Guide · State tax
Which states tax retirement income — and which leave it alone
Federal tax is the same wherever you live. State tax is not — and in retirement it's often the biggest single lever on your bill. Where you live, and what kind of income you have, can mean two households with identical numbers owe wildly different amounts.
Nine states with no income tax
Nine states levy no broad income tax at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, and New Hampshire — which stopped taxing interest and dividends on January 1, 2025, and now taxes no personal income. If you live in one of these, your retirement income faces no state income tax on top of the federal bill. That alone is a major reason retirees weigh a move.
The other 41 treat income by kind
Among the 41 states plus the District of Columbia that do tax income, most give retirement income special treatment — and the treatment depends on the kind of income, not just the amount. Most states don't tax Social Security benefits at all; the handful that still do is small and shrinking. Many fully exempt military retirement pay — roughly 28 states — and many fully exempt government and public pensions while still taxing private pensions and IRA withdrawals. A dollar of pension and a dollar of IRA withdrawal can be treated completely differently in the same state.
Caps and carve-outs
Even where a break exists, it often comes with a ceiling. Some states cap the exclusion: New York, for example, exempts government pensions with no cap, but private pensions and IRA withdrawals only up to a fixed annual amount. And a few states' retirement exclusions explicitly leave IRA distributions out — Maryland and Rhode Island among them — so an IRA withdrawal that would be sheltered elsewhere isn't sheltered there. These details are where a "no state tax on pensions" headline quietly stops applying to your actual mix.
A worked example
Take one married couple — Social Security, a pension, a $30,000 IRA withdrawal, and a brokerage account — and drop them into three states without changing a single figure. In Colorado they owe about $66. In New York they owe more, because the state's private-pension and IRA exclusion is capped. In Florida they owe $0, because there's no state income tax at all. Same income, same year — the state line is the difference, and it's the biggest one on the return.
How Harbor handles it
Harbor doesn't apply a flat national-average rate. It models each state's real brackets, its own standard deduction, and its retirement-income exclusions — all 41 taxing states plus DC — and applies the right treatment to each kind of income you enter. If you don't tell Harbor where you live, it estimates federal tax only and shows no state line, rather than guessing. Tell it your state and the state figure appears alongside the federal one, so you can see the full picture — including what a move would change.
See your state's real number
Enter your income and your state, and Harbor applies that state's actual brackets and retirement exclusions.
Start planning — it's free →Common questions
Which states don't tax retirement income?
Nine states levy no broad income tax at all — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming — so they don't tax retirement income either. New Hampshire stopped taxing interest and dividends on January 1, 2025. Among the 41 states plus DC that do tax income, most exempt Social Security and give pensions and IRA withdrawals varying breaks, so the answer also depends on the kind of income you have.
Does my state tax Social Security?
Probably not. Most states don't tax Social Security benefits at all, and the handful that still do is small and shrinking. But some states that exempt Social Security still tax private pensions and IRA withdrawals, so exempting the benefit doesn't mean the rest of your retirement income is untaxed. Harbor applies your own state's rules to each kind of income.