures.
What the burden does not tell you
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. The composite measures the average burden, not its distribution, and the distribution can be regressive even where the average is light.
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). That correlation is suggestive but not proof of cause, since high-tax Minnesota gained migrants in 2025 while low-tax Louisiana lost them.
Why the extremes are certain and the middle is not
The ranking is most confident where the data is most separated. New York, Connecticut, and Hawaii sit at 15.9, 15.4, and 14.9 percent, and Alaska, Wyoming, and Tennessee at 4.6, 7.5, and 7.6 percent (Tax Foundation, 2022). Those are gaps of several percentage points, corroborated by collections data and structure alike. No plausible revision moves New York out of the high-burden group or Alaska out of the low-burden one. The identities at both ends are settled.
The middle is a different matter, and readers should treat it accordingly. States ranked roughly 20 through 40 are separated by fractions of a percentage point in burden, and a single dataset revision or a modest rate change can swap adjacent states. Ohio at 30, Oregon at 31, and Virginia at 32 are effectively tied on total burden and differ mainly on structure and the composition of what they tax. A no-sales-tax state like Oregon and a new-flat-tax state like Ohio can land within a rank of each other while getting there by opposite routes. The composite orders them, but the honest reading of the middle is that it is a cluster, not a ladder, and the subscores are the better guide there than the rank number itself.
State and local tax collections per capita, FY2023
The one-way structural drift of the 2020s
Tax structures rarely move fast, but the direction of the past few years is unmistakable and it runs entirely one way. On January 1, 2026, eight states cut individual income tax rates on the same day: Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oklahoma (Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes; CBS News, 2026). Ohio became the 14th state to adopt a flat individual income tax, and Louisiana moved to a flat 3 percent rate (Tax Foundation, 2026).
The flat-tax wave has reshaped the middle of this table over a short span. As recently as 2020, Tennessee ranked 38th on the Tax Foundation's competitiveness index; by 2026 it ranked eighth, after eliminating its investment income tax (Tax Foundation, 2026). New Hampshire finished phasing out its interest and dividends tax and joined the nine states with no broad-based income tax at all (Tax Foundation, 2026). Mississippi's flat rate is on a legislated path from 4.0 percent toward 3 percent by 2030 (Tax Foundation, 2026).
No comparable movement runs the other way. High-burden states have generally held their rates steady rather than raised them, with Massachusetts the notable exception in adding a millionaire surtax (Tax Foundation, 2026). The result is a widening gap: the low-burden states keep cutting while the high-burden states hold, so the distance between the two ends of the table, already a factor of more than three in 2022, is stretching further with each January (Tax Foundation, 2022).
Individual income tax rates, selected states, 2026
What the evidence settles
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.
What remains 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.
Questions people ask
Which state has the lowest overall tax burden?
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.
Which state taxes its residents the most?
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).
Which states have no income tax in 2026?
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).
Are low-tax states cutting taxes further?
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).
Does a low tax burden always mean low collections?
No. Energy states like North Dakota collect a lot per capita but export much of it to nonresidents through severance taxes, so their residents' burden is modest even though collections are high. That is why this ranking anchors on burden, not collections.
Sources
- Tax Foundation, State and Local Tax Burdens by State (calendar year 2022 edition) https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/tax-burden-by-state-2022/
- Tax Foundation, State and Local Tax Collections Per Capita by State, 2026 (FY2023 data) https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-local-tax-collections-per-capita/
- Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Data: Facts and Figures https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/2026-state-tax-data/
- Tax Foundation, 2026 State Income Tax Rates and Brackets https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates-2026/
- Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes Taking Effect January 1st https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/state/2026-state-tax-changes/
- Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/state/2026-state-tax-competitiveness-index/
- CBS News, 9 states are cutting individual income taxes in 2026 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nine-states-cutting-income-taxes-2026/
- U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 State Population Estimates https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2026/national-state-population-estimates.html
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, State Employment and Unemployment Summary, May 2026 https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm
- CNBC, America's Top States for Business 2025, full rankings https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/10/top-states-for-business-americas-2025-the-full-rankings.html
Parker, T. E. (2026). States Ranked by Total Tax Burden. US Political Rank. https://uspoliticalrank.com/rankings/states-by-tax-burden<iframe src="https://uspoliticalrank.com/embed/states-by-tax-burden" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #ddd;border-radius:8px" title="States Ranked by Total Tax Burden" loading="lazy"></iframe>Keep reading
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