Nine states have no personal income tax as of 2026: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. New Hampshire became the ninth at the start of 2025, when its tax on interest and dividend income was fully repealed for taxable periods beginning after December 31, 2024.1New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. Interest and Dividends Tax Residents of these nine states file no state income tax return and owe no state tax on wages, salaries, retirement withdrawals, or investment income. Washington is the one qualified case, discussed below.
The Nine States and How They Got There
Seven of the nine — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming — either never taxed personal income or eliminated the tax decades ago. A few have made the ban structural. Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2019 that turned the prior referendum requirement into an outright prohibition on personal income taxes.2Legislative Reference Library of Texas. Constitutional Amendment Election, November 2019
New Hampshire was the long-running asterisk on every list. For years it taxed interest and dividends under Revised Statutes Annotated Chapter 77, so residents with enough investment income still owed the state each year.3New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. Laws and Rules That tax was phased down over several years and repealed outright, so a New Hampshire resident filing a 2026 return owes the state nothing on any form of personal income.
The Washington Capital Gains Exception
Washington taxes one category of personal income, though the state Supreme Court classified it as something else. The legislature enacted a capital gains tax on long-term asset sales in 2021, and in Quinn v. State the court upheld it as an excise tax on the transaction of selling assets rather than a tax on income, sidestepping the state constitution’s limits on income taxation.4Washington State Courts. Quinn v. State – No. 100769-8 Starting in 2026, the rates are tiered: 7 percent on the first $1 million in taxable capital gains and 9.9 percent above that.5Washington State Department of Revenue. New Tiered Rates for Washington’s Capital Gains Tax For a Washington resident who earns wages and doesn’t sell large investment positions, the state functions the same as the other eight.
What These States Charge Instead
No income tax doesn’t mean a state operates on less money. It means the revenue comes from somewhere else, and those somewhere-elses can hit harder than expected.
Sales tax is the most visible substitute. Several of the nine states carry combined state and local sales tax rates well above the national average. Property tax is the other lever, and it’s a heavy one in Texas and New Hampshire, where effective rates rank among the highest in the country. If you’re moving from a state with moderate property taxes and a modest income tax, a Texas property tax bill can eat most of what you thought you were saving.
Alaska is the outlier. It has no state income tax and no statewide sales tax, and it funds much of its government through a petroleum production tax on oil and gas extracted within its borders.6Justia Law. Alaska Code 43.55.011 – Oil and Gas Production Tax It also pays residents an annual dividend from its Permanent Fund. Nevada leans on gaming and tourism taxes. Florida collects billions in sales taxes from visitors who never file a Florida return.
The overall picture matters more than the headline. Alaska, Wyoming, and South Dakota tend to be genuinely light-tax states across the board. Washington and Nevada carry total burdens that rival plenty of income-tax states once sales taxes are factored in. Texas property taxes push its overall burden above what a resident would pay in some states that do tax income. High earners with modest property tend to save the most in a no-income-tax state; retirees on fixed incomes with expensive homes often see the math tilt the other way.
What This Means for Retirees
Retirees get the cleanest benefit. Because these nine states don’t tax any personal income, they don’t tax Social Security, pensions, IRA withdrawals, or 401(k) distributions. Federal tax still applies, but the state share is zero.
That gap is meaningful. As of 2026, eight income-tax states still tax Social Security benefits to some degree: Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont. Several other states tax pension or retirement account withdrawals. Moving from one of those states into any of the nine no-tax states can save thousands a year at typical withdrawal levels.
The nine aren’t the only retirement-friendly options, though. Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania fully exempt retirement income even though they tax wages. If retirement distributions are your only income, those four belong in the same conversation.
Remote Work Doesn’t Always Escape the Old State
Living in Florida or Texas and working remotely for an out-of-state employer doesn’t automatically eliminate state income tax. A handful of states — New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Nebraska — apply what tax professionals call the convenience of the employer rule. Under that rule, if your employer is based in one of those states and you work remotely for your own convenience rather than because the company requires it, the employer’s state can tax your wages as if you earned them there.
The rule doesn’t reach everyone. If your employer is also in a no-income-tax state, the issue doesn’t arise. If the remote arrangement exists because the company has no office space for you or specifically requires you to work remotely, you may fall outside the rule. But if you take a remote job with a New York or Connecticut employer while living in Florida, the tax savings you were counting on can shrink substantially.
The reverse is worth noting too. Because the nine states don’t tax wages at all, a nonresident who flies in for a project or works in one of them for a few weeks owes the state nothing on that income.
Establishing Residency If You Move
Changing your mailing address doesn’t change your tax state. The concept tax authorities enforce is domicile: the one place you actually intend to live permanently. Your former state, especially if you earned significant income there, will want proof you genuinely left.
Most income-tax states apply some version of a 183-day rule. Spend more than 182 days in the state during the year and it can treat you as a resident regardless of where you say you live. Any part of a day typically counts as a full day, so even brief visits add up. That puts a hard ceiling on time in your old state during a transition year.
Auditors also look at where your life is centered. The strongest evidence of a real move includes:
- Switching your driver’s license and vehicle registration to the new state.
- Registering to vote in the new state.
- Updating your address with banks, brokerages, and insurance companies.
- Owning or leasing a home in the new state and selling or renting out the old one.
Keeping a residence in your former state is the biggest red flag. If you hold on to a New York home while claiming Florida domicile, New York’s tax department will look hard at where your family lives, where your doctors and accountants are, where your mail arrives, and where you spend holidays. Travel records, credit card statements, and cell phone location data help document your physical presence during the transition year. Old states don’t give up tax revenue easily, and people who treat the move casually tend to learn that in an audit.