More and more Americans are fleeing high-tax states – from California to Hawaii to New Jersey to New York – and relocating elsewhere in the hopes of holding onto some more of their hard-earned cash.
Problem is that’s pushing up the cost of living in the states they’re fleeing to, according to the country’s largest real estate trade group.
They’re going to nearby secondary states that used to be “affordable” – states like Washington, Nevada, Colorado and Arizona, for example, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of REALTORS(r).
And it isn’t just the working class looking to move to lower-tax states.
Taxes are often a top consideration particularly when someone is relocating for work or looking to retire says tax expert Bob Meighan, a former executive with Intuit. The biggest tax you’re going to face, after the IRS, is the one your state presents.
That’s why Florida is a big draw “particularly among northeast residents currently living in high property-tax states such as New York, New Jersey (the highest in the country), and Connecticut,” says Yun. “In Florida, you get both lower taxes and a warmer climate.”
Last year, these were the ten highest income tax states, according to TurboTax (*These rates do not include local taxes.):
- California 13.3%
- Hawaii 11%
- Oregon 9.9%
- Minnesota 9.85%
- Iowa 8.98%
- New Jersey 8.97%
- Vermont 8.95%
- District of Columbia 8.95%
- New York 8.82%
- Wisconsin 7.65%
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