[ST-04] State Quick-Reference Tables

The annual lookup layer — every state rule the rest of the wiki defers to, in one refreshable place

Pillar: State Dimension · Applies to: Anyone checking how their state changes an answer given elsewhere in this wiki Type: Reference Last verified: August 2026 · Refresh cadence: Annual (January–February, after the bulk of legislative sessions and the January FPL release) + event-driven when a state changes a listed rule Related: ST-01 Six State Dimensions · ST-02 Retirement-Friendly States, Honestly · ST-03 Changing Domicile · HC-01 ACA Bridge · HC-02 Medicare 101 · HC-03 Medicaid Floor · TX-06 Senior Deduction & Bunching · EP-05 Estate & Inheritance Taxes

Verification legend: ✅ = confirmed against a primary or multiply-corroborated authoritative source during the August 2026 sweep · ◻️ = high confidence, confirm against the state’s own revenue, insurance, or Medicaid department before acting

Not advice. State law changes every legislative session, and this page will drift faster than any other in the wiki. Treat every table as a starting point for a lookup, not an answer. Where a row is ◻️, the state’s own agency is the authority — not this page and not a national summary.

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How to use this page

Eight of the wiki’s articles carry a State notes callout that ends by pointing here. Those callouts explain why a state dimension matters; this page holds the current values. The division is deliberate: mechanics articles stay evergreen while the volatile lists live in one file with one refresh date.

What this page deliberately does not do. It does not reproduce fifty rows for every dimension. Most state variation doesn’t change a decision — what changes decisions is membership in a small list (does my state tax Social Security? is there an estate tax? is there a birthday rule?). Where the list is short, it’s here in full. Where the answer is genuinely a fifty-way spread — marginal rates, property tax, benchmark ACA premiums — the page says so and sends you to the source, because a stale table is worse than no table.

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1. Income tax on retirement income

1.1 No state income tax (9 states)

Alaska · Florida · Nevada · New Hampshire · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Washington · Wyoming ✅

Roth conversions, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals, pensions, and Social Security all come out state-free. Two asterisks:

State	Asterisk
New Hampshire	Its interest-and-dividends tax was phased out and no longer applies ◻️ — historically the reason NH was listed separately from the other eight
Washington	No income tax, but a 7% capital-gains excise tax on long-term gains above roughly $278k (plus 2.9% above $1M; real estate exempt) ◻️ — see TX-01 on why this caps a single-year harvest

These are the states where the TX-03 fill strategy and the SS-01 bridge-to-70 drawdown are cheapest, because every dollar of realized ordinary income is federal-only.

1.2 States that tax Social Security benefits (8 states)

Colorado · Connecticut · Minnesota · Montana · New Mexico · Rhode Island · Utah · Vermont ✅

The list shrinks almost every year — treat any list older than a session as wrong. West Virginia completed a three-year phase-out and does not tax benefits for tax year 2026, becoming the 42nd state to exempt them entirely; Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska dropped theirs in 2024. ✅

All eight remaining states gate the tax with income thresholds or partial exemptions, so a moderate-income retiree in one of them frequently owes nothing. Check the state’s own threshold before assuming the tax bites — the binary “does my state tax Social Security” is the wrong question; “does it tax mine at my income” is the right one. ◻️

1.3 States that tax wages but exempt essentially all retirement income

Illinois · Pennsylvania · Mississippi ✅

For a retiree these can beat a no-income-tax state on total cost, since they fund themselves less aggressively through property and sales tax. Many other states offer partial pension or retirement-income exclusions, usually age- and amount-gated ◻️ — a genuine fifty-way spread, so check the state’s own schedule.

1.4 Community property (9 states)

Arizona · California · Idaho · Louisiana · Nevada · New Mexico · Texas · Washington · Wisconsin ✅

At the first spouse’s death both halves of community property step up in basis, not just the decedent’s — the single most valuable basis event most couples never plan around (TX-01 §7, TX-03 §5). Alaska, Tennessee, and South Dakota offer opt-in community-property trusts ◻️.

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2. Estate and inheritance tax

12 states plus DC levy an estate tax; 5 states levy an inheritance tax; Maryland levies both. ✅ The federal exemption is $15M per person (FN-02), so for most households in the $2–10M band the state layer is the only estate tax that will ever apply.

