As the sayings go, taxes are one of the few certainties in life, and the annual ritual of filling them with the IRS is not one that many people look forward to. The average American paid $10,845 in federal income taxes alone in 2020. But, while everyone is subject to the same federal tax laws, states also have the authority to set their own tax policy, and exactly how much you end up paying depends largely on where you live.

To raise revenue, state governments levy a broad range of taxes. These typically include taxes on property, income, and sales, and they vary considerably by state. In fact, in some parts of the country, residents are exempt from paying one or more of these tax categories altogether.

According to the Tax Foundation, an independent, nonprofit, tax policy research organization, state tax collections in 2021 totaled $4,714 per capita in New York, the ninth highest among states.

The overall tax burden in New York, which is a measure of taxes paid as a share of annual income, was 6.1% of the state’s income per capita of $76,837. For comparison, the per capita state income tax burden nationwide stands at 6.0%.

All data in this story is from the Tax Foundation report Facts & Figures 2023: How Does Your State Compare from the Tax Foundation, an independent, nonprofit, tax policy research organization. Figures do not include taxes levied at the local or federal level.

 

Rank	State	State tax collections per capita in fiscal 2021 ($)	Avg. annual earnings in 2022 ($)	State tax burden (%)
1	Vermont	6,356	61,882	10.3
2	California	6,325	76,614	8.3
3	Connecticut	6,120	83,294	7.3
4	Hawaii	5,582	60,947	9.2
5	Minnesota	5,571	66,280	8.4
6	Delaware	5,378	59,931	9.0
7	Massachusetts	5,202	83,653	6.2
8	North Dakota	5,044	64,524	7.8
9	New York	4,714	76,837	6.1
10	New Jersey	4,714	77,016	6.1
11	Illinois	4,382	67,244	6.5
12	Washington	4,214	73,775	5.7
13	Oregon	4,192	61,596	6.8
14	Maryland	4,091	69,817	5.9
15	Maine	3,973	58,484	6.8
16	Rhode Island	3,965	64,376	6.2
17	Kansas	3,958	58,924	6.7
18	Indiana	3,915	56,497	6.9
19	Arkansas	3,875	50,625	7.7
20	Pennsylvania	3,824	64,279	5.9
21	Utah	3,784	56,019	6.8
22	Wisconsin	3,782	59,626	6.3
23	Virginia	3,741	66,305	5.6
24	Iowa	3,701	57,163	6.5
25	Nebraska	3,545	61,205	5.8
26	New Mexico	3,531	50,311	7.0
27	Montana	3,514	56,949	6.2
28	Michigan	3,426	56,494	6.1
29	Idaho	3,405	52,369	6.5
30	West Virginia	3,391	48,488	7.0
31	Nevada	3,313	60,213	5.5
32	North Carolina	3,290	56,173	5.9
33	Kentucky	3,242	51,266	6.3
34	Wyoming	3,239	69,666	4.6
35	Colorado	3,238	70,706	4.6
36	Mississippi	3,171	45,881	6.9
37	Ohio	2,963	56,879	5.2
38	Tennessee	2,864	56,560	5.1
39	Arizona	2,861	55,487	5.2
40	Oklahoma	2,834	53,870	5.3
41	Alabama	2,828	49,769	5.7
42	Louisiana	2,651	54,217	4.9
43	Georgia	2,579	55,786	4.6
44	South Carolina	2,560	52,467	4.9
45	Missouri	2,447	55,325	4.4
46	South Dakota	2,401	64,462	3.7
47	New Hampshire	2,313	73,200	3.2
48	Florida	2,264	62,270	3.6
49	Texas	2,214	59,865	3.7
50	Alaska	1,438	65,813	2.2