By total dollars, the states that pay the most federal taxes are California, Texas, New York, and Florida, which together sent roughly $1.93 trillion to the U.S. Treasury in fiscal year 2024. That’s about 38% of all federal revenue from four states. Rank the same data per person and the leaderboard reshuffles: Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Connecticut, Washington, and New Jersey move to the front.
Top States by Total Federal Tax Collections
The IRS publishes gross collections by state each fiscal year. In FY 2024, four states dominated:1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Data Book
- California: about 15.9% of all federal revenue, roughly $806 billion. Nearly 40 million residents, a dominant tech sector, a large entertainment industry, and some of the country’s highest individual incomes drive the number.
- Texas: about 8.2%, roughly $416 billion. A huge energy sector, fast population growth, and major corporate operations across several metros.
- New York: about 7.6%, roughly $385 billion. Wall Street concentrates top-bracket earners, and New York City functions as a global financial hub.
- Florida: about 6.4%, roughly $325 billion. No state income tax, but a large retiree population, active real estate market, and expanding corporate presence produce substantial federal collections.
Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey typically round out the next tier. These figures include every type of federal tax collected within the state: individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, employment taxes, and excise taxes.
Top States Per Person
Ranking by totals mostly rewards population. Dividing federal collections by residents shows which states contribute the most on a per-person basis:
- Delaware: about $24,500 per person in FY 2023, the highest in the country. Over a million business entities are incorporated in Delaware because of its corporate law framework, and the federal tax payments of those entities get attributed to the state even when the companies operate elsewhere.
- Massachusetts: about $21,700 per person. Boston concentrates biotech, financial services, healthcare, and higher education.
- Minnesota: about $20,700 per person, from a diversified economy anchored by major corporations and a highly educated workforce.
- Connecticut: about $19,800 per person. Proximity to New York City and a heavy hedge fund presence.
- Washington: about $19,800 per person, reflecting Seattle-area tech giants.
- New Jersey: about $19,200 per person, with a high-income suburban corridor and pharmaceutical industry.
California and Texas lead in totals but don’t crack the per capita top tier because their populations are so large. Delaware’s first-place finish is a corporate filing effect more than a story about individual wealth. Strip out corporate filings and Massachusetts or Connecticut would likely lead.
Why These States Pay More
Three forces do most of the work.
Progressive Federal Brackets
The federal income tax rises with income, topping out at 37% on the highest earnings and starting at 10% on the lowest.2Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 A state full of software engineers earning $200,000 generates far more federal revenue per worker than a state where the median income is $45,000. That’s the underlying reason tech-heavy California and Washington and finance-heavy New York and Connecticut sit at the top.
Industry Clusters
Certain industries reliably produce top-bracket earners, and they cluster geographically. Finance in New York, technology in California and Washington, pharmaceutical research in New Jersey, specialized medicine and biotech in Massachusetts. When a single metro area contains that much high-income employment, the state’s aggregate federal contribution swells.
Corporate Filings
Corporations pay a flat 21% federal tax on taxable income.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 11 – Tax Imposed When a company files, the payment is attributed to the state where the return is processed or the principal office sits. That inflates Delaware’s per capita numbers and adds a corporate boost on top of the individual income tax base in states with many Fortune 500 headquarters, such as New York, California, Texas, and Illinois.
Who Actually Comes Out Behind: Net Contributors
Sending the most isn’t the same as getting the least back. Federal money flows out again through Social Security, Medicare, grants, contracts, and military installations, and it doesn’t follow tax revenue. In FY 2024, only 19 states sent more to Washington than they received. The other 31 states and D.C. got back more than they paid in.
The largest net contributors in total dollars:
- California: roughly $275.6 billion more sent than received
- New York: about $76.5 billion net
- Texas: about $68.1 billion net
The largest net recipients were Virginia ($89.0 billion, driven by federal agencies and military bases), Alabama ($44.7 billion), and South Carolina ($38.9 billion).
Per person, the ranking shifts again. Nebraska residents were the biggest net contributors at about $9,531 per person, followed by Minnesota at $8,702 and Washington at $7,139. These states combine relatively high incomes with smaller populations that don’t draw heavy federal outlays.
The pattern is durable because federal spending tracks demographics and policy. Social Security and Medicare go where retirees live. Military spending goes where bases are. Agricultural payments go to farming states. A wealthy state with a young workforce sends a lot of payroll tax revenue and receives comparatively little back; a state with more retirees and military installations receives heavy federal outlays even when its residents earn less.
The SALT Cap and High-Tax-State Residents
People in high-tax states have an extra reason their federal bills run large. The state and local tax deduction lets itemizers deduct state income taxes, local property taxes, and sales taxes from federal taxable income, but only up to a cap. Under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act signed in July 2025, the cap is $40,000 for most filers ($20,000 for married filing separately), with annual inflation adjustments after that.2Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
A New Jersey homeowner paying $15,000 in property taxes and $12,000 in state income taxes has $27,000 in SALT expenses and stays under the cap. A higher earner in the same state with $25,000 in property taxes and $30,000 in state income taxes has $55,000 in SALT and can only deduct $40,000. The remaining $15,000 is taxed at the marginal federal rate. At 35%, that’s an extra $5,250 in federal tax that a resident of a low-tax state wouldn’t owe on the same income.
The effect concentrates in California, New York, and New Jersey, which pair high state income tax rates with high property values. It’s part of why those states show up as such large gross and net contributors to federal revenue.