States with no wage income tax, and one that has it
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming. $90,000 single versus Illinois.
Nine states do not tax wage income in the planning table this site uses: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. New Hampshire’s old interest-and-dividends tax is not a wage tax, and we do not compute it. On a W-2 paycheck, those nine produce the same leftover for the same salary, status, and pay frequency. The federal brackets and FICA do not change with the state. Only the state line does, and for these nine it is zero.
One salary, two no-tax states
$90,000, single, 26 periods. Washington: Social Security $5,580, Medicare $1,305, federal $10,970, state $0, leftover $72,145, biweekly $2,774.81. Tennessee prints the same five figures. Texas, Florida, and the rest of the nine do too, at this salary. If two no-tax states disagree on this page, the salary or the status changed. The tool is not applying a secret local wage tax. It does not know city tax at all.
The same salary where a state tax exists
Illinois, same $90,000, single, 26 periods. Social Security, Medicare, and federal stay $5,580, $1,305, and $10,970. State planning tax is $3,658.05. Leftover $68,486.95. Biweekly $2,634.11. The gap versus Washington is $3,658.05 a year and $140.70 a check. Illinois has its own base and credits in real life. We multiply taxable income, after the federal standard deduction we use, by a planning rate. Your stub can differ. The direction will not: Illinois takes a state slice and Washington’s wage line does not.
Other taxing states are not Illinois. California and New York use higher planning rates. A flat-tax state with a lower rate takes less than $3,658.05 on this salary. The calculator’s state menu is there so you do not memorize rates. Pick the state, read the state line, and treat it as a budget number.
What “no income tax” does not cover
Sales tax, property tax, and insurance are outside the paycheck. A no-wage-tax state can still be the more expensive place to live. Washington has no wage tax in our table and has other taxes this page ignores. Moving to Texas to “keep the $3,658” fails if rent rises by more than that. Compare the leftover to the bills you will actually pay. The Florida versus New York guide is the same mechanism with a larger state bill.
Contractors do not get this result from the paycheck page. Self-employment tax is federal. State tax on profit is a separate run on the 1099 page, and the no-tax list still zeros only the state line. FICA-like SE tax remains.
Local wage taxes in places like New York City, Ohio cities, or Pennsylvania townships are not in the nine and not in Illinois either. If you work in a city that withholds, add that yourself. Our zero means no state wage tax in the table, not a promise that every local government is silent.
Run 90000, single, biweekly, Washington, then Tennessee, then Illinois on the paycheck calculator. The first two leftovers should both be $72,145. Illinois should be $68,486.95. Your state return and the stub win over the planning rate.
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