There are plenty of lists of states where people pay the most in property, income, city, and business taxes. But what about which state where people pay the most over a person’s lifetime? That state is New Jersey, and the figure is $987,117.
According to credit builders site Self, the average American will pay $524,625 in taxes during their lifetimes. That is 34.7% of their lifetime earnings. The figure includes federal taxes, FICA, and taxes on cars, homes, food, apparel, and personal care. It also assumes a person begins work at 22 and retires at 65. Data were collected from federal and state tax rates and information from WalletHub. Finally, “This study takes individual median earning information from the American Community Survey (2022) per state and applies inflation to bring estimates up to 2024 based on salary growth estimates of 5% in 2023 and 5.1% in January 2024.”
New Jersey tax payments over a lifetime are not only the highest based on dollar amount but also the highest based on percentage of total income, at 54.3% of earrings. The lifetime earnings for people who live in New Jersey totaled $1,818,191. (See the state and local taxes Americans pay in all 50 states.)
At the far end of the spectrum, residents of West Virginia pay $358,407 in taxes. That is 28.4% of their lifetime earnings of $1,263,434, among the lowest across all states.
These are the 10 states where people pay the most over a lifetime:
| State | Lifetime Taxes | % of Earnings |
| New Jersey | $987,117 | 54.3% |
| Connecticut | $855,307 | 49.4% |
| Vermont | $651,434 | 45.2% |
| New York | $748,199 | 45.1% |
| Massachusetts | $816,700 | 44.0% |
| New Hampshire | $722,610 | 43.2% |
| Rhode Island | $684,828 | 42.8% |
| Illinois | $665,286 | 42.1% |
| California | $659,224 | 41.5% |
| Maine | $581,750 | 40.9% |
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