Key facts at a glance
$150,000 in TX/FL/WA
$113,791/yr
Federal + FICA only
$150,000 in California
$101,499/yr
State tax + SDI takes $12,292
$150,000 in New York
$105,509/yr
State tax takes $8,282
Here's the number before the mechanics: a $150,000 salary nets $113,791 a year in Texas, Florida, or Washington, federal tax and FICA only, no state income tax at all. Move that exact same salary to California and state tax plus State Disability Insurance take another $12,292, dropping net to roughly $101,499. Move it to New York instead and state tax takes about $8,282, netting roughly $105,509.
This is the piece our US Salary Calculator deliberately leaves out, because there's no single honest nationwide number, and it's a big enough gap that ignoring it can make a smaller offer in Austin look worse than a bigger offer in San Francisco when the reverse is often true after tax.
Start from your federal-only baseline, then add your own state.
Open the US calculatorWhy there's no single "US take-home" number
Eight states charge zero state income tax on wages: Texas, Florida, Washington, Nevada, Tennessee, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska. If you work in one of these, your take-home is essentially the federal-plus-FICA baseline this calculator shows, full stop. Everywhere else, a state income tax layer sits on top, and the range is enormous: New York's state brackets top out at 10.9% for very high earners, while California's run from 1% up to 12.3% (plus an extra 1% surcharge above $1,000,000, and a separate 1.2% State Disability Insurance tax on all wages that most people don't think of as "income tax" but functions like one).
That range is exactly why the federal-only calculator on this site doesn't attempt a blended national number, doing so would understate reality for a California or New York reader and overstate it for a Texas or Florida reader. Instead, treat the federal-only figure as your starting point, then add your own state's rate on top using the worked table below as a reference for two of the most common high-tax comparisons.
No-tax baseline vs California vs New York, three salary levels
Federal + FICA baseline applies identically in Texas, Florida, and Washington. California figures include the 1.2% State Disability Insurance tax; New York figures are state tax only (NYC/Yonkers local tax not included).
| Gross salary | TX/FL/WA net | CA net (gap) | NY net (gap) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | $79,180 | $72,138−$7,042 | $73,848−$5,332 |
| $150,000 | $113,791 | $101,499−$12,292 | $105,509−$8,282 |
| $200,000 | $148,927 | $131,385−$17,542 | $137,695−$11,232 |
Federal + FICA baseline from the US Salary Calculator (2026 rates). CA and NY figures are an illustrative pass through each state's published 2026 brackets applied to gross salary, before that state's own standard deduction and credits, see the FAQ for caveats.
What this article does and doesn't model
The California and New York figures above are a simplified, illustrative pass through each state's published 2026 tax brackets, applied directly to gross salary. They don't account for that state's own standard deduction, personal exemption credits, or other state-specific adjustments, all of which would modestly lower the real state tax bill in most cases. They also don't include city-level taxes, most notably New York City's own local income tax, which stacks on top of New York State tax for city residents.
This is intentionally scoped as depth-with-caveats, not a full 50-state modeling engine. The goal is to make the size and direction of the gap clear (California and New York meaningfully reduce take-home versus a no-tax state), not to replace a real state tax filing or a tax professional's exact number.
Compare offers by net, not by sticker price
A remote-friendly tech role often comes with offers spanning multiple states, and the temptation is to compare gross salaries directly. Don't. A $150,000 offer in Austin nets roughly $113,791. A $160,000 offer in San Francisco, on paper $10,000 higher, nets closer to $108,000-$109,000 once California state tax and SDI are subtracted, actually less take-home despite the bigger number on the offer letter.
This doesn't mean no-tax states always win, cost of living, career opportunity, and non-tax compensation (equity, benefits) are genuinely separate factors this article doesn't cover. It does mean the gross number alone tells you almost nothing about what actually lands in your bank account.
Get your federal-only baseline first
Run your salary through the federal + FICA calculator, then add your own state's rate using this article's worked table as a reference.
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Frequently asked questions
Which US states actually have no income tax?
Eight states charge no state income tax on wages as of 2026: Texas, Florida, Washington, Nevada, Tennessee, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Alaska. (New Hampshire taxes only interest and dividend income, not wages, which is a related but distinct case.) If you work in one of these eight, your take-home is essentially the federal-plus-FICA baseline this calculator shows, with no state layer on top at all.
How much does California actually take on top of federal tax?
On a $150,000 salary, California's state income tax (a nine-bracket progressive scale from 1% to 12.3%, with a further 1% surcharge above $1,000,000) plus the 1.2% State Disability Insurance tax on all wages together take roughly $12,292, dropping net take-home from a federal-only $113,791 to about $101,499. That's not a small tax, it's a meaningfully different number, and it grows faster than the federal-only baseline as income rises, since California's top marginal rates are among the highest in the country.
Is New York's state tax as high as California's?
No, New York is meaningfully lower than California at these income levels, though still a real tax. On the same $150,000 salary, New York state tax alone runs roughly $8,282, versus California's roughly $12,292 combined state tax and SDI, netting about $105,509 versus California's $101,499. If you live in New York City itself, add NYC's own local income tax on top, which isn't included in these figures, so the effective New York City number would be somewhat lower still.
Why doesn't a bigger sticker-price salary always mean more take-home?
Because a nominally higher offer in a high-tax state or city can net less than a nominally lower offer in a no-tax state, once you actually run the numbers. A $150,000 offer in Austin (Texas, no state tax) nets roughly $113,791 federal-only. A notably higher $165,000 offer in San Francisco (California state tax + SDI) could plausibly net a similar or even lower amount once state tax and SDI are subtracted, depending on exactly where the extra income lands in California's brackets. Always compare net, not gross, when weighing offers across states.
Do no-tax states make up the difference some other way?
Often, yes, though not always dollar-for-dollar. States without income tax typically lean more heavily on sales tax and property tax to fund government services (Texas and Washington both have relatively high sales tax, for instance), and cost of living varies enormously by city regardless of state tax policy, Austin and Seattle aren't uniformly cheaper than San Francisco or New York City once housing is factored in. This article is scoped to income tax and payroll tax on salary only, a genuinely separate cost-of-living comparison would be needed for the full financial picture.
Are these state tax figures exact, or an estimate?
They're an illustrative pass through each state's published 2026 tax brackets applied directly to gross salary, which is close but not identical to your actual liability. Real state returns also apply that state's own standard deduction and any applicable credits, which would modestly reduce the state tax shown here in most cases. Treat these figures as a directionally accurate comparison rather than an exact bill, and use official state tax authority tools (California FTB, New York State Department of Taxation and Finance) or a tax professional for a precise number.
Does this calculator model any state's tax directly?
No. The PayMetric Labs US Salary Calculator deliberately models federal tax + FICA only, since there's no single honest nationwide number once state tax enters the picture, some states charge 0%, others charge over 13% at the top end. The figures in this article are separate, one-off illustrative calculations layered on top of the calculator's federal-only baseline specifically to answer 'how much would my state actually add', not a feature built into the tool itself.