States With No Income Tax in 2026 — and What They Charge Instead

Nine states levy no tax on wages in 2026: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. New Hampshire completed the club in 2025 when it repealed its tax on interest and dividends; Washington still taxes large capital gains, but not paychecks.

On a $75,000 salary, skipping state income tax is worth anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand a year versus high-tax states — moving that salary from New York State to Florida keeps an extra $3,453 annually, and more for a New York City resident.

The catch: states tax something

States without income taxes fund themselves elsewhere, usually at the register or through property. Tennessee pairs no income tax with the nation's second-highest average sales tax (9.61% combined). Washington sits at 9.57%, Texas at 8.2% with famously high property taxes, and New Hampshire has no sales tax but among the highest property taxes in the country. Alaska is the outlier, funded largely by oil revenue.

That means the winner depends on how you earn and spend. High earners who rent generally do best in no-income-tax states; a modest earner who owns an expensive home in Texas can pay more total tax than they would in a low-income-tax state like Arizona (2.5% flat) or North Dakota.

No-income-tax states at a glance

Sales tax figures are 2026 combined state + average local rates; take-home is a single filer on $75,000.

The math of moving: who actually wins

Income tax savings scale with income; sales and property taxes scale with spending and home value. A single renter earning $150,000 gives up about $9,873 a year in California state tax — moving to Texas keeps nearly all of it, and a renter's exposure to Texas property tax is indirect. A family earning $75,000 that buys a $400,000 home in Texas faces property tax near 1.6–1.8% of value — roughly $6,500–7,000 a year — which exceeds what many mid-income households paid in state income tax where they came from.

The general pattern: high earners who rent benefit most from no-income-tax states; homeowners with modest incomes may not benefit at all; retirees depend on whether their pension and Social Security were taxed in the old state (many states exempt them anyway).

What no-income-tax states are good at hiding

Fees. States without an income tax lean harder on vehicle registration, tolls, licensing and 'sin' taxes. Washington's vehicle taxes and Florida's toll network are line items that residents of income-tax states rarely think about. None of these alone changes the calculus for a high earner, but for a middle-income household the total picture is closer than the income-tax headline suggests.

Public services are the other side of the ledger. States fund different things at different levels; what you pay is only half of a comparison, and the other half — schools, transit, healthcare programs — is harder to price but real.

Residency rules, briefly

Most states use a combination of domicile (where your permanent home is) and a day-count test (commonly 183 days) to decide who is a resident. High-tax states audit departures aggressively: New York and California in particular examine where your family lives, where your car is registered, where your doctors and gym are, and cell-phone location records. A genuine move is defensible; a mailbox in Florida while living in Manhattan is not.

Remote workers face an extra wrinkle: several states (New York among them) tax income earned by employees of in-state companies who work remotely for their own convenience, regardless of where they sit. If you plan to relocate while keeping an employer in a high-tax state, confirm the employer's withholding position first.

Each no-income-tax state, briefly

Alaska funds itself from oil and pays residents a Permanent Fund dividend; it has no state sales tax, though many boroughs levy local ones, and living costs are high. Florida leans on sales tax and tourism; property taxes are moderate, and homestead exemptions cap assessment increases for primary residences. Nevada runs on gaming and sales tax; property taxes are low, and Las Vegas and Reno have grown on the strength of California out-migration. New Hampshire has neither income nor sales tax, paying for government with some of the highest property taxes in the nation and business taxes.

South Dakota is a low-tax state across the board, funded by sales tax and a trust industry drawn there by its laws. Tennessee combines no income tax with the nation's second-highest sales tax; groceries are taxed at a reduced rate. Texas has high property taxes, moderate sales tax and no income tax; its constitution now bars one. Washington taxes capital gains above a high threshold, has among the highest sales taxes, and withholds a small long-term-care premium from wages. Wyoming, like Alaska, funds itself from mineral revenue and has low taxes of every kind.

Effective total burden, roughly

Combining income, sales and property taxes into one household figure is imprecise — it depends on what you earn, spend and own — but the direction is consistent. For a middle-income renter, no-income-tax states are almost always cheaper. For a middle-income homeowner, Texas and New Hampshire can match or exceed the total tax paid in a moderate income-tax state like North Carolina or Arizona. For a high earner, no-income-tax states win decisively regardless of housing. The mistake is treating 'no income tax' as 'low tax'; the right question is always which taxes you personally pay most of.

Thinking about moving?

Compare your real paycheck first, then layer in housing. Our state paycheck calculators show the exact income-tax difference, and the state sales tax pages show what you'd pay at the register. And remember: your state of residence for tax purposes follows where you actually live and work, not where you'd like to be taxed — remote workers can owe tax to the state their employer requires them to work in.