California pays the most in federal taxes of any state, sending roughly $810 billion to the IRS in fiscal year 2024 — about 16 percent of the $5.1 trillion collected nationwide.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Tax Stats – Gross Collections by Type of Tax and State – IRS Data Book Table 5 But total dollars mostly track population. Measured per resident, the District of Columbia leads by a wide margin, followed by Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Connecticut. And once federal spending flowing back into each state is netted out, a smaller group of high-income states carries the country: only 19 states sent more to Washington in 2024 than they received.
Top States by Total Federal Tax Dollars
The IRS publishes state-by-state collections each year in Table 5 of its Data Book. In fiscal year 2024, four states generated 38 percent of all federal tax revenue:1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Tax Stats – Gross Collections by Type of Tax and State – IRS Data Book Table 5
- California — about $810 billion (15.9 percent of total collections)
- Texas — about $418 billion (8.2 percent)
- New York — about $388 billion (7.6 percent)
- Florida — about $326 billion (6.4 percent)
Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey typically round out the top seven. The ranking largely mirrors population and economic size. California has nearly 39 million residents and a gross state product larger than most countries. Texas combines a huge population with major energy and technology sectors. New York’s role as the center of global finance inflates its collections beyond what its population alone would produce, and Florida’s fast-growing population has steadily pushed its share higher.
Top States Per Person
Dividing each state’s total collections by its population reveals which residents carry the heaviest individual tax load, and the picture changes sharply. The District of Columbia leads at roughly $54,600 per capita in fiscal year 2023 — more than double the next-highest jurisdiction.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Tax Stats – Gross Collections by Type of Tax and State – IRS Data Book Table 5 D.C. is a city rather than a state, and its 680,000 residents include a heavy concentration of government professionals and lobbyists whose incomes skew the average.
Among actual states, per capita federal tax payments are highest in:
- Delaware — about $24,600 per person, inflated by the large number of corporations legally domiciled there
- Massachusetts — about $21,700, driven by biotech, finance, and higher education
- Minnesota — about $20,700, reflecting strong corporate headquarters presence and relatively high wages
- Connecticut — about $19,800, home to many hedge funds and financial services firms
- New Jersey — about $19,200, where proximity to New York City creates a corridor of high earners
At the other end, residents of West Virginia (about $4,900 per person), Mississippi (about $5,100), and New Mexico (about $5,900) contribute the least. The gap between the top and bottom is roughly five to one, tracking closely with differences in median household income and industry mix.
Which States Are Net Donors to the Federal Government
Paying the most in taxes isn’t the same as subsidizing the rest of the country. That question requires comparing what a state sends to Washington against what it receives back through federal spending, grants, contracts, and direct payments like Social Security.
In fiscal year 2024, only 19 states were net contributors. The three largest, by total dollars, were:
- California — $275.6 billion more paid than received
- New York — $76.5 billion net contribution
- Texas — $68.1 billion net contribution
Per resident, the biggest donor states were Nebraska ($9,531 net contribution per person), Minnesota ($8,702), and Washington ($7,139).
The remaining 31 states and D.C. received more than they paid. Virginia led net recipients at $89 billion, largely because of the federal workforce and military installations concentrated in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Alabama followed at $44.7 billion and South Carolina at $38.9 billion. On a per-person basis, the largest recipients were New Mexico ($15,448 more received per resident), Alaska ($14,965), and West Virginia ($12,660).
These figures shift year to year with federal spending priorities, disaster relief, and military base locations, but the underlying pattern has held for decades: states with high incomes and large economies are net donors, while states with lower incomes, larger elderly populations, and significant federal installations are net recipients. Political leaning is a poor predictor. Virginia and Kentucky are consistent recipients; California and Minnesota are consistent donors.
Why Some States Send So Much More
Population size explains most of the raw ranking, but not why New York collects more per person than Florida despite having fewer residents. A few structural forces push a state’s federal tax footprint higher.
The federal income tax is progressive. Rates climb from 10 percent on the first dollars of taxable income to 37 percent on income above $640,600 for single filers in 2026.2Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 A state with a cluster of technology executives, Wall Street traders, or medical specialists sends a disproportionate share of income to the IRS. California’s Silicon Valley, New York’s financial district, and Massachusetts’s biotech corridor all create pockets of extremely high adjusted gross income that push those states well above their population-based share. Individual income taxes accounted for $2.76 trillion, or 54 percent of all federal collections in fiscal year 2024, so where high earners live matters enormously.3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Data Book, 2024
Corporate headquarters matter too. When a company files its federal return from a particular state, those corporate income tax collections show up in that state’s total. Corporations pay a flat 21 percent rate on taxable profits, and $563 billion in corporate income tax was collected in fiscal year 2024.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 11 – Tax Imposed Delaware’s extraordinary per capita figure is almost entirely a product of its business-friendly incorporation laws. Over a million companies are legally domiciled there, even though most have no real operations in the state. Capital gains taxes amplify the effect further, since states with heavy stock market participation see their collections spike in bull markets.
Cost of living plays an indirect role. Workers in expensive metros earn higher nominal salaries to keep pace with housing costs, and the federal tax code doesn’t adjust brackets for local cost of living. A software engineer earning $200,000 in San Francisco pays the same federal rate as one earning $200,000 in Nashville, even though the San Francisco salary buys less. That quirk inflates collections from high-cost states beyond what their residents’ real purchasing power would suggest.
The SALT Cap and High-Contribution States
Residents of the biggest contributing states often face a squeeze. They pay heavy federal taxes and live in states with above-average state and local taxes. Before 2018, taxpayers could deduct all of their state and local income, property, and sales taxes from their federal taxable income. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act capped that deduction at $10,000, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act adjusted the cap upward starting in 2025.
For tax year 2026, the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap is $40,400, or $20,200 for married individuals filing separately. The cap phases down once modified adjusted gross income exceeds $500,000 and drops back to $10,000 for filers above $600,000. After 2029, the cap reverts to $10,000 for everyone regardless of income.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 164 – Taxes
The cap hits hardest in states that combine high property taxes with high income taxes — precisely the states that also lead in federal tax contributions. For a household earning over $600,000, the effective cap is back to $10,000, and the lost deduction can add thousands to the annual federal bill.