State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 2021

(a) Local income taxes are excluded. Eleven states have county- or city-level income taxes; the average rates expressed as a percentage of AGI within each jurisdiction are: 0.10% in Alabama; 0.36% in Indiana; 0.11% in Iowa; 1.29% in Kentucky; 2.18% in Maryland; 0.17% in Michigan; 0.22% in Missouri; 1.47% in New York; 1.59% in Ohio; and 1.15% in Pennsylvania. Data are not available in Delaware, where Wilmington imposes a municipal income tax. In California, Colorado, Kansas, New Jersey, Oregon, and West Virginia, some jurisdictions have payroll taxes, flat-rate wage taxes, or interest and dividend income taxes. See Jared Walczak, “Local Income Taxes in 2019,” Tax Foundation, July 30, 2019, https://taxfoundation.org/local-income-taxes-2019/.

(b) These states allow some or all of federal income tax paid to be deducted from state taxable income.

(c) For single taxpayers with AGI below $23,500, the standard deduction is $2,500. This standard deduction amount is reduced by $25 for every additional $500 of AGI, not to fall below $2,000. For Married Filing Joint (MFJ) taxpayers with AGI below $23,500, the standard deduction is $7,500. This standard deduction amount is reduced by $175 for every additional $500 of AGI, not to fall below $4,000. For all taxpayers with AGI of $20,000 or less and claiming a dependent, the dependent exemption is $1,000. This amount is reduced to $500 per dependent for taxpayers with AGI above $20,000 and equal to or less than $100,000. For taxpayers with more than $100,000 in AGI, the dependent exemption is $300 per dependent.

(d) Statutory rates and brackets for 2021 are shown. Brackets are adjusted annually for inflation, but 2021 inflation adjustments were not available as of publication, so inflation-adjusted amounts for tax year 2020 are shown.

(e) Standard deduction and/or personal exemption is adjusted annually for inflation. Inflation-adjusted amounts for tax year 2021 are shown.

(f) Arizona’s standard deduction can be adjusted upward by an amount equal to 25 percent of the amount the taxpayer would have claimed in charitable deductions if the taxpayer had claimed itemized deductions.

(g) In lieu of a dependent exemption, Arizona offers a child tax credit of $100 per dependent under the age of 17 and $25 per dependent age 17 and older. The credit begins to phase out for taxpayers with federal adjusted gross income (FAGI) above $200,000 (single filers) or $400,000 (MFJ).

(h) Rates apply to individuals earning more than $79,300. Two special tax tables exist for low- and middle-income individuals: one for individuals with below $22,200 in income, and one for those with income greater than or equal to $22,200 but less than or equal to $79,300.

(i) Standard deduction or personal exemption is structured as a tax credit.

(j) Connecticut and New York have “tax benefit recapture,” by which many high-income taxpayers pay their top tax rate on all income, not just on amounts above the benefit threshold.

(k) Bracket levels adjusted for inflation each year. Inflation-adjusted bracket widths for 2021 were not available as of publication, so table reflects 2020 inflation-adjusted bracket widths.

(l) Exemption credits phase out for single taxpayers by $6 for each $2,500 of federal AGI above $203,341 and for MFJ filers by $12 for each $2,500 of federal AGI above $406,687. The credit cannot be reduced to below zero.

(m) Rates include the additional tax at the rate of 1 percent on taxable income in excess of $1 million.

(n) State provides a state-defined personal exemption amount for each exemption available and/or deductible under the Internal Revenue Code. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the personal exemption is set at $0 until 2026 but not eliminated. Because it is still available, these state-defined personal exemptions remain available in some states but are set to $0 in other states.

(o) Standard deduction and/or personal exemption adjusted annually for inflation, but the 2021 inflation adjustment was not available at time of publication, so table reflects actual 2020 amount(s).

(p) Colorado, North Dakota, and South Carolina include the federal standard deduction in their income starting point.

(q) Connecticut has a complex set of phaseout provisions. For each single taxpayer whose Connecticut AGI exceeds $56,500, the amount of the taxpayer’s Connecticut taxable income to which the 3 percent tax rate applies shall be reduced by $1,000 for each $5,000, or fraction thereof, by which the taxpayer’s Connecticut AGI exceeds said amount. Any such amount will have a tax rate of 5 percent instead of 3 percent. Additionally, each single taxpayer whose Connecticut AGI exceeds $200,000 shall pay an amount equal to $90 for each $5,000, or fraction thereof, by which the taxpayer’s Connecticut AGI exceeds $200,000 but is less than $500,000, and by an additional $50 for each $5,000, or fraction thereof, by which the taxpayer’s AGI exceeds $500,000, up to a maximum payment of $3,150. For each MFJ taxpayer whose Connecticut AGI exceeds $100,500, the amount of the taxpayer’s Connecticut taxable income to which the 3 percent tax rate applies shall be reduced by $2,000 for each $5,000, or fraction thereof, by which the taxpayer’s Connecticut AGI exceeds said amount. Any such amount of Connecticut taxable income to which, as provided in the preceding sentence, the 3 percent tax rate does not apply shall be an amount to which the 5 percent tax rate shall apply. Each MFJ taxpayer whose Connecticut AGI exceeds $400,000 shall pay, in addition to the amount above, an amount equal to $180 for each $10,000, or fraction thereof, by which the taxpayer’s Connecticut AGI exceeds $400,000, up to a maximum of $5,400, and a further $100 for each $10,000, or fraction thereof, by which Connecticut AGI exceeds $1 million, up to a combined maximum payment of $6,300.

