9 states have no income tax on wages in 2026: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Live and work in one and no state income tax comes out of your paycheck. Federal taxes still do, and two of the nine take a small state deduction.
New Hampshire and Tennessee only joined the list fully in recent years, after repealing their taxes on interest and dividends. Washington taxes large investment gains but not wages, and that changes in 2028. The table below is the same list our pay stub generator uses, with a link to each state’s own page.
The nine states with no income tax on wages
| State | Income tax | Still taken from pay by the state | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | No personal income tax | Unemployment insurance employee contribution | State source |
| Florida | No personal income tax | Nothing at state level | State source |
| Nevada | No individual income tax | Nothing at state level | State source |
| New Hampshire | Interest and dividends tax repealed from 2025 | Nothing at state level | State source |
| South Dakota | No state income tax | Nothing at state level | State source |
| Tennessee | Hall tax on investment income repealed from 2021 | Nothing at state level | State source |
| Texas | No personal income tax | Nothing at state level | State source |
| Washington | No tax on wages until 2028, when a tax on income over $1 million begins; capital gains tax now | Paid Family and Medical Leave and WA Cares premiums | State source |
| Wyoming | No personal income tax | Nothing at state level | State source |
New Hampshire repealed its interest and dividends tax for tax periods starting in 2025, and Tennessee’s Hall tax on investment income ended for periods starting in 2021, so both now tax neither wages nor investment income.
Washington is the exception that confuses people. It does not tax wages, but it does tax long-term capital gains from selling stocks, bonds and similar assets: 7%, rising to 9.9% on gains over $1,000,000. A salaried worker who sells no investments never meets it.
That will change for the highest earners. From January 1, 2028, Washington adds a 9.9% income tax on adjusted gross income over $1,000,000 a year, which does include wages. Below that amount, Washington stays free of income tax, so the change will not touch most paychecks.
What still comes out of your paycheck
No state income tax does not mean no withholding. Every paycheck in these states still carries the federal lines:
- Federal income tax, set by your W-4. See FIT on a pay stub.
- Social Security at 6.20% and Medicare at 1.45%, together called FICA.
- Your own deductions, such as health insurance and retirement plan contributions.
Two states add a deduction of their own. Alaska withholds an unemployment insurance contribution of 0.5% of wages, up to the state’s yearly wage base. It is one of only three states that tax workers for unemployment at all; see what is SUTA.
Washington withholds two premiums. Paid Family and Medical Leave is 1.13% of gross wages, of which employees pay up to 71.43%. The Paid Leave rate rises to 1.2% in 2027.
The WA Cares long-term care premium is 0.58% of gross wages, paid by the employee, with no wage cap. Neither premium is an income tax, but both reduce take-home pay.
How much more you take home
To put numbers on it, here is the same salary paid in eight states: three with no income tax, and the five whose income tax our pay stub generator calculates from each state’s published withholding tables.
| State | State income tax | County tax | Other state deductions | Take-home for the year | Against Texas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | $0.00 | $50,389.82 | |||
| Alaska | $0.00 | $271.00 Unemployment insurance | $50,118.82 | −$271.00 | |
| Washington | $0.00 | $832.30 Paid Leave $484.30 + WA Cares $348.00 | $49,557.52 | −$832.30 | |
| Ohio | $1,431.82 | $48,958.00 | −$1,431.82 | ||
| Missouri | $1,882.66 | $48,507.16 | −$1,882.66 | ||
| Oklahoma | $2,154.62 | $48,235.20 | −$2,154.62 | ||
| Georgia | $2,245.62 | $48,144.20 | −$2,245.62 | ||
| Maryland | $2,536.56 | $1,708.72 | $46,144.54 | −$4,245.28 |
On this salary, every no-tax state leaves more take-home pay than all five income tax states, by the amounts in the last column. Alaska and Washington give a little of that back through their payroll premiums, but much less than an income tax would take.
Maryland’s figure includes a county income tax. Ohio also has city and school district income taxes, which this comparison leaves out, so a real Ohio paycheck often shows one more line. The gap would also grow with salary in states with graduated rates.
Is it really cheaper to live in a state with no income tax?
Not automatically. States without an income tax still pay for schools, roads and services, so they lean harder on other taxes: sales tax, property tax and taxes on specific businesses. Whether you come out ahead depends on what you earn, what you spend and whether you own a home.
Someone with a high salary and modest spending usually gains the most, because the income tax they avoid grows with pay. A retiree with a large house and little wage income may find the property tax bill outweighs the savings. Compare your own figures, not just the headline.
Living in one state and working in another
Your home state and your work state may both claim your wages. A state with an income tax can generally tax wages earned there by nonresidents, and your home state can tax its residents on all their income, usually with a credit for tax paid to the other state.
So moving to a no-tax state does not always end state withholding if your job stays across the border. Before relying on the savings, check the rules of both the state you live in and the state you work in, and tell your employer where you live so payroll withholds for the right state.
Running payroll in a no-tax state
Employers in these states skip state income tax withholding and the state withholding forms that go with it. They still register for state unemployment tax, file quarterly wage reports, and, in Alaska and Washington, collect the employee premiums above. Federal payroll is the same everywhere.
Our pay stub generator shows no state income tax line when you pick one of these nine states. Washington’s and Alaska’s premiums can be added as deductions so the stub matches what you actually withhold.
Sources: the state pages linked in the table above; Washington Department of Revenue, capital gains tax and income tax from 2028, Paid Family and Medical Leave; Alaska Department of Labor, 2026 unemployment insurance rates; state income tax amounts from the published withholding tables in our pay stub generator. Checked October 26, 2026.
