State income tax costs you anywhere from nothing to 13.3% of taxable income, depending on which state you live in. Nine states tax no wage income at all. California sits at the top: a 12.3% top marginal rate, plus a 1% Mental Health Services Tax on income above $1 million.
Federal rules are identical in all 50 states. State rules are not. Each state writes its own brackets, its own standard deduction and its own definition of taxable income, and each publishes on its own schedule. That last part matters more than it sounds, so every rate in this guide is labelled with the tax year it belongs to.
What state income tax pays for, and what it does to your paycheck
State income tax funds state-specific services: K-12 schools and public universities, roads and bridges, state police, Medicaid administration, parks, and aid to counties and cities. It sits on top of federal income tax and FICA, which is why two people earning $85,000 in Austin and in Sacramento see different numbers on the same gross pay.
Your state of legal residence, plus any state where you physically earn income, decides who gets to tax you and at what rate.
How the calculation works
Taxable income
Most states start from your federal adjusted gross income, then add and subtract items of their own. Some tax municipal bond interest that is exempt federally. Many exempt pension income that the IRS taxes. Colorado starts from federal taxable income instead of AGI, so the federal standard deduction is already baked in before Colorado's rate applies. Do not assume your federal taxable income is your state taxable income.
Brackets and rates
States use one of two structures. A progressive system taxes each slice of income at a higher rate as income climbs, the way federal brackets work. A flat system applies one rate to all taxable income. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia and Arizona are flat-rate states. California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio and Maryland are progressive. Massachusetts sits between the two: a flat 5%, plus a 4% surtax that takes the rate to 9% on income above $1,083,150 for 2025.
Deductions and credits
State standard deductions are almost always smaller than the federal one, sometimes dramatically so. California's 2025 single standard deduction is $5,706. New York's is $8,000. Pennsylvania's is zero: it taxes compensation from the first dollar. Several states use a per-person exemption instead, such as Illinois at $2,925 per person for 2026 and Indiana at $1,000.
Credits come off the tax itself, dollar for dollar. California and New York both run a state earned income credit on top of the federal one, with their own income limits, and most states offer some version of a child care or property tax credit that has no federal twin.
Residency
Residency usually decides more of your bill than the rate does. If a state is your domicile, your true fixed home, it taxes all of your income no matter where you earned it. If you merely earn money in a state, that state taxes only the income sourced there, and your home state gives you a credit for the tax you paid so the same dollar is not taxed twice. Move mid-year and you file part-year returns in both states. California and New York both audit departing residents aggressively, and a 183-day count is only one of the tests they apply.
Some neighboring states sign reciprocal agreements so commuters file one return instead of two. Live in Wisconsin and work in Illinois and only Wisconsin taxes your wages.
Withholding
Your employer withholds state tax each pay period based on a state W-4 equivalent, then you reconcile on the state return. Which brings us to the most common error in published state tax tables.
A withholding table is not a tax table
Several states publish two completely different sets of numbers. One is the income tax schedule used on the return. The other is the payroll withholding schedule employers use to estimate tax per paycheck. They are not the same numbers, and they are often not even the same tax year.
California is the clearest case. The Employment Development Department's Method B schedules show withholding rates like 1.10%, 2.20% and 10.23%, topping out at 13.530%. Those are not California income tax rates. Each one is a real Franchise Tax Board rate multiplied by California's 1.1 withholding factor: 1% becomes 1.10%, 2% becomes 2.20%, 9.3% becomes 10.23% and the 12.3% top rate becomes 13.530%. California's actual top rate is 12.3%, not 10.23%. The schedules also run a full tax year behind. The 2026 Method B tables use an annual standard deduction of $5,706 and annual brackets starting at $11,079, which is the FTB's 2025 schedule, the same one in the worked example below.
If you see 10.23% quoted as a California tax rate, or 4.09% quoted as North Carolina's (the real 2026 rate is 3.99%, plus a 0.1% withholding cushion), you are reading a payroll table.
Three worked examples, each dated
California below is tax year 2025, because that is the newest schedule the Franchise Tax Board has published. FTB's own 2026 Form 540-ES instructions tell people estimating 2026 tax to use the 2025 table. New York is tax year 2026, published in the instructions for Form IT-2105. Pennsylvania's rate is statutory and identical for both years.
