5 US States With The Highest Taxes

Tax season's around the corner. (Though does it ever really go away?) You've got your W-2s, 1099s, and the rest of the alphabet soup of documents you'll have to submit come April 15. But did you bother considering your address? It has an outsized yet often overlooked effect on how much you owe the taxman, according to data compiled from various sources, including WalletHub, the Tax Foundation, Intuit, Kiplinger, and other financial analysis organizations. If you live in one of the five US states with the highest taxes, you're paying a premium for your zip code.

The United States has as many tax configurations as it does states; consider it one characteristic — a benefit or downside — of our federal republic's structure. A state personal income tax, for example, is a foreign concept to residents of Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. They, by default, have some of the lowest tax burdens in the country.

While a life free of local taxes digging into your bank account sounds ideal, it's more complex than that. The government has multiple ways to separate you from your money. Property taxes, sales taxes, and capital gains taxes all add to one's overall tax burden (defined as the total percentage of income given up to various taxes). Each varies by state and income level. The cost of living can also be fundamentally changed by a state's tax policies. So moving to another, lower-tax state may not be a clear win. That's unless you live in any of the following five states, whose mix of income, property, sales, and other taxes makes their citizens some of the most tax burdened in the country.

Hawaii likes to say aloha to its residents' money. WalletHub ranked Hawaiians as the most tax-burdened folks in the country, with the state nabbing dollars in various ways. Nearly 14% of locals' income goes towards the state's onerous web of taxes, according to the site, with income tax rates ranging between 1.4 and 11%, graduating based on compensation. Single filers earning over $200,000, for example, pay an 11% income tax, though various loopholes bring the number down for those able to navigate the administrative labyrinth of any state's tax code. Even if they lower their taxable income, the state's property taxes and a 7.2% sales and excise tax burden — the highest in the country — will nab their dollars. The state even found additional tax revenue via the cruise tax, which may change the way visitors plan their vacations, part of a green fee for tourists.

"The sales tax, usually a flat tax applied as a percentage of a sale, is a regressive tax in that people with lower incomes must spend more of their take-home pay on goods and services," Michael Belsky, Head of Fitch Ratings' Public Finance Group, told WalletHub. "A major tax source in states that are tourism or vacation destinations relies on excise taxes. ... This is a fair form of taxation in that out-of-state residents are paying for the state's cost of funding infrastructure to support the wear and tear of the tourism economy."

Hawaii's residents, while perturbed by the high rates, seem more bothered by the state's lackluster spending habits. "It would not be so bad if we got great things for all these taxes," according to one Reddit user. "Fine, tax us, but be a good steward and spend the money wisely to our benefit."

The concrete jungle, where there's nothing you can't do. Except for avoiding taxes, those you have to pay. And pay quite a lot. The state's graduated income tax rate has citizens sending between 4 and 10.9% of their income to Albany, depending on how much they make. The state's income taxes, combined with local excises, mean New Yorkers shuffle close to 6% of their income to the Empire State, the highest rate in the nation, according to WalletHub. It gets worse if you're lucky enough to own a home. Residents need close to 5% of their income to cover the cost of onerous property taxes.

That high tax burden put New York last on the Tax Foundation's 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index. The organization shellacked the state in its analysis (the nonprofit tends to favor low-tax states and advocates policies to that end), claiming New York City's magnetism helps it, and the state, overcome "a high-rate, poorly structured tax code." If you happen to live within the five boroughs, expect another local income tax of up to 3.9% to eat away at whatever is left of your pay after federal and state taxes.

That's all before you consider New York's decoupling from the 2025 tax reforms, which created federal deductions for taxes on tips and overtime. While that income may be deductible with the IRS, the Empire State requires filers to keep those earnings on their state tax return. You can take a bite out of the Big Apple, but it'll always take a big bite back.

The Green Mountain State often gets recognized for its vintage-style homes and historic New England Charm. Yet it should tack "and taxes" to its "Freedom and unity" motto. Vermont's knack for taxing property makes its residents the third most tax-burdened in the nation. Owning a home in the state means 5% of your income will be used to service your annual property tax, the highest in the country, according to WalletHub. That's on top of its graduated income tax, which varies between 3.35 and 8.75%, depending on how much you earn. Not as eye-watering as some of the other states on this list, but a pretty penny compared to neighboring New Hampshire's nonexistent income tax. (In 2025, the Granite State ditched the final part of its income tax, that on interest and dividends, after already being the most affordable state in America.)

