State ranking · Updated October 2026
States With No Income Tax on Wages (2026)
Nine states don’t tax wage income. Here they are, ordered by Locustep’s cost-of-living score, because no income tax doesn’t always mean cheaper.
South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Nevada, Wyoming, Florida, New Hampshire, Alaska and Washington don’t tax wage income. Cheapest overall on Locustep’s cost-of-living score is South Dakota; most expensive is Washington.
This is a Locustep score from 1 to 10: a directional composite for sorting states, not a single published statistic.
Every state with no wage income tax, ordered by cost-of-living score.
Full ranking
| Rank | State | Locustep score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Dakota | Cost of living 9.7/10 |
| 2 | Tennessee | Cost of living 8.2/10 |
| 3 | Texas | Cost of living 6.9/10 |
| 4 | Nevada | Cost of living 6.7/10 |
| 5 | Wyoming | Cost of living 6.2/10 |
| 6 | Florida | Cost of living 5.1/10 |
| 7 | New Hampshire | Cost of living 3.9/10 |
| 8 | Alaska | Cost of living 2.6/10 |
| 9 | Washington | Cost of living 2.4/10 |
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