States ranked by how much of their federal income tax is paid by the top 1%

Tax proposals targeting wealthy residents have renewed debate in states including New York and California about how much the rich should be paying in taxes.

But just how much do the top 1% already pay?

While state and local taxes vary widely across states, from high-tax states like California to no-state-income-tax states like Florida and Nevada, federal income tax rates are the same across all US states.

A recent SmartAsset study examined the total federal individual income tax paid by residents of each state and calculated the share paid by the state’s top 1% of households.

Individual income taxes are the largest source of revenue for the federal government.

That tax revenue helps fund government programs and services, as well as interest on the national debt.

For tax year 2026, federal marginal income-tax rates range from 10% on taxable income of up to $12,400 for single filers and $24,800 for married couples filing jointly, to 37% on taxable income above $640,600 for single filers and $768,700 for married couples filing jointly.

Across the country, the top 1% of earners made an average of 19.5% of all income but paid 37% of federal individual income taxes, SmartAsset found.

SmartAsset ranked all 50 states by the percentage of federal income tax collected that is paid by the top 1% of earners, using the most recent personal income tax return data from the IRS covering the tax year 2022.

SmartAsset treated each return as one household.