State Income Tax, Compared: Flat, Graduated, and None in 2026

Every U.S. worker lives under one of three state rules for taxing a paycheck: no income tax at all, one flat rate, or graduated brackets that climb as income rises. On the same $75,000 salary, a single filer keeps about $61,593 in a no-tax state like Texas, about $58,677 in flat-rate Illinois, and about $56,881 in graduated, high-rate Oregon. That is a $4,712 swing on an identical salary, driven by structure alone, and you can test your own state in the Income Tax Calculator.

The federal income tax and FICA lines are the same in all three states. On $75,000 a single filer owes about $7,670 in federal income tax and $5,738 in Social Security and Medicare, no matter where they live. The entire spread between states comes down to the one line above that changes: state income tax.

Three ways a state taxes your paycheck

There are only three designs, and every state and the District of Columbia use one of them in 2026.

• No tax on wages. 9 states charge nothing on earned income: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. New Hampshire joined this group when it repealed its old interest-and-dividends tax in 2025; it never taxed wages to begin with.
• A single flat rate. 15 states apply one rate to (nearly) all taxable income. Arizona is the lowest at 2.5% and Illinois is a familiar example at 4.95%. Pennsylvania sits at 3.07%, Colorado at 4.4%, North Carolina at 3.99%.
• Graduated brackets. 26 states plus D.C. stack rates that rise with income, the same shape as the federal system. California’s headline top rate of 13.3% is the highest in the country, but that rate only touches income in the millions.

In total, 41 states levy a broad income tax on wages, split 15 flat and 26 graduated, while the other 9 take nothing. Those counts and rates are from the Tax Foundation’s 2026 dataset, dated February 17, 2026.

The same $75,000, three structures

The structure alone reshapes an identical paycheck.

Texas (no tax). The state line is $0, so the take-home stays at the ceiling of $61,593, an effective total rate of 17.9% once federal and FICA are counted.

Illinois (flat 4.95%). One rate applies to taxable income, which works out to about $2,916 in state tax. Take-home lands at $58,677, roughly $2,916 below Texas. A flat state is simple: your rate does not change whether you earn $40,000 or $400,000.

Oregon (graduated). Oregon’s brackets are steep, and a $75,000 single filer pays a blended state estimate near 8% here, about $4,712. Take-home drops to $56,881, an effective total rate of 24.2%. That leaves the Oregon worker about $4,712 behind the Texas worker on the same offer letter.

A graduated state does not mean a $75,000 earner pays the top marginal rate. That is the most common misread of these tables. A Californian on $75,000 pays a blended state rate closer to 4.5%, nowhere near the 13.3% headline that applies only to very high incomes. Always compare the effective rate near your salary, not the top bracket. You can run your exact income and state in the Income Tax Calculator to see the blended rate rather than guess from a bracket table.

The map: simplified state rates near $75,000

This is the same information as a map. Each tile is a state’s simplified effective income-tax rate for a single filer near $75,000. The nine pale tiles at 0.0% are the no-wage-tax states. The flat states show their statutory rate almost exactly. The graduated states show a blended estimate at this income, not their top bracket.

Open “Show the numbers” under the map for every state, sorted highest to lowest. Oregon sits at the dark end near 8%; Arizona and North Dakota sit near the bottom of the taxed group; the nine zero tiles anchor the light end.

The flat-rate camp is the one growing

The interesting movement in 2026 is toward flat taxes. Ohio switched from graduated brackets to a single 2.75% rate on nonbusiness income over $26,050 on January 1, 2026, becoming the 15th flat-tax state. Iowa and Louisiana made the same move a year earlier, so this is a multi-year trend, not a one-off.

Eight states cut individual income tax rates on that same January 1. Indiana dropped to 2.95%, Kentucky to 3.50%, Mississippi to 4.00%, North Carolina to 3.99%, and Oklahoma trimmed its top rate to 4.50% while collapsing six brackets into three, alongside Montana, Nebraska, and Ohio’s flat switch. Several flat states have also legislated phase-downs toward zero on revenue triggers, with Mississippi aiming for 3% by 2030 and further cuts after that. Those future cuts are conditional on the state hitting revenue targets, so they are a plan, not a promise.

One moving target worth flagging: the chart above uses Georgia at 5.19%, which matches the Tax Foundation’s February 2026 snapshot, but Georgia later legislated a cut to 4.99% retroactive to January 1, 2026. If you are a Georgia filer, use 4.99% as the fresher figure.

Washington, and why the count is sometimes 8

You will see the no-income-tax group listed as either 8 or 9 states. Both are right, depending on the question. Washington charges no tax on wages, which is why consumer guides count 9 states with no wage tax. But Washington does levy a 7% excise on long-term capital gains above roughly $262,000 (9.9% above $1 million), so the Tax Foundation’s strict count of “no individual income tax” states is 8 and treats Washington as the asterisk. If you earn a salary in Washington, your state income tax on that salary is still $0.

No income tax is not the same as low taxes

A state still has to pay for roads and schools. The ones with no income tax usually make it up elsewhere. Texas and Florida lean hard on property tax. Washington and Tennessee lean on sales tax. So the paycheck number here is real, but it is not the full cost of living somewhere. A bigger take-home can be eaten by a higher property tax bill or steeper sales tax at the register. Compare total tax burden, not just the income-tax line, before you decide a no-tax state is cheaper for you.

A note on the numbers. The map colors and per-state figures are simplified effective income-tax rates near $75,000, built for ranking, not exact tax bills. The data file states it plainly: “Rates for taxed states are simplified estimates for ranking, not exact liabilities; state deductions, credits and local taxes vary.” No-tax states are exact at $0. Flat states are close to their statutory rate. Federal tax and FICA are computed from the published 2026 IRS and SSA figures and are precise. Every state estimate excludes local income taxes, credits, itemized deductions, and pre-tax contributions like a 401(k). Treat the structure and the ranking as reliable and the exact dollar as an estimate.

Run your own salary, filing status, and state in the Income Tax Calculator. For more, see which states charge nothing on wages in the guide to no-income-tax states, learn how the bracketed states actually stack rates in U.S. income tax brackets explained, or go back up to The 50-State Money Hub for the full state-by-state picture.