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Retirement Tax by State: the 8 States That Tax Social Security

Tax years 2025 and 2026 · Rules checked · Runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere

Eight states still put Social Security benefits on the state return: Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont. Each one does it differently - an income cliff here, a credit there, a subtraction that shrinks with your pension. Enter one set of retirement income and see the federal tax and each state's tax side by side, computed from each state's own instructions.

Your numbers

Filing status
For a joint return, both spouses are assumed to be this age.
Treated as ordinary income. Qualified dividends and long-term gains are taxed at lower federal rates than this tool applies.
Not taxed, but it counts toward how much of your Social Security is taxable.

What the tool assumes

  • Income is as entered: Social Security at the gross amount, pension and IRA at the taxable amount, other income as ordinary income. Nothing is added or subtracted that you did not enter.
  • Standard deduction only. Itemized deductions, dependents, tax credits other than the ones each state builds into its retirement rules, self-employment income, and the net investment income tax are outside the tool.
  • The federal $6,000 senior deduction (tax years 2025-2028) is applied at 65 and older and phased out at 6% of modified AGI over $75,000 (single) or $150,000 (joint).
  • On a joint return both spouses are the age you enter, both receive the aged add-ons, and state per-person caps are doubled.
  • Rhode Island's Social Security and pension modifications require reaching full retirement age; the tool treats age 67 and older as having reached it. If you were born before 1960 you reached it earlier (66 and some months).
  • Colorado's rate is shown at the statutory 4.40% and at 4.25%, the rate that applies when the state's surplus trigger is met. The state announces which applies after the year closes.
  • Where a state had not published its 2026 figures when we checked, the 2025 figures are carried forward and the row is marked. The federal 2026 figures are final (Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
  • Local income taxes, property tax, sales tax, and estate or inheritance tax are not included. A state that taxes Social Security lightly may make it up elsewhere.

The eight states' rules in one paragraph each

Colorado starts from federal taxable income. Taxpayers 65 and older subtract every dollar of federally taxable Social Security; those 55-64 subtract it all only if federal AGI is at or below $75,000 (single) or $95,000 (joint), otherwise up to $20,000. Pension and IRA income gets its own subtraction, capped at $24,000 (65+) or $20,000 (55-64) per person - but the cap is reduced by the Social Security subtraction. That last clause is the one the calculators we tested missed.

Connecticut exempts all federally taxable Social Security if federal AGI is under $75,000 (single) or $100,000 (joint); above that, a worksheet still exempts most of it. Pension and annuity income is fully deductible below the same thresholds and phases out to zero at $100,000 / $150,000; IRA withdrawals get 75% of that treatment in 2025 and 100% from 2026. Then comes a personal exemption that shrinks with income, a rate schedule, a 2% bracket phase-out, a recapture for high incomes, and a personal credit of up to 75% - all from Tables A to E of the CT-1040 instructions.

Minnesota subtracts all federally taxable Social Security if AGI is at or below $86,410 (single) or $110,780 (joint) for 2026 ($84,490 / $108,320 for 2025), reduced 10% for each $4,000 or part of it above that. An older formula (maximum $4,560 / $5,840) is used instead when it gives more. Minnesota's own standard deduction and brackets follow, with a top rate of 9.85%.

Montana starts from federal taxable income, subtracts $5,660 for each taxpayer 65 or older, and applies two rates: 4.7% up to $21,100 (single) or $42,200 (joint), 5.9% above. Social Security is taxed exactly as far as the federal return taxes it.

New Mexico exempts Social Security entirely if federal AGI is under $100,000 (single) or $150,000 (joint) - one dollar over and every taxable dollar of benefits is back in. Taxpayers 65 and older get an exemption of up to $8,000 that falls to zero as AGI passes $28,500 (single) or $51,000 (joint). Rates run from 1.5% to 5.9%.

Rhode Island lets taxpayers who have reached full retirement age subtract all taxable Social Security if federal AGI is at or below $107,000 (single) or $133,500 (joint), and up to $50,000 per person of pension, annuity, 401(k) and IRA income under the same conditions. A dollar over the threshold and both modifications vanish. The full-retirement-age requirement is repealed only from tax year 2027.

Utah has a flat 4.5% tax with no deduction for Social Security. Instead it gives a credit equal to 4.5% of federally taxable benefits, reduced by 2.5 cents for every dollar of modified AGI over $54,000 (single) or $90,000 (joint). A separate taxpayer credit worth 6% of the federal standard deduction phases out from $18,213 / $36,426. Both credits are nonrefundable.

Vermont excludes all taxable Social Security if AGI is at or below $55,000 (single) or $70,000 (joint), sliding to no exclusion at $65,000 / $80,000. Its own standard deduction ($7,650 / $15,300, plus $1,250 per aged box), a $5,300 personal exemption per person, and four brackets from 3.35% to 8.75% follow. Above $150,000 of AGI a 3% minimum tax applies.

Parameters used, with sources

The figures below are what the tool actually uses. They are loaded from the same file the calculation reads, so the page cannot show one thing and compute another. Status final means the state has published the year's figures; carried means the previous year's figures are used until the state publishes; partial means some figures for the year are published and the rest are carried.

Test cases

Every combination below was computed independently by a reference implementation and by this page's code; the two must agree to the cent before the page is published. You can rerun that comparison in your browser right now.

Sources

Corrections

If a rule or a figure is wrong, tell us. We fix it, update the checked date, and note the change here.

This tool shows what published tax rules do to the numbers you enter. It is not tax, legal or financial advice, and it does not know your situation. For a decision that matters, take the numbers to a professional who is licensed to advise you.