Figure 1

Median top state income tax rate fell from 7.9 percent to 5.2 percent over 50 years

Percentage of states that fall within each top income tax rate range

Source: “Historical State Tax Rate Data,” Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, File Version 2026.2, June 2026.
Notes: Multipanel, single column histogram binned by 2, except for 0. The 0 percent bucket includes states with no income tax. Positive-rate buckets are labeled by their upper bound. For example, the 2 percent bucket includes rates greater than 0 and less than 2 percent, the 4 percent bucket includes rates from 2 to less than 4 percent, etc. Medians exclude states without income tax.