Two people with the same federal salary, in the same job, can take home very different amounts depending on which state they live in. Federal income tax and FICA are the same everywhere — what changes is state income tax, and it changes a lot: from 0% to over 13%.
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What stays the same everywhere: FICA
Before any state rate applies, every paycheck in every state goes through the same federal payroll taxes. Social Security (OASDI) is 6.2% on wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500, split evenly between employee and employer. Medicare is 1.45% with no cap, plus an extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages above $200,000 ($250,000 for married filing jointly). Self-employed workers pay both halves: 12.4% for Social Security, 2.9% for Medicare. None of this depends on your state — it's the baseline every comparison below builds on.
Six states, six very different rules
| State | State income tax | Bracket year |
|---|---|---|
| California | 1% – 13.3%* | 2025 |
| Texas | 0% (constitutional ban) | — |
| New York | 4% – 10.9% | 2025 |
| Florida | 0% (constitutional ban) | — |
| Washington | 0% on wages** | — |
| Pennsylvania | 3.07% flat | since 2004 |
* California's top combined rate is its 12.3% top bracket plus a 1% Behavioral Health Services Tax (formerly the Mental Health Services Tax) on taxable income above $1,000,000.
** Washington has no tax on wages at all, but it does tax capital gains separately — see the next section.
The "Bracket year" column matters more than it looks: it is intentionally not the same for every row, and that's explained below rather than glossed over.
Texas vs. Washington: two "no income tax" states that aren't really the same
Both states are often lumped together as "no income tax," but they get there very differently, and the difference matters most for capital gains.
Texas bans a personal income tax and a capital gains tax in its Constitution. Article 8, §24-a ("Individual Income Tax Prohibited," added 2019) rules out taxing wages, and §24-b ("Capital Gains Tax Prohibited," added November 2025) rules out taxing investment gains too. Changing either would require a constitutional amendment approved by voters, not just a new law.
Washington has no wage income tax either, but it taxes long-term capital gains directly: 7% on the first $1,000,000 of Washington capital gains above the annual standard deduction, and 9.9% on anything above $1,000,000 (Revised Code of Washington 82.87.040, in effect since May 2025). A software engineer's salary is untouched in both states — but an investor selling appreciated stock pays nothing extra in Texas and up to 9.9% in Washington.
New York City: a second tax on top of the state one
New York State's own brackets (4% to 10.9%) already put it among the highest-tax states, but residents of New York City owe a separate local income tax on top — it is not an alternative to the state tax, it stacks with it. For 2025, NYC's resident tax runs from 3.078% on the first $12,000 of taxable income up to 3.876% above $50,000 (single filers). A New York City resident's combined top marginal rate — federal aside — can approach 14.8% once the state and city brackets are added together, something a resident of Buffalo or Albany, in the same state but outside the five boroughs, never pays.
Why this table says "2025" for three states, not "2026"
California, New York and Washington's numbers above are dated 2025 on purpose — their 2026 figures are not officially available yet at the time of writing, and treating an old number as if it were current is worse than being upfront about the gap.
California's own 2026 estimated-tax instructions tell taxpayers to compute their 2026 tax using "the 2025 tax table," because the inflation-adjusted 2026 brackets haven't been finalized. New York's official rate-table page likewise only lists 2025 and earlier. Washington is the most precise case: state law (RCW 82.87.150) requires the Department of Revenue to calculate the next year's capital gains standard deduction from Seattle-area inflation data every October, and to publish it by October 31 — so the 2026 figure is scheduled to appear, but hadn't as of this writing.
Informational estimate based on 2026 federal rules and the most recently published state figures as of September 2026. State tax law changes yearly and sometimes mid-year — verify against your state's Department of Revenue or a CPA before making decisions.