2.1 Estate tax (paid by the estate)

Jurisdiction	2026 exemption	Top rate
Oregon	$1,000,000 ✅	16% ◻️
Rhode Island	$1,838,000 ◻️	16% ◻️
Massachusetts	$2,000,000 ✅	16% ◻️
Minnesota	$3,000,000 ◻️	16% ◻️
Washington	$3,000,000 ✅ (frozen — indexing broken by SB 6347)	20% ✅
Illinois	$4,000,000 ◻️	16% ◻️
District of Columbia	$4,988,400 ◻️	16% ◻️
Maryland	$5,000,000 ◻️	16% ◻️
Vermont	$5,000,000 ◻️	16% ◻️
Hawaii	$5,490,000 ◻️	20% ◻️
Maine	$7,160,000 ◻️	12% ◻️
New York	$7,350,000 ✅	16% ◻️
Connecticut	$13,600,000 ◻️ (tracks federal)	12% ◻️

Oregon’s $1M is the trap this table exists for — a paid-off house and a 401(k) clear it. Portability between spouses is not available at the state level in most estate-tax states (unlike federal), so an unplanned first death can waste an entire exemption; credit-shelter planning is the remedy ◻️ → EP-05. The two exceptions are Maryland — which also allows a portability-only return up to two years after death — and Hawaii ✅.

Washington moved twice in thirteen months (historical). SB 5813 raised the exclusion to $3M and the top rate to 35% for deaths on or after July 1, 2025; SB 6347 (signed March 2026) restored the 10%–20% schedule for deaths on or after July 1, 2026, kept the $3M exclusion, and re-tied indexing to the discontinued Seattle–Tacoma–Bremerton CPI — freezing the exclusion at $3,000,000 ✅. So the 35% rate applied to a twelve-month window only, and the indexed $3,076,000 exclusion applied only through June 30, 2026. (Washington DOR’s rate-table page files “July 1, 2026 and after” under the legacy $2,193,000 exclusion heading; that heading tracks the rate schedule, not the exclusion — DOR’s main estate tax page states $3,000,000. Read the two pages together.)

2.2 Inheritance tax (paid by the heir, by relationship class)

State	Rates	Notes
Pennsylvania	0% spouse/minor child · 4.5% adult children · 12% siblings · 15% others ✅	No blanket exemption; the clearest relationship ladder
New Jersey	11–16% for taxed classes ◻️	Children and spouses exempt; siblings and non-relatives taxed. NJ repealed its estate tax in 2018 — the inheritance tax survives, a distinction national summaries routinely get wrong ✅
Kentucky	4–16% for distant beneficiaries ◻️	Small exemptions by class
Nebraska	1% / 11% / 15% by class ◻️	Class exemptions roughly $100k / $40k / $25k ◻️
Maryland	10% for non-spouse/non-descendant ◻️	Also has an estate tax ✅

The planning consequence: leaving assets to siblings, nieces/nephews, or friends is materially more expensive than leaving them to a spouse or children in these five states. Beneficiary design, not just document design (EP-01).

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3. Medicaid expansion and the ACA floor

40 states plus DC have expanded Medicaid; 10 have not. ✅ North Carolina was the most recent to expand (late 2023); none expanded in 2024 or 2025.

3.1 The 10 non-expansion states

Alabama · Florida · Georgia · Kansas · Mississippi · South Carolina · Tennessee · Texas · Wisconsin · Wyoming ✅

In these states a childless, non-disabled adult under 100% FPL usually falls into the coverage gap — too rich for Medicaid, too poor for premium tax credits (HC-03 §2). Two partial cases: Wisconsin covers adults to 100% FPL via waiver, so it has no true gap, and Georgia runs a limited work-conditioned program ◻️.

3.2 Your effective income floor, by jurisdiction type

Your state is…	Floor you must clear for a subsidized marketplace plan
Expansion, no Basic Health Program	138% FPL ✅
Basic Health Program: MN · OR · NY · DC	200% FPL ✅ — BHP eligibility blocks the premium tax credit whether or not you enroll (26 CFR §1.36B-2)
Non-expansion	100% FPL ✅ — below it, the coverage gap

Dollar figures for each line, by household size, live in FN-02. The mechanics and the manufacture-MAGI strategy live in HC-03.

Live watch item: Medicaid community-engagement (work) requirements take effect January 1, 2027, but a state may seek a good-faith-effort exemption deferring to December 31, 2028, and 25 states plus DC are litigating provisions of the rule. Your state’s posture, not the federal date, governs you. → FN-03 §4

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4. Marketplace type and state subsidy programs

4.1 Who runs your exchange (2026 plan year)

Type	Count	Who
Full state-based marketplace (SBM)	21 (20 states + DC) ✅	CA, CO, CT, DC, GA, ID, IL, KY, ME, MD, MA, MN, NV, NJ, NM, NY, PA, RI, VT, VA, WA
State-based using the federal platform (SBM-FP)	2 ✅	Arkansas, Oregon
Federally facilitated (HealthCare.gov)	28 ✅	The remainder

Illinois is new for 2026, having moved from SBM-FP to a full state exchange (Get Covered Illinois). ✅ SBM states set their own enrollment deadlines, which do not track HealthCare.gov’s — a live distinction while the federal open-enrollment window is in litigation (FN-03 §3, HC-01 §7).

