What Self-Employment Tax Actually Costs in All 51 US Jurisdictions
In short
A self-employed person earning $80,000 of net profit pays between $16,125 and $22,057 in total 2026 tax depending on their state. The spread is $5,932 a year, because self-employment tax and federal income tax — identical everywhere — make up the large majority of the bill.
The question this answers
Every "best states for freelancers" article ranks states by their top marginal income tax rate. That number is close to useless for deciding where to live. California's 13.3% applies only to income above $1 million; a freelancer earning $80,000 there never touches it. What matters is the total bill, and the total bill is dominated by two federal taxes that do not vary by state at all.
So we ran it. The same taxpayer — single filer, $80,000 net profit, no W-2 wages, standard deduction, QBI deduction applied — through all 50 states and the District of Columbia, using each jurisdiction's published 2026 rate schedule and its own standard deduction. Below is what came out.
What stays the same no matter where you live
Before the state figures, the part that does not move. On $80,000 of net profit every self-employed filer in the country owes:
| Component | Amount | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Self-employment tax | $11,303.64 | 15.3% of 92.35% of net profit — 12.4% Social Security, 2.9% Medicare |
| Federal income tax | $4,821.66 | After the SE deduction, the $16,100 standard deduction and the 20% QBI deduction |
| Federal subtotal | $16,125.30 | Identical in all 51 jurisdictions |
That federal subtotal is 20.2% of net profit, and it is the floor. No state can lower it, which is why a state with no income tax saves you less than its marketing suggests.
The nine states with no income tax
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming levy no personal income tax. A freelancer on $80,000 in any of them owes the federal floor and nothing else — about $16,125.
The caveat worth stating plainly: states still need revenue. Washington has a 6.5% state sales tax and a Business & Occupation tax levied on gross receipts, which can reach self-employed people in ways an income tax would not. Tennessee charges $300 a year to keep an LLC alive, the joint highest in the country. New Hampshire has no sales tax either but the highest property taxes in the United States. The income tax line being zero is not the same as the tax burden being zero.
Where the state bill actually lands
For the 41 states that do tax income, the state bill on $80,000 of net profit clusters far more tightly than the headline rates suggest, because every state allows a deduction of some kind and most of the rate schedules are flat or nearly so at this income.
| State | Headline top rate | Actual state bill | Effective state rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 3.07% flat | $2,282 | 2.9% |
| Ohio | 2.75% flat | $1,262 | 1.6% |
| Indiana | 2.95% flat | $2,164 | 2.7% |
| North Dakota | 2.5% | $191 | 0.2% |
| Arizona | 2.5% flat | $1,650 | 2.1% |
| Michigan | 4.25% flat | $2,909 | 3.6% |
| Illinois | 4.95% flat | $3,535 | 4.4% |
| California | 13.3% | $2,889 | 3.6% |
| New York | 10.9% | $3,418 | 4.3% |
| Oregon | 9.9% | $5,932 | 7.4% |
Look at California and Michigan. California's top rate is more than three times Michigan's, and at $80,000 the two produce almost the same bill — $2,889 against $2,909. California's graduated schedule means a middle-income freelancer never leaves the lower brackets. Oregon, with a lower headline rate than California, costs more than twice as much — $5,932 against $2,889 — because its 8.75% bracket starts at $11,401.
This is the core finding: at freelancer income levels, where a state's brackets begin matters far more than where they end. Any ranking built on top marginal rates gets California badly wrong and Oregon badly wrong in the opposite direction.
The layer that breaks the rankings entirely
Seventeen states allow a city, county or school district to levy its own income tax, and none of the state-level comparisons include it. This is where the real money is for some freelancers.
| Jurisdiction | Local rate | Added cost on $80,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Columbus, Ohio | 2.5% municipal | about $1,800 |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | ~3.75% resident | about $2,800 |
| New York City | 3.078%–3.876% | about $2,400 |
| Montgomery County, Maryland | 3.20% county | about $2,300 |
| Detroit, Michigan | 2.4% resident | about $1,700 |
A freelancer in Columbus pays Ohio's $1,262 plus roughly $1,800 to the city — more than triple the state figure, and enough to move Ohio from one of the cheapest states to the middle of the pack. Meanwhile Philadelphia residents pay more in local income tax than residents of most states pay in state income tax. Any comparison that stops at the state line is describing a situation that does not exist for a large share of the country.
What this means if you are considering a move
The honest arithmetic: moving from a median-tax state to a no-tax state saves a freelancer on $80,000 somewhere around $2,500 to $3,500 a year. Moving from Oregon or a high-local-tax city saves more — $6,000 to $9,000. Moving from Ohio outside a taxing municipality saves about $1,260.
Set that against what moving costs. A $3,000 annual saving is about $250 a month, which is less than the rent difference between most cities. It is a real number and worth knowing, but it is rarely the number that should decide the question on its own. The freelancers for whom state tax genuinely dominates are the ones earning well into six figures in a high-rate state with a local tax on top — and those are exactly the people the headline rankings describe least accurately.
Method
Every figure above was computed with the same engine that runs the calculators on this site, following the order of operations on the IRS forms: net profit, the 92.35% adjustment, self-employment tax, the 50% deduction against AGI, the federal standard deduction, the §199A QBI deduction, then the brackets. State tax is computed separately on state AGI less that state's own standard deduction, because no state allows the federal QBI deduction and almost none allow the federal standard deduction.
Figures assume a single filer with self-employment income as the sole source, no itemized deductions and no credits. Local income taxes are stated separately and are not in the state totals. Your own number will differ; the comparison between states is the useful part, not the absolute figure.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Which state has the lowest taxes for self-employed people?
Is self-employment tax different in different states?
Does California really have the highest taxes for freelancers?
How much would I save moving to a no-income-tax state?
Related
Sources
- IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 — 2026 inflation adjustments — tax brackets, standard deduction, QBI thresholds.
- IRS Schedule SE instructions — Self-employment tax: the 92.35% adjustment, the Social Security wage base, the Medicare surtax.
- IRS Form 1040-ES — Estimated tax deadlines and the safe-harbour rules used for the quarterly schedule.
- IRS Publication 334 — Tax guide for small business — deductible expenses and net profit.
- IRS Social Security wage base — The $184,500 Social Security cap applied for 2026.
How these numbers are produced
Calculations follow the order of operations on the IRS forms themselves: net profit, the 92.35% adjustment, self-employment tax, the 50% deduction against AGI, the standard deduction, the §199A QBI deduction with its phase-out, then the federal brackets. State tax is computed separately on state AGI less that state's own standard deduction, because no state allows the federal QBI deduction and almost none allow the federal standard deduction.
What it does not cover. The calculators model a single filer or a married couple filing jointly with self-employment income as the main source. They do not model local income taxes, W-2 wages held alongside freelance work, itemized deductions, the alternative minimum tax, or credits. Where a local income tax exists, it is described on that state's page.
Not advice. SelfTaxCalc produces estimates, not tax advice. No one here is a CPA, an enrolled agent or a tax attorney, and nothing on this site creates a professional relationship. Estimates are a starting point for planning and for a conversation with a professional — they are not a substitute for one.