Just How Tax Friendly Is New York? The Answer Is Pretty Surprising!

It’s taxing to live in New York but New York taxes don't compare to Illinois and for a change, that’s a good thing.

Get our free mobile app

A number of experts have analyzed the tax situation state by state and shockingly, New York doesn’t top the list as being the least tax-friendly state in America. You might be thinking that perhaps California tops the list, but it doesn’t.

The state ranked as being the very least tax-friendly state in the country is Illinois thanks in large part to its high property taxes. In 2020, New, York was third on the least tax-friendly states list behind only Connecticut. In 2021, New York is number five on the list, flanked by New Hampshire at number four and Iowa at number six.

In New York, estimated taxes are 19.9 percent of income, or $11,495. On the other hand, Illinois has estimated taxes of 16.8 percent of income or $13,894. In 2020, our neighbors in Pennsylvania ranked number seven on the list of least tax-friendly states but in 2021, it didn’t even make the top ten.

In 2020, the most tax-friendly state was Wyoming followed by Nevada and Tennessee.  In 2021, the most tax-friendly state was again Wyoming followed this time around by Nevada and Alaska. Tennessee dropped to the fifth spot on the list.

MoneyGeek conducted the 2021 analyst and didn’t just look at income tax, but also factored in property taxes, state taxes, and local sales taxes.

The study looked at a hypothetical average family which was comprised of a married couple with one child, earning the median national income of $82,852. This hypothetical family owned a $349,400 home. And the study looked at tax burdens and how much this example family would pay in taxes in each state.