“Move to Texas, there’s no income tax” is the most common piece of relocation advice in the country and, as far as it goes, it is accurate. What it leaves out is the size of the saving, which depends heavily on where you are moving from and how much you earn, and the fact that the no-tax states are not interchangeable. Here are the numbers.
Five states, four of them alike
Texas, Florida, Tennessee and Nevada levy no tax on wages and no employee-side payroll program. A $120,000 earner in any of them nets $7,771 a month; the only deductions are federal income tax and FICA.
Washington also has no income tax, but it funds Paid Family and Medical Leave (0.66% employee share) and the WA Cares long-term-care program (0.58%) through payroll. Together they take $1,488 a year from a $120,000 earner, leaving $7,647 a month. It is still far cheaper than an income-tax state — but on the paycheck it is a deduction, and comparisons that treat Washington as identical to Texas overstate the saving by about $125 a month.
What the saving is worth, by origin state
The saving from moving to a no-tax state is the state income tax plus payroll programs you would have paid where you came from. That depends on your salary and the origin state’s schedule:
| Salary | vs. California | vs. New York | vs. Massachusetts | vs. Illinois | vs. Georgia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $80,000 | $4,427 | $4,033 | $4,148 | $3,819 | $3,461 |
| $120,000 | $8,627 | $6,394 | $6,332 | $5,799 | $5,497 |
| $200,000 | $17,027 | $11,114 | $10,700 | $9,759 | $9,569 |
(New York figures are the state only; a New York City resident also drops the city tax — $4,216 at $120,000 — which nearly doubles the saving.)
Two things stand out. The saving scales with salary, steeply in California’s case because its 9.3% bracket starts at $70,606 of taxable income. And at the lower end the differences between origin states are small — leaving Georgia saves $3,461 at $80,000, leaving California $4,427 — so the “which high-tax state” question matters less than the “how much do you earn” question.
Where the saving goes: rent
Tax is one line in a budget; rent is usually the largest. Among the no-tax metros we model, 1-bedroom medians run from $1,300 (Houston) to $2,350 (Miami), and against $7,771 of monthly net that is 17% to 30% of take-home. The same $120,000 in San Francisco nets $7,052 and the median 1-bedroom takes 46%; in New York City it nets $6,887 and rent takes 57%; in Boston, $7,243 and 41%.
So the full picture for a $120,000 single renter moving from San Francisco to Austin is: $719 more a month in take-home, and $1,800 less a month in median rent. The tax saving is real; the rent difference is two and a half times larger. Miami is the no-tax metro where the rent side largely cancels the tax side — its $2,350 median is close to Boston’s after the tax difference is applied.
What no-tax states tax instead
States fund themselves somehow. Texas has among the highest property tax rates in the country, which lands on renters through rent and on owners directly. Tennessee and Washington have high sales taxes. Florida relies on sales tax and tourism. None of these show up on a paycheck, which is why the paycheck comparison flatters the no-tax states; whether the total cost of living follows depends on whether you own, how much you spend, and what you spend it on.
When the move does not pay
If your salary is under about $60,000 the income-tax saving is small — a few hundred to two thousand dollars — and easily consumed by a car you did not previously need, a higher insurance premium, or a rent that turns out not to be lower. If you are moving mid-year, both states will tax you for the part of the year you lived in each, and the guide on part-year residency covers what that involves. And if the job is remote and the employer is in a high-tax state, check the convenience-of-the-employer rules before assuming your income becomes tax-free: New York in particular taxes some remote workers as if they still worked in the state.
Audits cited in this guide
Open the full paycheck breakdowns
About the figures in this guide
Every dollar amount above is produced by the same deterministic tax engine that generates the audit pages, using the published 2026 federal brackets and standard deduction, the 2026 Social Security wage base, each state's published schedule and each city's local tax rules. Assumptions: single filer, standard deduction, no dependents, no itemized deductions. Rent figures are median 1-bedroom asking rents refreshed quarterly. Read the methodology, or send a correction with a primary source.