Which States Have the Highest Income Tax Rates?

Whether you filed your taxes months ago or barely beat the April 18 deadline, chances are you are now acutely aware of just how much of your income is eaten up by taxes each year.

The Internal Revenue Service collected more than $3.3 trillion last year from 243 million tax returns filed. About $403 billion was issued in tax refunds

What about the states?

The answer varies considerably. Seven states — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming – don’t have a state income tax. That’s in stark contrast to the most highly taxed states, where income tax rates sit at about 10% of income.

The Tax Foundation, an independent tax research center, tracks changes to state income taxes and regulations. Each year, they publish a list of state income tax rates and other data. Of course, like all things tax-related, the data can be highly complicated. For instance, Colorado has a single tax bracket. All residents pay a simple 4.63% of their federal taxable income. Overall, eight states have single-rate tax structures, so residents pay the same percentage of their income regardless of how much they make.

California and Missouri, meanwhile, have a whopping 10 tax brackets.

So which states place the heaviest income tax burden on their residents? The following are the nine places (8 states and the District of Columbia) with the highest income tax rates. Since the rate you pay can depend on a variety of things, we’re basing this list on the rate paid by those in the top tax bracket, filing individually. All data were compiled by the Tax Foundation.

Top Marginal Tax Rate: 8.25%

Income Required to Be in the Top Tax Bracket: >$48,000

Total Number of Tax Brackets: 9

Standard Deduction (Individual): $2,200

Top Marginal Tax Rate: 8.82%

Income Required to Be in the Top Tax Bracket: >$1.07 million

Total Number of Tax Brackets: 8

Standard Deduction (Individual): $7,950

Top Marginal Tax Rate: 8.95%

Income Required to Be in the Top Tax Bracket: >$415,600

Total Number of Tax Brackets: 5

Standard Deduction (Individual): $6,300

Top Marginal Tax Rate: 8.95%

Income Required to Be in the Top Tax Bracket: >$1 million

Total Number of Tax Brackets: 6

Standard Deduction (Individual): $5,200

Top Marginal Tax Rate: 8.97%

Income Required to Be in the Top Tax Bracket: >$500,000

Total Number of Tax Brackets: 6

Standard Deduction (Individual): N/A

Top Marginal Tax Rate: 8.98%

Income Required to Be in the Top Tax Bracket: >$69,930

Total Number of Tax Brackets: 9

Standard Deduction (Individual): $1,970

Top Marginal Tax Rate: 9.85%

Income Required to Be in the Top Tax Bracket: >$155,650

Total Number of Tax Brackets: 4

Standard Deduction (Individual): $6,300

Top Marginal Tax Rate: 9.9%

Income Required to Be in the Top Tax Bracket: >$125,000

Total Number of Tax Brackets: 4

Standard Deduction (Individual): $2,145

Top Marginal Tax Rate: 13.3%

Income Required to Be in the Top Tax Bracket: >$1 million

Total Number of Tax Brackets: 10

Standard Deduction (Individual): $4,044

To see more state-level tax rate data, visit the Tax Foundation's website.