Sep 10, 2026

Who Pays More in Taxes? Red States vs. Blue States

Written by G. Brian Davis

Edited by Brendan McGinley

Who Pays More in Taxes? Red States vs. Blue States

Do all Republican states charge low taxes, and Democratic states impose stiff taxes?

Every year, WalletHub calculates each state’s total tax burden as a percentage of a typical resident’s income. That includes property taxes, income taxes and sales and excise taxes. MoneyLion decided to examine those aggregate costs by how the states tend to vote.

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Tax Burden in Red vs. Blue States

WalletHub ranks all 50 states by their tax burden. The higher the rank, the higher the tax burden.

For example, the No. 1 ranked state for highest taxes is Hawaii, with a total tax burden of 13.30%. In contrast, No. 50 Alaska imposes a total tax burden of 4.92%.

WalletHub also ran the numbers for the average rank of both “red” and “blue” states. They defined these states based on how their electoral college votes went in the 2024 presidential election.

The “blue” states do, in fact, average a much higher rank for imposing taxes, averaging a rank of 16.0. The “red” states' average ranking is 31.32.

As you’d expect, plenty of states break with those simplistic color labels. The state with the second lowest total tax burden (5.38%), New Hampshire, voted Democrat in the 2024 election. So did the 46th-ranked state, Delaware (6.28%).

Meanwhile, “red” Iowa ranks 12th highest for taxes. The 13th (Kansas) and 14th (Indiana) highest-taxed states also voted Republican in the 2024 election.

Rank	State	Total Tax Burden
1	Hawaii	13.30%
2	New York	12.39%
3	Vermont	11.10%
4	New Mexico	10.75%
5	Maine	10.01%
6	Illinois	9.92%
7	Maryland	9.70%
8	New Jersey	9.52%
9	Oregon	9.46%
10	Rhode Island	9.29%
11	California	9.24%
12	Iowa	9.21%
13	Kansas	9.20%
14	Indiana	9.12%
15	Minnesota	9.08%
16	Ohio	9.05%
17	Connecticut	9.00%
18	West Virginia	8.89%
19	Utah	8.87%
20	Mississippi	8.84%
21	Massachusetts	8.82%
22	Louisiana	8.82%
23	Kentucky	8.76%
24	Pennsylvania	8.47%
25	Washington	8.47%
26	Arkansas	8.44%
27	Nevada	8.37%
28	Virginia	8.26%
29	Nebraska	8.16%
30	Georgia	8.15%
31	Wisconsin	8.12%
32	Michigan	7.98%
33	Alabama	7.93%
34	Missouri	7.84%
35	North Carolina	7.81%
36	Texas	7.69%
37	Colorado	7.56%
38	South Carolina	7.49%
39	Montana	7.29%
40	Arizona	7.24%
41	Oklahoma	7.05%
42	Idaho	7.04%
43	North Dakota	7.02%
44	Wyoming	6.70%
45	South Dakota	6.38%
46	Delaware	6.28%
47	Florida	6.27%
48	Tennessee	6.21%
49	New Hampshire	5.38%
50	Alaska	4.92%

Cost of Living

Taxes certainly impact cost of living, but it’s far from the only factor.

Even so, higher-tax states tend to come with an exceedingly high general cost of living. The Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC) calculates each state’s comparative cost of living every quarter, based on the national average as the center point of the index. Here’s how each state ranks compared to the U.S. overall:

Rank	State	Index
1	Oklahoma	83
2	Alabama	86
3	Iowa	86.1
4	West Virginia	87
5	Kansas	87.1
6	Mississippi	87.4
7	Missouri	88.2
8	Arkansas	89
9	Indiana	89.7
10	Tennessee	89.7
11	Georgia	90.1
12	Nebraska	90.1
13	New Mexico	90.2
14	North Dakota	90.5
15	Texas	90.8
16	Louisiana	91.3
17	Michigan	92.1
18	South Carolina	92.7
19	Ohio	93
20	Minnesota	93.4
21	South Dakota	93.5
22	Kentucky	94
23	Wyoming	94.4
24	Illinois	94.5
25	Pennsylvania	95.3
26	Wisconsin	95.7
27	North Carolina	96.7
28	Utah	98.4
29	Virginia	99
30	Idaho	99.4
31	Delaware	100.6
32	Florida	100.8
33	Colorado	102.7
34	Connecticut	103.6
35	Nevada	105.4
36	Montana	106
37	New Hampshire	108.5
38	Arizona	108.6
39	Oregon	110.4
40	Rhode Island	110.9
41	Maine	112.9
42	Vermont	113.4
43	Washington	115.1
44	Maryland	118.8
45	New Jersey	119.2
46	Alaska	124.5
47	New York	132.6
48	California	140.3
49	Massachusetts	148.1
50	Hawaii	185.8

Should You Move to a Lower-Tax State?

Plenty of states offer a relatively low tax burden and cost of living. When does it make sense to move to one of them?

Moving to a new state costs a tidy sum, ranging from $2,500 on the cheap end to over $18,000 according to Stewart Moving & Storage. It might take several years to recoup the cost of the move, in lower taxes and living expenses.

How much you earn impacts that calculus as well. A family earning $30,000 probably pays a similarly low tax burden across most states, whereas a family earning $300,000 will pay wildly different tax bills in New York versus Florida.

Beyond cost, people choose where to live based on many other factors. Proximity to family, access to jobs and career opportunities, local climate, amenities and of course politics all impact the decision.

Think holistically about what matters most to you, and ideally spend a month living in a new city as a trial run before committing to a permanent move.

This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.

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Written by

G. Brian Davis

Edited by

Brendan McGinley