4.2 State premium and cost-sharing subsidies

With the enhanced federal credits expired, several states are spending their own money to blunt the loss. This is the most volatile table on the page — these are appropriations, and they are re-decided every budget cycle. ◻️

State	2026 approach
New Mexico	Went furthest — state funds covering the expired federal subsidies in full for nearly all enrollees (~$22.3M general + $17.3M emergency)
California	Fully replaces lost credits up to 150% FPL; partial replacement 150–165% FPL
Colorado	Restructured from cost-sharing to premium support: up to $80/mo first household member, $29/mo each additional
Washington	Cascade Care Savings — flat $55 PMPM ($250 if ineligible for federal subsidies)
Vermont	Reduces the applicable percentage by 1.5 percentage points
Connecticut · Maryland · Massachusetts	Enhanced state subsidies offsetting part of the federal reduction
New York · New Jersey	Long-standing state subsidy programs, not tied to the enhanced-PTC expiration

Check your own exchange even if you fail the federal test — several of these survive above the 400% FPL federal cliff (HC-01 §7).

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5. Medigap switching rights

Federal law guarantees Medigap issue only during your 6-month one-time open enrollment after Part B starts, plus a short list of guaranteed-issue events (HC-02 §3). What happens after that is entirely state law, and it decides whether the Medicare Advantage “one-way door” exists for you.

Protection	States
Year-round guaranteed issue / continuous open enrollment	Connecticut · New York · Vermont ◻️ · Massachusetts (continuous OE with its own standardized plan set) ◻️ · Maine (protections for those with continuous coverage) ◻️
“Birthday rule” — an annual window to switch to an equal-or-lesser plan without underwriting	CA · DE · ID · IL · IN · KY · LA · MD · NV · OK · OR · UT · VA · WV · WY ◻️ (reported as 16 states for 2026; 15 named across sources — verify your own)
Year-round plan switching for existing Medigap holders	Washington ◻️
Everywhere else	Medical underwriting applies after your windows lapse — the door closes

The birthday-rule list has grown almost every year. If you are choosing between Medigap and Medicare Advantage at 65, this row is worth more than any premium comparison: in a birthday-rule or year-round state the MA decision is substantially reversible, and everywhere else it may not be.

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6. The annual refresh checklist

Work this list each January–February, after most legislative sessions have adjourned and the new HHS poverty guidelines have landed.

• §1.2 Social Security taxation — the fastest-moving list here; check for new repeals and phase-out completions
• §1.1 — confirm no state has adopted or repealed an income tax; re-check WA’s indexed capital-gains excise threshold
• §2 — estate exemptions are indexed in several states; re-pull every amount, and watch for legislated changes (WA moved twice: July 2025 and again July 2026)
• §3.1 — expansion status; §3.2 — any new or terminated Basic Health Program (DC’s began Jan 2026; NY’s waiver ended July 2026)
• §4.1 — marketplace-type changes take effect with the plan year; §4.2 — re-verify every subsidy program against the state’s enacted budget
• §5 — check for newly enacted birthday rules
• Update this page’s Last verified date and add a Change log row; then sweep the eight State notes callouts that point here for anything now contradicted

Primary sources, by section: state departments of revenue (§1, §2); state Medicaid agencies and KFF’s expansion tracker (§3); CMS and each state exchange (§4); state departments of insurance (§5). National summaries are useful for finding which states to check and unreliable for what the rule is — the New Jersey estate-versus-inheritance confusion in §2.2 was found exactly that way during this sweep.

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Change log

Date	Change
Aug 2026	Correction (§2.1) — the blanket claim that state-level portability “is generally not available” was an overgeneralisation. Maryland and Hawaii both permit it by statute ✅ — Maryland via Form MET-1, uniquely allowing a portability-only return up to two years after death; Hawaii via Part 2 of Form M-6 on the ordinary nine-month deadline. The remaining estate-tax states have no equivalent ◻️. Found by an external audit of EP-05; corrected here, in ST-01, and in EP-05.
Aug 2026	Correction (§2.1) — Washington was carried as “~$3,080,000 ◻️, top rate 20% ◻️.” Both are now ✅ and the exclusion figure was wrong: SB 6347 froze it at $3,000,000 effective July 1, 2026 by re-tying indexing to a discontinued CPI series, so the indexed $3,076,000 applied only through June 30, 2026. The 20% top rate happened to be right, but for the wrong reason — it was carried over from the pre-2025 schedule while the 35% rate was actually in force, and only became correct again when SB 6347 restored the old brackets. FN-02 carried the 35% figure and has been corrected in the same commit.
Aug 2026	Page created. Verified during the sweep: the Social Security list is 8 states (a widely repeated “nine” is stale — it counts West Virginia, whose phase-out completed for 2026); estate tax is 12 states + DC, inheritance 5 states, Maryland both, and New Jersey has inheritance but not estate tax — a distinction several national summaries get wrong. Illinois became a full SBM for the 2026 plan year. Estate exemption amounts are largely ◻️ pending a per-state revenue-department pass; the membership lists are ✅.