California, single filer, tax year 2025
2025 Schedule X, from the Franchise Tax Board's Form 540 booklet. It applies to single filers and to married filing separately.
| Rate | Taxable income | |---|---| | 1.0% | $0 to $11,079 | | 2.0% | $11,079 to $26,264 | | 4.0% | $26,264 to $41,452 | | 6.0% | $41,452 to $57,542 | | 8.0% | $57,542 to $72,724 | | 9.3% | $72,724 to $371,479 | | 10.3% | $371,479 to $445,771 | | 11.3% | $445,771 to $742,953 | | 12.3% | Over $742,953 |
Daniel is a single support engineer in Sacramento with $75,000 of California AGI and no itemized deductions. The 2025 single standard deduction is $5,706, so his taxable income is $75,000 minus $5,706, or $69,294.
- 1% on the first $11,079 = $110.79
- 2% on the next $15,185 ($11,079 to $26,264) = $303.70
- 4% on the next $15,188 ($26,264 to $41,452) = $607.52
- 6% on the next $16,090 ($41,452 to $57,542) = $965.40
- 8% on the last $11,752 ($57,542 to $69,294) = $940.16
Total: $110.79 + $303.70 + $607.52 + $965.40 + $940.16 = $2,927.57.
His marginal rate is 8%. His effective rate on the full $75,000 is 3.9%. The distance between those two numbers is the point of a progressive schedule, and it works the same way federally, which our post on marginal versus effective tax rates walks through. Treat $2,927.57 as a before-credits figure: California also allows a personal exemption credit that comes off the tax directly. The California paycheck calculator runs this same 2025 schedule against a real salary and adds federal tax and FICA.
Pennsylvania, single filer, tax year 2026
Pennsylvania taxes compensation at a flat 3.07%, with no standard deduction and no personal exemption. The rate is statutory and has not changed for 2025 or 2026.
$75,000 x 0.0307 = $2,302.50.
Marginal and effective rates are both 3.07%, which makes Pennsylvania easy to forecast. There is one trap. Pennsylvania does not treat 401(k) elective deferrals as pre-tax: defer $10,000 and your federal taxable income drops $10,000 while your Pennsylvania taxable compensation drops by nothing, costing you $307 that a resident of most other states would not pay. Most Pennsylvania municipalities also charge a local earned income tax around 1%, which this figure excludes.
New York, married filing jointly, tax year 2026
New York cut its five lowest rates for 2026 under Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2025. A table that still shows 4.00% at the bottom is a year out of date.
| Rate | Taxable income (married filing jointly) | |---|---| | 3.9% | $0 to $17,150 | | 4.4% | $17,150 to $23,600 | | 5.15% | $23,600 to $27,900 | | 5.4% | $27,900 to $161,550 | | 5.9% | $161,550 to $323,200 | | 6.85% | $323,200 to $2,155,350 |
Rates continue to 10.9% on income above $25 million.
Priya and Sam file jointly on $150,000 of New York AGI. The 2026 joint standard deduction is $16,050, so taxable income is $133,950.
- 3.9% on the first $17,150 = $668.85
- 4.4% on the next $6,450 = $283.80
- 5.15% on the next $4,300 = $221.45
- 5.4% on the remaining $106,050 = $5,726.70
Total New York State tax: $6,900.80, a 4.6% effective rate on $150,000. Under the 2025 rates the same couple would have owed $7,034.75, so the rate cut is worth about $134 a year to them.
If they live in one of the five boroughs, New York City adds its own resident tax on the same $133,950: 3.078% up to $21,600, then 3.762%, 3.819% and 3.876%, which comes to $4,967.21. State and city together, $11,868.01, or 7.9% of gross. Commuters who live outside the city pay none of it, and the New York paycheck calculator has a switch for exactly that.
Flat versus progressive: which one actually costs less
Flat does not mean cheap, and progressive does not mean expensive at every income. Here is the same single filer in four states, using each state's own deduction and the tax years above, before credits.
| State (tax year) | Tax on $75,000 | Tax on $250,000 | |---|---|---| | Pennsylvania, flat 3.07% (2026) | $2,303 | $7,675 | | California, 1% to 12.3% (2025) | $2,928 | $19,158 | | New York, 3.9% to 10.9% (2026) | $3,453 | $13,962 | | Texas or Florida, no income tax | $0 | $0 |
At $75,000, California costs a single filer about $625 more than Pennsylvania. Call it $12 a week. At $250,000 the gap is $11,483. California's reputation comes from the top of its schedule, not the middle of it, and anyone comparing states on the headline top rate is comparing a number they will probably never pay.
The flat states win on predictability and at high incomes. Progressive states with generous low brackets, California included, are competitive in the $40,000 to $90,000 range. A no-tax state is not automatically cheaper once property and sales tax are counted either, which our California versus Texas paycheck comparison works through with real numbers.
The nine states with no income tax on wages
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming do not tax wage income.
