Every season, most U.S. residents do double duty. In addition to filing a federal tax return with the Internal Revenue Service, they also must file a state tax return.
We lucky, federal-only filers live in one of the eight states that don't tax any individual income. They are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire (which just joined the group on Jan. 1, 2025), South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. Residents of Washington state don't have to pay tax on wages, but some face a tax on capital gains.
In the rest of the country, individual income taxes are a major source of state government revenue, accounting for 33 percent of state tax collections in fiscal year 2023, the latest year for which data are available, according to the Tax Foundation's latest look at State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets.
Of those states taxing wages, 14 have single-rate tax structures under which one tax rate applies to all taxable income, notes the Washington, D.C.-based tax policy nonprofit. Conversely, 27 states and the District of Columbia have graduated-rate income tax systems, with the number of brackets varying widely by state.
The Tax Foundation also notes —
- Six states have a two-bracket income tax system. They are Arkansas, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, North Dakota, and Ohio.
- Hawaii has the most, with 12 individual tax brackets.
- Top marginal tax rates span from 2.5 percent in Arizona and North Dakota to 13.3 percent in California.
- California also imposes a 1.1 percent payroll tax on wage income, bringing the all-in top rate to 14.4 percent as of 2024.
The Tax Foundation's map below provides a visual overview of the current state tax individual income tax rates.
Check out the full analysis, which includes an interactive version of the above map and notable 2025 state individual income tax changes, for more details on each state's tax regime.
You also might find these state tax posts of interest:
- Directory of state tax departments
- High cigarette taxes can backfire, costing states money
- Property taxes have increased in 48 of 50 largest U.S. cities
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