Compare Salaries Across States
See your true take-home pay after taxes and cost of living. Perfect for comparing job offers or deciding where to relocate.
Best Value: Texas
After taxes and cost of living, your $120,000 salary in Texas has the equivalent purchasing power of $101,913.
| Rank | State | Gross Salary | Total Taxes | Take-Home | Eff. Rate | COL Index | COL-Adjusted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Texas | $120,000 | $26,750 | $93,250 | 22.3% | 91.5 | $101,913 |
| #2 | Colorado | $130,000 | $35,247 | $94,753 | 27.1% | 104.2 | $90,934 |
| #3 | California | $180,000 | $58,598 | $121,402 | 32.6% | 142.2 | $85,374 |
| #4 | New York | $150,000 | $49,398 | $100,602 | 32.9% | 139.1 | $72,324 |
How to Compare a New York Salary With Another State in 2026
Comparing offers on gross salary is the fastest way to make a bad decision. A $150,000 offer in Manhattan and a $150,000 offer in Austin are not the same money: the New York offer carries a state income tax, often a city tax on top of it, and a cost of living well above the national average, while the Texas offer carries neither of the first two. This tool applies the state tax and the cost-of-living index together so you compare purchasing power instead of headline pay.
The four adjustments, in the order they matter
- Federal tax first. Federal brackets and the standard deduction are the same in every state, so they rarely decide a comparison — they just shrink the amount you are comparing. The 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 for a single filer and $32,200 for a married couple filing jointly (IRS Topic 551).
- State income tax second. This is where offers typically diverge, and it is progressive in New York: the first bands are low and the top marginal rate is much higher. New York's rates and brackets for the year are published on the Department of Taxation and Finance tax rates page; our NY tax brackets guide lays out the marginal bands.
- Local tax third. New York is one of the states where the city also taxes income. New York City residents pay an additional city income tax and Yonkers residents pay a surcharge on their state tax — see NYC, Yonkers and MCTMT. An offer in White Plains and an offer in Manhattan are not the same number.
- Cost of living last. The index used below expresses each state relative to a national average of 100. It is a rough multiplier for housing, food, transport, utilities and healthcare — not a rent quote. Treat a move between two high-cost metros as a wash on this number and go get real rent and commute numbers instead.
States with no wage tax — and what they tax instead
Nine states raise no revenue from a wage income tax, but none of them is tax-free. Sales, property and excise taxes carry the budget, and a few still tax specific kinds of investment income:
| State | Wage income tax | What replaces it |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 0% | Sales, property and excise taxes fund the state budget |
| Florida | 0% | Sales, property and excise taxes fund the state budget |
| Nevada | 0% | Sales, property and excise taxes fund the state budget |
| New Hampshire | 0% | Interest & dividends taxed until 2025 |
| South Dakota | 0% | Sales, property and excise taxes fund the state budget |
| Tennessee | 0% | Sales, property and excise taxes fund the state budget |
| Texas | 0% | Sales, property and excise taxes fund the state budget |
| Washington | 0% | Capital gains tax applies |
| Wyoming | 0% | Sales, property and excise taxes fund the state budget |
A no-income-tax state is not automatically the cheaper choice: property taxes in Texas and sales taxes in Tennessee can consume the difference, which is why the cost-of-living column in the results matters as much as the take-home column.
What this comparison does not model
Three things move a real decision that a salary comparison cannot see. First, reciprocity and credit rules: if you live in New Jersey or Connecticut and work in New York, you file in both states and claim a credit for tax paid to New York, so the total is not simply New York's rate. Second, remote-work allocation: days worked outside New York are generally not New York wages, which is why employers now track them. Third, one-time costs — moving, a new lease, a car you no longer need. Run the paycheck calculator for the per-period view and the tax comparison tool when you want two scenarios side by side rather than a single estimate.
Sources: federal standard deduction — IRS Topic 551; New York State rates and local taxes — NYS tax rates and tables and NYC, Yonkers and MCTMT. Cost-of-living index values are approximate state-level multipliers shown for relative comparison only.