Rating

Low Tax Burden

Scale56-100

Higher values are better.

About This Ranking

Goal

Highlight places with a lower estimated direct tax bill for a household owning a $450,000 home, $30,000 in annual taxable spending, and $100,000 in state-taxable income.

Sources

Data behind the rating

5 sources

2020–2024 U.S. Census ACS 5-Year — Owner Real-Estate Tax

2020–2024 estimates; released January 29, 2026

Data: Place-level B25103 median annual real-estate taxes reported for owner-occupied housing units and its published 90% margin of error.
What it tells us: Describes the existing owner-occupied stock during the survey period; it is not a parcel assessment or a prediction of a buyer's post-purchase bill.

2020–2024 U.S. Census ACS 5-Year — Owner-Occupied Home Value

2020–2024 estimates; released January 29, 2026

Data: Place-level B25077 median respondent-reported value for owner-occupied housing units and its published 90% margin of error.
What it tells us: Provides a separate place median for tax-to-value context; dividing it into the tax median does not produce a matched-property effective tax rate.

Tax Foundation — 2026 State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets

2026 tax year; published February 17, 2026

Data: Baseline 2026 married-joint state individual-income-tax rate schedules and explicit no-wage-income-tax status, with rules current as of February 11, 2026.
What it tells us: Supports an ordinary state schedule comparison at a fixed state-taxable-income amount; it does not support a gross-wage or personalized liability estimate.

Tax Foundation — State and Local Sales Tax Rates, Midyear 2026

Rates in effect July 1, 2026; published July 6, 2026

Data: State sales-tax rates plus population-weighted average and maximum local sales-tax rates by state.
What it tells us: Shows the state-plus-average-local sales-tax environment, not the exact rate at an address, exemptions, purchasing patterns, or annual tax paid.

Tax Foundation — State-Local Tax Burden Methodology

Methodology updated July 24, 2023

Data: Methodology reference defining a tax burden as taxes borne by residents relative to income, with tax-incidence and allocation assumptions.
What it tells us: Clarifies that this transparent direct-tax estimate is narrower than a full incidence-adjusted state-local tax burden measure.

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