Two footnotes. New Hampshire's Interest and Dividends Tax was repealed effective January 1, 2025, so investment income is no longer taxed there either. Tennessee's Hall tax on interest and dividends was fully repealed in 2021. Washington taxes certain long-term capital gains at 7% above an annual exemption, which never touches a regular paycheck.
These states still fund schools and roads, so they lean on sales tax, property tax and excise taxes instead. Compare the total burden, not one line of it. The Texas paycheck calculator and Florida paycheck calculator show what the missing state line is worth against federal tax and FICA, which still apply everywhere.
Mistakes that cost people money
Quoting a withholding rate as a tax rate. Covered above, and the reason this guide dates every figure. Withholding schedules exist to pull roughly the right amount out of a paycheck, not to state the law.
Using a bracket table that is a year or two stale. New York's bottom rates changed for 2026. Indiana's flat rate fell to 2.95% and North Carolina's to 3.99%. Illinois raised its exemption allowance to $2,925. California, meanwhile, has published nothing for 2026 at all. Different states, different clocks.
Ignoring state tax when you move. A mid-year move means part-year returns in two states. Get the residency dates wrong and you either pay twice on the same income or fail to file somewhere.
Never updating the state W-4. State withholding forms are separate from the federal W-4 and do not update themselves when you marry, have a child or take a second job. Our W-4 walkthrough covers the federal side, and your state form usually needs the same attention.
Assuming federal deductions carry over. They often do not. Pennsylvania ignores your 401(k) deferral. Colorado requires an add-back of the federal overtime deduction starting in tax year 2026. Read the state's own instructions rather than reasoning from the federal return.
Forgetting local tax. New York City, Philadelphia, most Ohio municipalities, Detroit and all 24 Maryland jurisdictions levy income tax on top of the state's. In Maryland the county rate is part of the state return itself.
Where this leaves you
If you are choosing between states, run your actual salary through both calculators rather than comparing top marginal rates, then add property tax on the house you would actually buy. If you are trying to understand the line on your pay stub, find the bracket table on your state revenue department's own site, confirm it says "tax rate schedule" and not "withholding", and check the year printed on it. Two minutes of that beats any summary table, including this one.
When the stakes are large, a multi-state move, a business selling across state lines, a departure from California or New York, pay a CPA licensed in the states involved. Residency rules are where the expensive surprises live.
Key takeaways
- State income tax ranges from 0% in nine states to a 13.3% top combined rate in California, and residency rather than the rate usually decides your bill.
- California's real 2025 top rate is 12.3% plus a 1% Mental Health Services Tax above $1 million; the 10.23% figure that circulates online is a payroll withholding rate, not a tax rate.
- A single filer with $75,000 of California AGI owes $2,927.57 for 2025 after the $5,706 standard deduction, an effective rate of 3.9% against a marginal rate of 8%.
- New York cut its five lowest rates for 2026, taking a couple with $150,000 of AGI from $7,034.75 to $6,900.80, with another $4,967.21 due if they live in New York City.
- Pennsylvania's flat 3.07% costs $2,302.50 on $75,000 and taxes 401(k) deferrals that are pre-tax federally, adding $307 per $10,000 deferred.
- State figures publish on different clocks, so check the tax year on any bracket table before trusting it; California had published nothing for 2026 as of September 2026.
Sources
- California Franchise Tax Board, 2025 Instructions for Form 540, Tax Rate Schedules X, Y and Z and the California Standard Deduction Chart (2025 tax year): 2025 Form 540 booklet
- California Franchise Tax Board, 2026 Instructions for Form 540-ES, which directs 2026 estimators to the 2025 tax table and the $5,706 and $11,412 standard deductions: 2026 Form 540-ES instructions
- California Employment Development Department, California Withholding Schedules for 2026, Method B, cited here only as the withholding tables that are not income tax rates: 2026 Method B schedules
- New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Instructions for Form IT-2105 (2026), state and New York City rate schedules and the standard deduction table (2026 tax year): Instructions for Form IT-2105
- New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Instructions for Form IT-201 (2025), used for the 2025 comparison figures: Instructions for Form IT-201
- Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, Personal Income Tax, the 3.07% rate and the absence of a standard deduction or personal exemption: PA personal income tax
- New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration, Interest and Dividends Tax, repealed effective January 1, 2025: NH interest and dividends tax
- Tennessee Department of Revenue, Hall income tax repeal (2021): Tennessee Department of Revenue
Figures reflect the tax years labelled beside each state and the state data in Calcora's tax tables. Reviewed by the Calcora editorial team.