Financial Tools · Taxes

Is Moving to a No-Income-Tax State Worth It?

Compare what you pay where you live now with what you would pay after a move: state and local income tax, property tax or rent, home insurance, sales tax, everyday prices and trips back home, plus the one-time cost of moving. See whether you come out ahead each year, how long the move takes to pay for itself and how the same household would do in every other state.

Start calculating

9 states

with no income tax on wages: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming

1.35%average property tax on home value in New Hampshire, the highest of the nine

9.61%combined state and local sales tax in Tennessee, the highest of the nine

13.30%top 2026 income tax rate in California, the highest of any state

3.0 timesthe average home insurance premium in Florida compared with Oregon (NAIC)

01Your Move

Pick where you live now and where you are thinking of moving, then enter your income and housing. Every figure marked automatic is an estimate from state averages; replace it with your own number whenever you have one, such as the tax on a real listing or an insurance quote. Everything stays in your browser.

Where you live now

Where you are thinking of moving

Tax filing status

Income

Household wages and salary a year, in $

Pre-tax 401(k) contributions, % of pay

Children under 17

Local income tax where you live now

Local income tax where you would move

Social Security a year (household), in $

Pension a year, in $

401(k), 403(b) and other employer plan withdrawals a year, in $

IRA withdrawals a year, in $

Interest, dividends and other taxable income, in $

Your age

Your spouse's age

Enter each spouse's income separately

With this on, the Social Security, pension, 401(k) and IRA figures above are yours, and these are your spouse's. Interest and dividends are split evenly.

Spouse: Social Security a year, in $

Spouse: pension a year, in $

Spouse: 401(k) and other employer plan withdrawals, in $

Spouse: IRA withdrawals a year, in $

Your share of the household's retirement income and Social Security, %each state's exclusions are applied to each spouse's own income

Local income tax where you live now

Local income tax where you would move

Housing

Do you own or rent?

Value of your home now, in $

Property tax you pay now, $ a year

Home insurance you pay now, $ a year

Price of the home you would buy, in $

Property tax on that home, $ a year

Home insurance there, $ a year

Mortgage payment now, $ a month (optional)principal and interest

Mortgage payment on the new home, $ a month (optional)at today's rates, for the loan you would take

Rent you pay now, $ a month

Rent you would pay there, $ a month

Spending, trips and moving costs

Everything else you spend in a year, before sales tax, in $

Share of that spending that pays sales tax, %

Adjust everyday spending for price levels in each state (BEA)

Trips back to family and friends a year

Cost of each trip for the household, in $

Moving the household and its belongings, in $

Cost of selling your home, % of its value

Closing costs on the new home, % of its price

A year	Now	After the move	Change

One-time costs of the move

02What Changes Each Year

Each bar is one cost after the move compared with now. Bars to the left are money you keep; bars to the right are money you would spend.

03Ten Years Out

The running total from the day you move: the one-time costs first, then each year's saving or extra cost, in today's dollars. Where the line crosses zero, the move has paid for itself.

04Every State Compared

The same household moving from to each other state, with the automatic estimates for home price, property tax, insurance and rent in each one. Trips and one-time costs are left out so the states compare on what they cost to live in. A positive number is money saved each year; a negative one is extra cost.

Show only the nine states with no income tax

State	Saved on income taxes	Saved on housing	Saved on prices and sales tax	Saved a year

States with no income tax are marked with an asterisk. Housing is property tax and insurance for owners or rent for renters. Income taxes include state and local income tax and state payroll deductions such as disability or paid-leave insurance.

05The Nine States With No Income Tax

Where each of the nine raises money instead. Property tax is the average effective rate on owner-occupied homes (NAHB, 2024 Census data); sales tax is the state rate plus the average local rate; insurance is the average homeowners premium compared with the national average.

State	Property tax	Sales tax	Home insurance vs average	Rents vs average	Note
Alaska	0.90%	1.82%	-24%	-6%	No income tax.
Florida	0.76%	6.98%	+79%	+22%	No income tax.
Nevada	0.50%	8.24%	-36%	+14%	No income tax.
New Hampshire	1.35%	0.00%	-20%	+15%	No income tax on wages; the tax on interest and dividends ended in 2025.
South Dakota	1.00%	6.11%	+18%	-32%	No income tax.
Tennessee	0.46%	9.61%	+0%	-21%	No income tax on wages or investment income.
Texas	1.25%	8.20%	+61%	-4%	No income tax.
Washington	0.74%	9.57%	-23%	+26%	No income tax on wages; Washington taxes long-term capital gains above a yearly threshold.
Wyoming	0.58%	5.39%	+7%	-29%	No income tax.

Insurance compares each state's average premium with the simple average of all states (NAIC, 2022 premiums). Rents compare each state's housing price level with the national level of 100 (BEA regional price parities, 2024).

06How the Calculator Works and What It Leaves Out

Income tax. State and local income tax uses the 2026 brackets, deductions, exemptions and local taxes from the DaveManuel.com Paycheck Calculator, run on your income in each state. For working households it includes state payroll deductions such as California, New Jersey and New York disability insurance and Washington's paid leave and long-term care programs. Federal income tax is the same wherever you live, so it is left out. The one exception: if you itemize, a lower state tax also lowers your federal deduction for state and local taxes, which trims the saving a little; the calculator does not count that.

