Which states tax Social Security benefits in 2026?

The eight states and their rules

Each of these states starts from the part of your benefits that is taxable on your federal return (see below), then decides how much of that to keep. Most exempt it all under an income limit, measured by federal adjusted gross income (AGI): your total income including the taxable part of your benefits. The limits are what decide whether you pay.

Income limits are federal AGI. Connecticut, New Mexico, Utah and Vermont set theirs in law without inflation adjustments; Minnesota and Rhode Island index theirs.

Montana is the only state that taxes benefits much like the IRS for everyone, softened by its subtraction for people 65 and older. Utah taxes them and then hands most of it back as a credit. New Mexico's limit is a cliff: one dollar over it and the whole taxable amount counts. Missouri, which used to tax benefits, now exempts them from age 62 (or for disability benefits at any age).

What retirees actually pay in each

The table shows how much more state income tax three retirees owe because of their benefits, compared with the same pension and IRA income alone. That captures the direct tax and any side effects, such as benefits pushing income past a limit. All three are 67, so they meet Rhode Island's full retirement age test and get the federal and state 65-and-older breaks.

2026 state income tax with the benefits minus without them, same other income, standard deductions, no local tax. Small amounts in otherwise exempt cases come from age or low-income breaks that phase out as total income rises.

The single retiree, with federal AGI of $41,300, is under every income limit, so only Montana and Utah add much. The $100,000 couple is still under the Connecticut, Minnesota, New Mexico and Rhode Island limits but over Vermont's ($80,000 for a couple), which costs them $1,139.

The higher-income couple, at $147,500 of AGI, crosses several lines at once. In Connecticut much of the $4,900 is not tax on benefits as such: counting them raises federal AGI from $105,000 to $147,500, and Connecticut's exemption for pension and IRA income, which shrinks between $100,000 and $150,000 for couples, nearly disappears. In Colorado the couple's benefits are exempt, but they use up the $24,000-per-person pension subtraction, adding $1,868. In New Mexico they owe nothing extra at $147,500; with $5,000 more pension income their AGI passes $150,000 and the benefits add $2,032 at once.

How the federal government taxes benefits

Whether any of your benefits is taxable starts with provisional income: your other income (including tax-exempt interest) plus half of your benefits. Below $25,000 for a single filer, or $32,000 for a married couple filing jointly, none of the benefits is taxed. Above that, up to 50% becomes taxable, and above $34,000 single or $44,000 joint, up to 85%. No one pays tax on more than 85% of their benefits.

These thresholds were set in 1983 and 1993 and have never been adjusted for inflation, so each year more retirees cross them. For the same reason, states that follow the federal taxable amount catch more people over time unless they set their own limits.

2026 federal return with the standard deduction, the extra standard deduction for age 65, and the senior deduction. Federal tax without benefits uses the same pension income.

For 2025 through 2028, people 65 and older also get a senior deduction of $6,000 each ($12,000 for a couple when both qualify), on top of the standard or itemized deduction. It shrinks by 6% of modified AGI over $75,000 ($150,000 joint). It does not make Social Security tax-free, as is sometimes claimed: the taxable part of your benefits is figured exactly as before. It lowers taxable income, which offsets some or all of the tax on benefits. The $100,000 couple still has $34,000 of taxable benefits and pays $3,834 more federal tax because of them.

States that exempt benefits, and those with no income tax

Nine states have no tax on wages or retirement income: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. (Washington taxes large capital gains, not benefits or pensions.) Our guide to states with no income tax compares what they charge instead.

The other 33 states with an income tax, and Washington, D.C., subtract all taxable Social Security from income: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Exempt does not always mean benefits are invisible, though. A few states let benefits use up another retirement break:

• West Virginia subtracts 100% of benefits from 2026, but its $8,000 exclusion for people 65 and older is reduced by the benefits subtracted. That costs the single retiree in our example about $235 and the first couple about $675.
• Maine reduces its pension deduction by the Social Security you receive; for the higher-income couple that adds about $770.
• Maryland likewise reduces its pension exclusion for people 65 and older by Social Security received.

The tax on benefits is only part of the picture in retirement: how a state treats pensions and IRA withdrawals, and its property and sales taxes, often matter more. In Utah, for example, the couple's $1,413 Social Security credit is bigger than the $542 they end up paying because of their benefits. The income tax calculator runs a full federal and state return for any state, and the retirement calculator shows how long savings last once you know your tax bill.