26 States That Don’t Tax Social Security Benefits

Craig Johnson | January 21st, 2021

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If you’re about to start collecting Social Security benefits, you may have questions about how that new income will affect your taxes.

This article is going to show you which states do not tax Social Security benefits according to data from the Tax Foundation, a tax policy nonprofit organization. It published a map that shows how each state taxes Social Security benefits.

To verify the Tax Foundation’s data, I researched information for the 26 states (and Washington, D.C.) that don’t tax Social Security income at all:

These 26 States Don’t Tax Social Security Benefits
State	Tax Information
Alabama	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Alaska	Has no state income tax
Arkansas	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
California	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Washington, D.C.	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Florida	Has no state income tax
Hawaii	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Indiana	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Iowa	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Kentucky	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Louisiana	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Maine	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Maryland	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Michigan	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Mississippi	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Nevada	Has no state income tax
North Carolina	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
New Hampshire	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
New Jersey	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Oregon	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Pennsylvania	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
South Dakota	Has no state income tax
Tennessee	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Texas	Has no state income tax
Washington	Has no state income tax
Wisconsin	Does not include Social Security as taxable income
Wyoming	Has no state income tax

States not listed in the table above have policies that are less cut and dried: Some states partially tax Social Security benefits, and others offer state income tax exemptions depending on certain factors.

Don’t see your state on the list above? See the full report from the Tax Foundation here.

There, you’ll also find 12 states that exempt the part of Social Security benefits that are included in federal taxable income.

Conclusion

As you get closer to retirement, you may be wondering when you should start taking your Social Security benefits.

Money expert Clark Howard said if you want to profit more from your money, you’ll probably want to delay drawing Social Security.

When Clark turned 65, he said he was going to wait a few more years:

“Every year that you wait, you get an additional 8% in your check,” he says. “And once you start taking it, every increase is based on the base where you started. So you end up with a lot more money to live on later in life if you wait to take Social Security.”

In addition to Clark’s advice on how your age affects your Social Security payments, he says you also need to consider your current financial situation and your retirement plans. Here’s more about the best time to take your Social Security.