Retirement income. For retired households, each state's 2026 rules for Social Security, pensions, 401(k) withdrawals and IRA withdrawals are applied first: which states tax Social Security and above what income, and the age-based exclusions for pensions and retirement accounts, which some states give to employer plans but not IRAs. For a married couple, the exclusions are applied to each spouse's own income and age, using the split you enter. The amount left is taxed with the same state brackets. Local income taxes are included where they tax the state's taxable income (New York City and Yonkers, Maryland and Indiana counties, and Portland-area taxes in Oregon); city wage taxes elsewhere do not reach retirement income. Government and military pensions often get better treatment than the private pensions modeled here; the notes in the state table say where.

Housing. Owners compare property tax and insurance on the home they have with the home they would buy; the mortgage itself is left out, on the assumption that you would carry a similar loan. The automatic home price scales your home's value by the difference in housing price levels between the two states, the automatic property tax applies the state's average effective rate, and the automatic insurance scales your premium by the difference in average premiums. All three are state averages, and real homes vary far more within a state than between states, so use real listings and quotes when you can. Renters compare rent, scaled the same way unless they enter a figure.

Everyday spending and sales tax. Everything else the household buys is scaled by the BEA's price levels for goods and for services other than housing in each state (2024), with the sales tax taken out so it is not counted twice, and the share you choose is charged each state's combined sales tax rate. The automatic figure is 45% of household income for working households and 60% for retirees; enter your own for a better answer.

Left out: the federal deduction for state and local taxes; car insurance, registration and vehicle taxes; tolls; estate and inheritance taxes; Washington's capital gains tax and other taxes on investment gains (see the Capital Gains Tax Calculator); changes in pay from moving to a new job market; health insurance; and income that the old state can keep taxing after you leave. One-time costs are not spread over time and the ten-year line is in today's dollars with no growth in income or prices.

Retirement rules last checked November 7, 2026. State income tax figures: Paycheck Calculator data, updated October 21, 2026.

07Frequently Asked Questions

Which states have no income tax?

Nine: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. New Hampshire never taxed wages, and its tax on interest and dividends ended in 2025. Washington does not tax wages but does tax long-term capital gains above a yearly threshold, and it has its own payroll deductions for paid leave and long-term care. Tennessee ended its tax on investment income in 2021.

Do no-income-tax states make up for it with other taxes?

Usually in part. States still have to pay for schools, roads and services, so most lean harder on sales tax, property tax or both. New Hampshire has the highest property tax of the nine at 1.35% of home value a year on average, and Tennessee has the highest combined sales tax at 9.61%. Whether the trade works for you depends on how much you earn compared with what you own and spend, which is what the calculator measures.

Who saves the most by moving to a state with no income tax?

High earners with modest housing costs. Income tax rises with income, while property tax rises with the value of the home and sales tax with spending. A household earning a large salary in a high-tax state and buying a similar home in Texas or Florida usually comes out well ahead; a retiree living mainly on Social Security, which most income-tax states already exempt, often saves little and can end up paying more once insurance and property tax are counted.

Is my Social Security taxed by my state?

In most states, no. Of the states with an income tax, only a handful tax any Social Security in 2026: Colorado (under 65), Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont, and most of them exempt it below an income limit. The retiree path of the calculator applies each state's rule, and its exclusions for pensions and IRA withdrawals.

Why does a new buyer often pay more property tax than the state average?

Several states limit how fast the assessed value of a home can rise while the same owner keeps it, including California (Proposition 13) and Florida (Save Our Homes, for homesteads). Long-time owners there pay far less than the rate on a new purchase, which pulls the state average down. When you buy, the home is usually reassessed at the price you pay, so check the tax on a real listing in the county you are looking at and enter it in the calculator.

Can my old state still tax me after I move?

It can tax income that comes from the state, such as rent from property you keep there, and some states look closely at whether you really left. California and New York audit former residents who claim to have moved, checking where they spend their days, keep a home, see doctors and register cars and to vote. Income earned before the move, and some deferred pay and stock awards earned while you lived there, can stay taxable in the old state. Keep records of the move date.

08Sources

Tax Foundation: State and Local Sales Tax Rates, Midyear 2026 (combined rates as of July 1, 2026)
NAHB Eye on Housing: Property Taxes by State, 2024 (effective rate on owner-occupied homes, from the Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey)
Insurance Information Institute: average homeowners premiums by state (NAIC data, HO-3 policies, 2022)
Bureau of Economic Analysis: Regional Price Parities by State
Kiplinger: how all 50 states tax retirees, checked against the Rhode Island Division of Taxation, Connecticut General Assembly and Maryland Comptroller figures for those states
DaveManuel.com Paycheck Calculator (state and local income tax brackets, with their sources)

Cite This Page

This page is free to cite and link. Its figures come from Tax Foundation (sales tax), NAHB from Census Bureau data (property tax), NAIC via the Insurance Information Institute (home insurance), Bureau of Economic Analysis (regional price parities) and state revenue departments (income tax and retirement income rules) and are kept current, so please include the date you accessed it.

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Source data: Tax Foundation (sales tax), NAHB from Census Bureau data (property tax), NAIC via the Insurance Information Institute (home insurance), Bureau of Economic Analysis (regional price parities) and state revenue departments (income tax and retirement income rules). Updates: Yearly. How we build our data pages.