Rankings

How PlainTaxData Rankings Are Compiled

Every ranking on this page is derived directly from official government publications, primarily the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Revenue Procedures that annually publish inflation-adjusted parameters for the federal tax code, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index that drives the inflation adjustments, and the published statutes for each of the fifty state income tax codes. We do not blend proprietary signals, we do not editorialize the underlying numbers, and we do not weight the ranking by anything other than the metric named in the ranking title. The methodology page documents the precise calculations and the source citations for each ranking; if any of our numbers differs from the official IRS or state tax authority publication, the official source is authoritative and we will correct our data promptly.

How to Read a Tax Ranking Without Being Misled

A ranking by tax rate is informative but easy to misread. A state with a 10% top marginal income tax rate is not necessarily a higher-tax state than a state with a 5% flat rate, the threshold at which the top rate kicks in, the structure of deductions and credits, the treatment of capital gains, the presence or absence of a state sales tax, and the effective rate on a representative household income all matter. Our state-level rankings show the marginal rate as the headline number because that is the most commonly cited figure, but we also publish the effective rate on several representative household incomes so readers can see the practical difference rather than just the statutory rate.

Likewise, an "effective tax rate by income" ranking compares the share of income paid in federal tax at successive income tiers. The federal tax code is progressive, so the effective rate rises with income, but not in a smooth curve. The brackets, the standard deduction, the child tax credit phase-outs, and the alternative minimum tax all create kinks and plateaus in the effective rate curve. Looking at a single point on that curve (for example, the effective rate at $100,000) can hide important differences in how the system treats marginal income near that point. We surface the full curve and the underlying bracket structure so the headline ranking can be read in context.

Why Tax Rankings Change Over Time

The federal tax code is inflation-adjusted annually under section 1(f) of the Internal Revenue Code, which means the dollar boundaries of each bracket and the dollar amount of the standard deduction move every year. Inflation-driven shifts are typically small, a few percentage points, but they accumulate over a decade. The state tax codes change less mechanically: most states adjust their brackets and rates legislatively rather than automatically, so a state's ranking can stay static for years and then jump when the legislature passes a tax reform package. The "Tax Bracket Widths by Year" ranking is the cleanest way to see how the federal brackets have moved with inflation since 2020; the state rankings are best read as a snapshot of the current statutory rate, not a long-run trend.

Major federal tax reforms, most recently the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, reset the bracket structure, the standard deduction, and the personal exemption simultaneously. Any ranking that spans a reform boundary will show a discontinuity at the reform year. We document those discontinuities on each ranking page so readers can interpret the time-series correctly. If a ranking does not yet cover a recent reform, it is because the IRS has not yet published the final inflation-adjusted parameters for the year in question; we update the rankings within a few weeks of each annual Revenue Procedure release.

Corrections and Source Verification

Every ranking page links directly to the official IRS publication, the relevant state tax authority page, and the methodology page that describes our calculation. If you believe a number is wrong, please verify it against the official source first, IRS Revenue Procedures and state Department of Revenue publications are authoritative, and our numbers should match them exactly. If you find a discrepancy that is not explained by a rounding convention or an inflation-adjustment timing difference, please email us with the specific ranking, the row in question, and the official source you used; we will investigate and either correct the ranking or update the methodology page to explain the difference. We treat tax data with the same precision the IRS does because the numbers matter for real decisions.

A Note on State Tax Comparisons

State income tax comparisons are particularly susceptible to misinterpretation. Nine states have no income tax at all, but those states recover revenue through higher sales taxes, property taxes, or excise taxes, the absence of an income tax does not mean a lower total tax burden for most households. Conversely, states with high marginal rates often pair them with generous deductions, credits, or low brackets that flatten the effective rate for moderate-income households. When comparing two states, always consider the full mix of taxes a household pays, not just the headline income tax rate. The Tax Foundation publishes an annual State Business Tax Climate Index that attempts to capture the broader picture; the U.S. Census Bureau publishes annual state and local government finance statistics that show what each jurisdiction actually collects per capita. We link to both on the methodology page for readers who want to look beyond the income tax rate.