State ranking · 2026 tax year · $100K single
Lowest State Income Tax at $100K
Every US jurisdiction ranked by the state income tax a single filer owes on $100,000 of taxable income, federal tax and FICA are identical everywhere, so only the state line moves.
- 9
- states charge $0
- $1,005
- cheapest taxed · North Dakota
- $8,431
- top of the table · Oregon
The lowest-burden answer
Live in one of the 9 no-income-tax states and your state line is $0 on $100K. Among states that do tax wage income, North Dakota is the lightest at $1,005 - its first bracket is exempt well past the median income. The same $100,000 costs $8,431 in Oregon, the heaviest state line in the country.
State schedules: each Department of Revenue 2026 · aggregated by Tax Foundation How we calculate →
Cheapest taxed states at $100K (state line only)
Full ranking, 10 lowest at $100K
| Rank | State | State tax at $100K | Top rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Alaska | $0 | 0.00% |
| #2 | Florida | $0 | 0.00% |
| #3 | Nevada | $0 | 0.00% |
| #4 | New Hampshire | $0 | 0.00% |
| #5 | South Dakota | $0 | 0.00% |
| #6 | Tennessee | $0 | 0.00% |
| #7 | Texas | $0 | 0.00% |
| #8 | Washington | $0 | 0.00% |
| #9 | Wyoming | $0 | 0.00% |
| #10 | North Dakota | $1,005 | 2.50% |
Why these states rank lowest
Two structures put a state near the top of this list. First, 9 jurisdictions impose no broad-based income tax - Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming, and fund themselves through severance taxes (Alaska, Wyoming), sales taxes (Tennessee, Florida, Nevada, Texas, Washington), gaming taxes (Nevada), or property taxes (Texas, Florida, New Hampshire). On the state income-tax line they all read $0. Source: Tax Foundation, 2026 State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets.
Second, among states that do tax income, the lightest burdens come from those whose lowest brackets reach far up the income scale. North Dakota exempts its first bracket past roughly the median household income, so a $100,000 taxable income is taxed at a low effective rate - $1,005 in total. Flat-rate states such as Pennsylvania (3.07%), Indiana (2.90%), and Arizona (2.50%) follow close behind. Source: each state Department of Revenue, 2026 schedules.
Six states cut their rates effective January 1, 2026, Arkansas (4.4%→3.9%), Mississippi (4.7%→4.4%), Nebraska (toward 4.55%), Ohio (to a flat 2.75%), Oklahoma, and West Virginia, pulling several of them down the ranking compared with 2025. Source: Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Changes Taking Effect January 1.
What this ranking doesn't capture
State income tax at $100,000 of taxable income is one slice of the whole picture. Several no-income-tax states recover the revenue elsewhere: Texas effective property tax exceeds 1.6% of home value (versus a ~1.0% national average), Tennessee's combined sales tax runs near the highest in the country, and Washington levies a 7% capital-gains tax above ~$270,000 in long-term gains. A low income-tax line is not the same as a low total tax burden.
For a side-by-side at any income level, see the all-state comparison, the individual state pages, or run your own numbers in the 2026 calculator.
Sources
- Tax Foundation, 2026 State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets
- Each state Department of Revenue, 2026 rate publications
- IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32-2026 federal inflation adjustments
- SSA Fact Sheet 2026, Social Security changes
Methodology: see the methodology page for the bracket-walking algorithm and the verification process.
Every figure on PlainTaxCalc is rendered directly from IRS Revenue Procedure and state Department of Revenue data, no number is typed in by an editor. This ranking draws directly on IRS Revenue Procedure and state Department of Revenue data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.