Take Home Pay by State Calculator — compare two states side by side

The take home pay by state calculator answers a question that "no state income tax" headlines usually leave half-finished: if you moved from your current state to a no-tax state, how much would you actually keep, and is that difference as big as it sounds? Federal tax and FICA don't change based on where you live, so this tool holds those constant and isolates the one variable that does change — state income tax — to show a fair, apples-to-apples comparison between any two states.

Arb Digital built this for the relocation and remote-work conversation that's become common since employees gained more geographic flexibility: "I could live anywhere — should I move to Texas to save on taxes?" The honest answer usually involves more than the tax line, and this tool is designed to show you that one piece clearly so you can weigh it against the rest.

What This State Comparison Tool Does

You enter a gross annual salary, choose a filing status, then pick two states from a dropdown — State A and State B. The calculator computes federal tax and FICA once, since those are identical regardless of state, then applies each state's illustrative effective income tax rate from a built-in lookup table covering all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. The nine states with no broad income tax — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming, plus New Hampshire, which taxes only limited investment and interest income rather than wages — are set to 0% in that table. The headline result is the dollar difference in take-home pay between the two states you picked; the grid below shows each state's take-home pay and state tax amount individually.

How to Use It

1. Enter your gross annual salary. Use the same salary for both states — this tool assumes you'd earn the same amount regardless of location, which is common for remote roles.
2. Choose your filing status. This affects the standard deduction and federal bracket thresholds used for both states equally.
3. Select State A and State B. Pick your current state and a state you're considering, or any two states you want to compare.
4. Read the difference. The big number shows how much more (or less) you'd take home annually in State A versus State B.
5. Check the grid. Compare each state's tax amount individually to see how much of the gap is driven by income tax specifically.

The Formula — Why Only State Tax Changes

Federal income tax follows the same nationwide bracket system regardless of where you live, using 2025 brackets and the 2025 standard deduction of $15,000 for single filers or $30,000 for Married Filing Jointly, per the IRS federal tax brackets page. FICA — 6.2% Social Security up to the 2025 wage base of $176,100, plus 1.45% Medicare — is also a federal program and doesn't vary by state, as confirmed by the Social Security Administration. That leaves state income tax as the only line that actually shifts when you change the state dropdown, which is exactly why this tool holds federal and FICA constant and isolates the state variable — it's the cleanest way to see what a move genuinely changes.

Each state's rate in this tool is an illustrative flat effective rate meant to approximate what a typical filer at a moderate income level pays, not the exact bracket structure every state uses (many states, like California and New York, have their own progressive brackets; others, like Pennsylvania and Illinois, use a true flat rate). Treat these as planning estimates and confirm your actual liability using your state's department of revenue or a tool like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's resources before making a relocation decision.

Why "No Income Tax" Is Only Half the Story

It's tempting to see a 0% state tax rate and assume you've found free money. In practice, states without an income tax still need revenue, and they collect it somewhere else — usually property tax, sales tax, or both. Texas, for example, has no state income tax but carries some of the highest average property tax rates in the country. Washington has no income tax but a relatively high combined state and local sales tax rate. Florida leans on sales tax, tourism-related taxes, and property tax. None of this means moving to a no-tax state is a bad idea — it just means the income tax savings this calculator shows you is one input into a bigger decision, not the whole answer. If you own a home, rent versus buy, or spend heavily in retail, those other tax categories can offset a meaningful share of the income tax difference you see here.

The same caution applies in reverse for high-tax states. California and New York have higher state income tax rates than most of the country, but they also fund different levels of public services and, in some metro areas, different labor markets and wage scales that may make the higher tax more than worth it for a given career.

Cost of Living Usually Matters More Than the Tax Line

Even a genuinely large state tax difference is often smaller than the cost-of-living difference between two cities. A software engineer moving from a high-cost coastal metro to a lower-cost inland city might save 5% in state income tax and simultaneously see housing costs drop by 30% or more — a far larger effect than the tax line by itself. Conversely, someone who takes this calculator's state tax savings at face value and moves to a lower-tax state with an equally high cost of living, or a much lower salary market, can end up no better off overall. That's precisely why we built a companion tool: use our cost of living calculator alongside this one any time you're comparing a move between two specific cities, not just two state tax systems.

• Use this tool to isolate the state income tax difference between two states at the same salary.
• Use the cost of living calculator to see what salary you'd actually need to maintain your standard of living in a new city.
• Combine both before treating any relocation as a guaranteed net financial win.

How to Read a Multi-State Career the Right Way

People who compare states most often fall into one of three situations: evaluating a job offer that requires relocation, deciding whether to keep a remote job while moving somewhere cheaper, or simply curious how much of a "raise" a hypothetical move would be. Each of these calls for a slightly different reading of this tool's output. If you're evaluating a job offer with a stated salary already tied to a specific state, this calculator tells you what that salary is actually worth net of state tax compared to your current location — useful for negotiating or for deciding whether a lower advertised salary in a no-tax state still beats a higher one in a high-tax state. If you're a remote worker considering a move purely for cost reasons, this tool isolates only the tax piece of that decision; you still need to separately account for how your specific expenses — housing, insurance, transportation — will change, which is where a dedicated cost-of-living comparison becomes essential.

It's also worth noting that state tax law changes over time. A handful of states have phased in rate reductions or moved from bracketed systems toward flatter single-rate systems in recent years, and others periodically adjust brackets for inflation. The rates built into this tool are a snapshot meant for planning and comparison, not a permanent guarantee — if a move is imminent, verify the current rate directly with the destination state's department of revenue before finalizing any budget built around this estimate.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Treating the state tax savings as the entire financial picture of a move. Property tax, sales tax, and cost of living often matter more than the income tax line alone.
• Assuming every no-income-tax state has the same overall tax burden. Texas, Florida, Washington, and Wyoming each raise revenue very differently despite all having 0% income tax.
• Using a marginal rate instead of an effective rate when comparing states informally. This tool uses illustrative effective rates specifically to avoid that distortion.
• Forgetting that some states also tax remote workers based on where the employer is located, not just where the employee lives. A handful of states apply "convenience of the employer" rules that can create dual state tax exposure.
• Ignoring salary differences between markets. A lower-tax state sometimes also pays a lower salary for the same role, which can erase the tax advantage entirely.

Related Free Tools From Arb Digital

Pair this comparison with our cost of living calculator to see the salary you'd need to maintain your lifestyle in a new city, the gross to net calculator to itemize your full deduction waterfall in either state, the net pay calculator for a fast per-paycheck estimate, and the income tax calculator for a full annual tax comparison. Explore everything else in our free online tools hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

This tool provides general estimates for educational purposes only and is not financial, tax, legal, or medical advice. Figures are illustrative; consult a licensed professional for decisions.