Same salary, same filing status, same year — and the gap between the best and worst state on this list is $4,193 a year. Below is where $60,000 actually lands for a single filer with no pre-tax deductions in 2026, ranked from the most you keep to the least.
The ranking, on a $60,000 salary
| State | Take-home pay | Total tax rate |
|---|---|---|
| Florida / Texas / Nevada / Tennessee / Washington (no income tax) | $50,390 | 16.0% |
| Arizona | $49,293 | 17.8% |
| Iowa | $48,762 | 18.7% |
| California | $48,750 | 18.8% |
| New Jersey | $48,623 | 19.0% |
| Missouri | $48,543 | 19.1% |
| Colorado | $48,458 | 19.2% |
| Wisconsin | $48,320 | 19.5% |
| Georgia | $48,145 | 19.8% |
| Utah | $48,143 | 19.8% |
| Virginia | $47,754 | 20.4% |
| Massachusetts | $47,610 | 20.6% |
| Illinois | $47,565 | 20.7% |
| Indiana (Marion County) | $47,458 | 20.9% |
| Maryland (Montgomery County) | $46,197 | 23.0% |
Figures include federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, plus state and local income tax where it applies. Local rates shown use one representative county (Montgomery County, MD and Marion County, IN); your own county may differ.
Why the no-tax states don't win by as much as you'd think
The nine states with no income tax all land at the same $50,390, a 16.0% total tax rate — every dollar of it federal. That is the ceiling on this list, but it is a narrower gap than the headlines suggest: Arizona, which does tax income, comes within about $1,100 of it thanks to the lowest flat rate of any taxing state, 2.5%.
Local tax is what actually separates the bottom of the list
Maryland's Montgomery County sits last on this ranking, and it is not the state rate alone that puts it there — it is the added 3.2% county tax that every Maryland county charges in some form. Indiana works the same way: the state rate is flat and modest, but Marion County's 2.02% local add-on is what pushes it below states with a higher headline state rate but no local tax at all.
See your own state and county →