State Tax Move: Compare Taxes Before & After

Move from California to Texas on a $150,000 salary and you'll keep roughly $10,000 more per year. Move the other direction and you lose it. State income tax ranges from zero (nine states don't have one) to 13.3% in California. That swing directly hits your paycheck.

The catch: states without income tax make it up elsewhere. Texas has property taxes around 1.7-2.2% of home value—buy a $500,000 house and you're paying $8,500-$11,000 per year. Washington State has no income tax but sales taxes over 10% in some cities. Tennessee charges almost 10% combined sales tax.

This calculator focuses on income tax because it's the biggest line item for most W-2 earners. But don't ignore the rest—property tax, sales tax, vehicle registration, and cost of living all factor into your real financial picture after a move.

Example 1: David Weighs a Job Offer in Austin

David works as a software engineer in Los Angeles making $180,000. A startup in Austin offers the same salary. He runs the numbers.

That's roughly $12,900 more per year in David's pocket—over $1,000/month. But Austin housing is cheaper too, so his total savings could be even higher. He takes the offer.

Example 2: Kim Moves from Florida to NYC Mid-Year

Kim gets promoted and transferred from Miami to New York City in July. She earns $95,000 and needs to understand what happens to her taxes.

If she'd been in NYC all year, she would have paid roughly $8,000 in combined state and city tax. The mid-year move saves her half. But next year, she'll owe the full amount—about $670/month less take-home than Florida.

1. Pick your current state and the state you're considering
2. Enter your gross annual income (or separate incomes if the job pays differently)
3. Select filing status—married vs. single affects bracket placement
4. Add local/city tax if applicable (NYC, some Ohio cities, most PA municipalities)
5. For mid-year moves, use partial-year mode to split the comparison by months

• State income tax rate: The headline number. Ranges from 0% to 13.3%. Flat-tax states (like Pennsylvania at 3.07%) are simpler; progressive states (like California) hit higher earners harder.
• Local/city taxes: NYC adds 3.0-3.9% on top of NY state tax. Many Ohio cities charge 2-3%. Pennsylvania cities typically add 1-3%. These stack and compound.
• Filing status: Joint vs. single changes bracket boundaries. Some states benefit married filers more than others.
• Move timing: Moving January 1st vs. December 31st can shift an entire year's income to the lower-tax state. Major bonuses or stock vesting events should be timed around your move date.
• Income type: Some states don't tax retirement income. A few tax capital gains differently than wages. This tool treats all income the same for simplicity.

We apply each state's tax brackets to your income using the filing status you select. For flat-tax states, it's simply income × rate. For progressive states, we step through brackets the same way the actual return would.

What we include: Federal income tax (2025 brackets), state income tax, FICA (Social Security at 6.2% up to $176,100, Medicare at 1.45%), and any local tax rate you enter.

What we don't include: State-specific deductions, credits, exemptions, or phase-outs. Employer-side FICA. Additional Medicare tax on high earners. State treatment of retirement income, capital gains, or business income. Credits for taxes paid to other states in partial-year situations.

Limitation: The partial-year mode does a simple pro-rata split by months. Actual part-year residency rules are more complex—some states allocate by actual days, others by income source. If you're doing a mid-year move, this gives a rough estimate, not an exact number.