Forty-two states and Washington, D.C. do not tax Social Security benefits at all. Eight states still do in 2026 — and every one of them exempts a large share of its own retirees through income thresholds, deductions or credits.
That second sentence is the one to hold onto. "My state taxes Social Security" and "I will pay state tax on my benefits" are different claims, and for most people in most of the eight states, the second one turns out false.
The 2026 list
| State | How the tax is limited |
|---|---|
| Colorado | Full deduction at 65+; younger recipients get expanded relief |
| Connecticut | Fully exempt below AGI thresholds; partial above |
| Minnesota | Subtraction eliminates the tax below income thresholds |
| Montana | Taxed broadly, following a federal-style calculation |
| New Mexico | Exempt for joint filers earning up to $150,000 |
| Rhode Island | Exempt at retirement age below income thresholds |
| Utah | Credit offsets the tax below income limits |
| Vermont | Full exemption below AGI thresholds, phasing above |
The list is verified across multiple current sources, including AARP's state tax guide and Kiplinger's 2026 review, which also supplied the New Mexico threshold above.
Deliberately missing from that table: the other seven states' exact dollar thresholds. They are revised almost every legislative session, and a figure printed here would quietly go wrong. The mechanism types above are stable; the dollar lines move. Before acting, check your state revenue department's current-year page — it is a two-minute lookup once you know your state is on the list at all.
What changed: West Virginia just left
Until recently the list had nine states. West Virginia legislated a three-year phase-out — 35% of benefits exempt in 2024, 65% in 2025 — and per the West Virginia Tax Division, the exemption reaches 100% in tax year 2026. West Virginians no longer pay state tax on Social Security.
It follows Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas, which all eliminated their taxes in 2024. The direction of travel over the past decade has been one-way: states keep leaving this list and none has joined it. That trend is worth knowing if a small state tax is the one thing anchoring a relocation decision — the tax you are fleeing may be gone before the moving van is paid off.
The states people ask about are not on the list
Search data says the most common question here is about states that do not tax benefits, so, plainly:
- Ohio does not tax Social Security.
- California does not tax Social Security — despite its reputation, benefits are fully exempt.
- New York does not tax Social Security.
- Pennsylvania does not tax Social Security, or most other retirement income.
- Florida and Texas have no state income tax at all.
If your state is not one of the eight in the table, your benefits are safe from state income tax. That is the whole answer.
Your federal bill does not care where you live
None of this changes federal taxation. The provisional income test applies identically in all fifty states: the same $25,000/$32,000 thresholds, the same 50% and 85% tiers, the same arithmetic — the calculator runs it for any state.
Moving from Minnesota to Florida can eliminate a state tax on benefits. It does nothing to the federal one. Anyone modelling a retirement relocation should compute the two layers separately, because only one of them responds to geography.
Do not relocate over this line item
A state tax on Social Security is usually the smallest tax in the comparison. The eight states above tax benefits only above income thresholds — while states with no income tax at all often collect the difference through property and sales taxes. A complete comparison includes:
- Whether you would even pay. Check your income against your state's threshold — many retirees on the list pay nothing.
- Property tax on the home you would actually buy, which routinely dwarfs the benefit tax.
- Sales tax on the spending pattern you actually have.
- Tax on your other retirement income — pensions, IRA withdrawals and capital gains vary far more by state than benefit taxation does.
A state that taxes a slice of your Social Security but spares your pension can easily be cheaper overall than one that does the reverse.
What to actually do
- Find your state in the table. Not there? Done — no state tax on your benefits.
- If it is there, look up this year's threshold on your state revenue department's site before assuming you owe anything.
- Run the federal test separately — it applies everywhere, and it is the larger number for most people.
- If relocating, compare whole tax pictures, not this one line.
- Re-check annually. This list has shrunk four times in three years; your state may be next.
State list verified against multiple current sources in August 2026 and current for tax year 2026. State tax law changes frequently — confirm with your state revenue department before filing. Not tax advice.
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