Guides · US state taxes

US state taxes: the gap the federal calculator does not cover

Why federal-only in v1

The decision to ship a federal-only calculator was conscious, not lazy. Three reasons:

1. There are 43 state income tax regimes, plus DC, plus a patchwork of city and county income taxes (NYC, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Columbus, Portland-Metro, and so on). Each has its own brackets, deductions, credits, and quirks. Each would need a primary-source fact registry and 10+ golden tests before it could ship.
2. The federal baseline is auditable. Two jurisdictions (US federal + UK E/W/NI) lets the math be verified with primary government sources and reviewed by an external tax professional. Fifty states does not scale that way — at least not with the v1 budget.
3. Most state calculators are wrong anyway. Many consumer tax tools layer a flat state rate on top of federal, which is misleading. State taxes are progressive or flat depending on the state, with their own deductions and credits. Shipping a model that says "federal + 5%" would be more wrong than helpful.

The plan in the original Batch 1 approval pack calls out state-by-state calculators as a Batch 6+ priority. The order of jurisdiction rollout is decided by traffic intent and source quality, not alphabetical order. Several states (California, New York, Texas, Florida) are obvious early targets because of population and search volume.

The state income tax landscape

As of 2026, the structure of US state income taxes looks like this:

A few caveats:

• These are approximate top marginal rates as of the 2026 legislative cycle. They shift year to year. The Tax Foundation publishes a state-by-state comparison that is updated annually.
• Many states tax capital gains as ordinary income; some (California, New York) at the highest rates. Others (Pennsylvania, New Jersey) exclude some or all retirement income.
• A handful of "no state income tax" states (Washington, for example) have introduced narrow taxes on capital gains or high-income earners. The label is increasingly an oversimplification.

"No state income tax" — what it really means

Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Nevada, Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming, New Hampshire, and Washington do not tax wage income. That's a real advantage for residents — but not always as large as it looks:

• Property taxes are higher in most of these states, especially Texas, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. Property tax is a different beast — it is a holding cost on real estate, not a payroll deduction — but it shows up in the cost-of-living math.
• Sales tax is higher in most of these states (Texas 6.25-8.25%, Florida 6-7.5%, Tennessee 7%, Nevada 6.85-8.375%, Washington 6.5-10.25%).
• State services are leaner. Lower tax revenue means fewer state-funded services and infrastructure. Income is not the only thing to compare when relocating.
• Washington's capital gains tax (enacted 2022, effective 2022 onward) is a 7% tax on long-term capital gains above $262,000 for single filers. It is technically an excise tax, not an income tax, so it lives outside the income-tax bucket but applies to investment income.
• Texas, Florida, New Hampshire still have property, sales, and (in some cases) estate tax. They are income-tax-free, not tax-free.

A full relocation decision requires a cost-of-living analysis that includes property tax, sales tax, healthcare, childcare, and commuting — not just the income-tax line.

The gap, worked through

A single filer earning $80,000 a year in three different states, compared to the federal-only number from the calculator:

Same gross, same federal tax, same job — but the take-home difference between Texas and New York is over $6,800 a year. That's a car payment, a year of groceries, or the first chunk of a down payment. It is a real number that the calculator currently does not show.

The state columns above are illustrative, calculated from each state's published brackets for tax year 2026. They use the single-filer standard deduction where applicable and ignore state-specific credits. Run your own numbers against the state Department of Revenue's official calculator before making any financial decision.

Local taxes on top of state

Several cities and counties levy their own income tax on top of state income tax. The big ones:

NYC's combined top marginal rate (state + city) is around 14.8% — the highest subnational income tax in the country. That stacks on top of federal, which gives a top combined marginal rate of nearly 52% before any deductions or credits. A high earner in NYC faces more state-and-local tax burden than a high earner in London, even before the 60% PA-taper trap.

How to estimate your real take-home

Until state calculators ship on TaxMetria, the workflow is:

1. Run the US calculator for the federal piece.
2. Find your state's Department of Revenue (DOR) — they all publish an online withholding calculator or worksheet. Search "withholding calculator" plus your state name.
3. Subtract the state number from the federal-only number. The difference is your real annual take-home.
4. Add any local tax on top — NYC, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Portland-Metro, Columbus, and a handful of others.
5. Cross-check against a paystub you have on hand, if possible. State withholding is mechanical and predictable, but year-end reconciliation catches errors.

Property tax and sales tax are separate from income tax and belong in a cost-of-living comparison, not a take-home-pay comparison. They do not show up on a payslip.

Related

• US take-home pay calculator (federal only)
• How progressive income tax works
• Marginal vs effective tax rate
• Bracket creep and inflation
• Assumptions — what the calculator models and excludes
• Methodology — engine, data, and tests