Vermont's laundry list of taxes can be dizzying. Property and income taxes aside, combined local and state sales taxes average out to 6.39%. It also has an estate tax, as well as high excises on fuel and cigarettes ($3 per pack). Combined, it puts the state near the bottom of the Tax Foundation's 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index, ranking 42nd. 

Citizens venting online resent the apparent lack of ROI. "It seems like the tax burden is higher here than pretty much everywhere else in the country," one resident wrote on Reddit. "I have an inherent willingness to pay more to live in a place as beautiful as this state, but I struggle to see how natural beauty is so expensive to maintain. When I think of classically tax-funded things like roads, police departments, and accessible healthcare, I feel like we are decently behind a good chunk of the country, and not just the more highly taxed states."

If you're California dreamin', hire an excellent accountant. The Golden State may rank in the top five states for scenic coastlines, but it also ranks in the top five in taxing its residents, with the second-highest personal income tax burden in the country at 4.87%. That rate increases as your income rises, ranging from 1% to higher earners paying close to 13%. The state also decoupled from 2025's federal tax reforms, subjecting tips and overtime to state taxes.

The state's usual draws — the sheer size of its economy, its tech hub reputation, and its ideal weather — do little to spare it the Tax Foundation's ire, which ranked it the third-least competitive state in its index. "The state has a great deal going for it, with its mild climate, excellent research universities, and the ongoing agglomeration effects of Silicon Valley (which is seeing a resurgence with the rise of generative AI), but a tax code that is uncompetitive and threatens to get worse is increasingly driving jobs to other states," it wrote in its analysis, adding the complex, convoluted system burdens non-residents if they work in the state. California's top-end tax rate, the highest in the country, has an outsized role in its ranking, as the tax rates for middle and low-income families are on par with the rest of the country. Yet those groups are hit by the states' more regressive tax policies.

"It's so misleading to only discuss income tax," one Californian wrote on Reddit. "We have the highest gas tax in the country, high sales taxes, and some of the most expensive registration fees. ... It's not a cheap state at all, whatsoever. State income and property taxes might be average, but they're the exceptions, not the norm."

This may seem like a surprise choice. Maine, best known for summer vacations, doesn't seem like a place that'll offend the tax-sensitive. Yet its fifth-highest property tax rate, combined with income taxes that range from 5.8 to 7.15% and sales tax burdens that eclipse 3%, makes its residents the fifth-most burdened in the country, with just over 10% of their earnings going to the taxman. Maine also kept tips and overtime as taxable income, despite federal-level 2025 tax reforms.

That tax outlay is only growing, as the state extended the reach of its 5.5% sales tax, now applying it to digital goods and services. That means your Netflix and Spotify subscriptions will cost you more if you live in the Pine Tree State. It also taxes gas (31 cents per gallon) and $2 per pack of cigarettes.

"I moved here about a year and a half ago, and this is my full year paying Maine resident taxes, and they are way higher than when I lived in Pennsylvania," a transplant wrote on Reddit. "For about the same salary, I'm paying $3k extra in state taxes compared to PA. Going to have to look into withholding more state taxes from my paycheck somehow to offset this hit come next year."

Tax burden is a complex topic that goes far beyond simple tax rates. The amount you must pay varies considerably from state to state and from person to person. To make things worse, U.S. and state tax codes are notoriously complex, meaning that one person's tax burden can be radically different from that of all of their neighbors.

This list was formed based on data from several financial information sites: WalletHub, the Tax Foundation, Kiplinger, Paycor, and Intuit. The data from those sites, combined with recent reforms, helped determine each state's overall tax requirements on individuals. Tax burdens were analyzed across a range of income levels, including state income tax, sales tax, excise tax, property tax, and estate tax. Finally, we gauged residents' opinions on their state tax burden by looking at online forums, such as Reddit.