(r) Connecticut taxpayers are also given personal tax credits (1-75%) based upon adjusted gross income.

(s) Connecticut’s personal exemption phases out by $1,000 for each $1,000, or fraction thereof, by which a single filer’s Connecticut AGI exceeds $30,000 and a MFJ filer’s Connecticut AGI exceeds $48,000.

(t) In addition to the personal income tax rates, Delaware imposes a tax on lump-sum distributions.

(u) Ga. Code Ann. §48-7-20(b) provides that Georgia’s top marginal individual income tax rate will be reduced to 5.5 percent for tax years beginning January 1, 2020 or later, and expiring on December 31, 2025, if a joint resolution to reduce the rate is ratified by both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor on or after Jan. 13, 2020. As of this writing, no such resolution has been adopted, so the top marginal individual income tax rate remains at 5.75 percent.

(v) Additionally, Hawaii allows any taxpayer, other than a corporation, acting as a business entity in more than one state and required by law to file a return, to report and pay a tax of 0.5 percent of its annual gross sales (1) where the taxpayer’s only activities in Hawaii consist of sales, (2) when the taxpayer does not own or rent real estate or tangible personal property, and (3) when the taxpayer’s annual gross sales in or into Hawaii do not exceed $100,000. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 235-51 (2015).

(w) Deduction and/or exemption tied to federal tax system. Federal deductions and exemptions are indexed for inflation, and where applicable, the tax year 2021 inflation-adjusted amounts are shown.

(x) As of June 1, 2017, taxpayers cannot claim the personal exemption if their adjusted gross income exceeds $250,000 (single filers) or $500,000 (MFJ).

(y) $1,000 is a base exemption. If dependents meet certain conditions, filers can take an additional $1,500 exemption for each.

(z) Standard deduction and personal exemptions are combined: $4,500 for single and married filing separately; $9,000 MFJ and head of household.

(aa) Maine’s dependent personal exemption is structured as a tax credit and begins to phase out for taxpayers with income exceeding $200,000 (head of household) or $400,000 (married filing jointly).

(bb) The standard deduction is 15 percent of income with a minimum of $1,550 and a cap of $2,300 for single filers and married filing separately filers. The standard deduction is a minimum of $3,100 and capped at $4,650 for MFJ filers, head of household filers, and qualifying widows/ widowers. The minimum and maximum standard deduction amounts are adjusted annually for inflation. 2021 inflation-adjusted amounts were not announced as of publication, so 2020 inflation-adjusted amounts are shown.

(cc) The exemption amount has the following phaseout schedule: If AGI is above $100,000 for single filers and above $150,000 for married filers, the $3,200 exemption begins to be phased out. If AGI is above $150,000 for single filers and above $200,000 for married filers, the exemption is phased out entirely.

(dd) Bracket levels adjusted for inflation each year. Inflation-adjusted bracket levels for 2021 are shown.

(ee) For taxpayers whose AGI exceeds $99,925 (married filing separately) or $199,850 (all other filers), Minnesota’s standard deduction is reduced by the lesser of 3 percent of the excess of the taxpayer’s federal AGI over the applicable amount or 80 percent of the standard deduction otherwise allowable.

(ff) Montana filers’ standard deduction is 20 percent of AGI. For single taxpayers, the deduction must be between $2,130 and $4,790. For joint taxpayers, the deduction must be between $4,260 and $9,580.

(gg) Applies to interest and dividend income only.

(hh) Ohio’s personal and dependent exemptions are $2,400 for an AGI of $40,000 or less, $2,150 if AGI is more than $40,000 but less than or equal to $80,000, and $1,900 if AGI is greater than $80,000.

(ii) The personal exemption credit is not allowed if federal AGI exceeds $100,000 for single filers or $200,000 for MFJ.

(jj) The phaseout range for the standard deduction, personal exemption, and dependency exemption is $210,750-$234,750. For taxpayers with modified Federal AGI exceeding $234,750, no standard deduction, personal exemption, or dependency exemption is available.

(kk) The standard deduction is taken in the form of a nonrefundable credit of 6 percent of the federal standard or itemized deduction amount, excluding the deduction for state or local income tax. This credit phases out at 1.3 cents per dollar of AGI above $14,879 ($29,758 for married couples).

(ll) For taxpayers with federal AGI that exceeds $150,000, the taxpayer will pay the greater of state income tax or 3 percent of federal AGI.

(mm) The standard deduction begins to phase out at $16,000 in income for single filers and $23,000 in income for joint filers. The standard deduction phases out to zero at $108,000 for single filers and $126,499 for joint filers.

(nn) In lieu of the suspended personal exemption, New Mexico offers a deduction of $4,000 for all but one of a taxpayer’s dependents.

(oo) Taxpayers with income of more than $79,300 but less than or equal to $84,600 shall reduce the amount of tax due by deducting an additional amount equal to $40 for income exceeding $83,600 but less than or equal to $84,600, plus an additional $100 for every $1,000 by which income exceeds $79,300 but remains less than or equal to $83,600.

(pp) Rates shown include Arizona’s 3.5 percentage-point surcharge on marginal income above $250,000 (single filers) or $500,000 (joint filers). Unlike Arizona’s base income tax rate schedule, the surcharge threshold is not adjusted for inflation. The ballot measure that created the surcharge, Proposition 208, takes effect upon gubernatorial proclamation but is currently being challenged in court.