Taxes in Wilmington

North Carolina taxes individual income at a single flat rate that stepped down from 4.25% (tax year 2025) to 3.99% (tax year 2026) under a pre-set statutory schedule, with further cuts contingent on the state hitting revenue triggers starting in 2027 -- a real, currently-declining but non-zero tax, a genuinely different picture from the no-income-tax states (Texas, Florida) some of this project's other Tier A+ markets sit in. Wilmington residents also pay a combined sales tax rate of 7% (4.75% state plus 2.25% New Hanover County), and property tax -- covered in full on its own topic page -- is a comparative advantage here rather than a burden.

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North Carolina's Flat Income Tax, and Its Declining Schedule

North Carolina taxes all individual income at a single flat rate with no brackets -- 4.99% in 2022, stepping down through 4.75% (2023), 4.5% (2024), 4.25% (2025), and 3.99% for 2026, per the NC Department of Revenue's official tax rate schedule. Further reductions are contingent on the state meeting specified revenue triggers starting in 2027 rather than guaranteed by a fixed calendar -- so 3.99% should be treated as the current, confirmed rate, with future cuts as a possibility rather than a settled fact. This is a statewide rate, not Wilmington-specific, but it applies fully here and is the most directly comparable figure to note against the zero-income-tax states in this project's other builds.

Wilmington's Combined Sales Tax Rate

The combined sales tax rate in Wilmington and New Hanover County is 7%, per 2026 sales-tax rate aggregators (Avalara among them) reviewed this session: North Carolina's 4.75% state base rate plus a 2.25% New Hanover County local rate. Unlike Houston's Texas market, which sits at the state-mandated 8.25% combined-rate ceiling, North Carolina and New Hanover County's combined rate runs lower and is not described in the sources reviewed as sitting at any statutory maximum.

A Modest, Non-Coastal-County Real Estate Transfer Tax

North Carolina's state excise (transfer) tax is $1 per $500 of sale price ($2 per $1,000) -- about $800 on a $400,000 home -- paid by the seller by default (negotiable in a soft market). New Hanover County is not among the seven coastal/northeastern NC counties that add a further local land-transfer tax on top of the state rate, so this figure is the complete transfer-tax picture for a Wilmington purchase; see the buying-a-home topic page for the fuller closing-cost context.

Property Taxes Are a Real Comparative Advantage (Summary -- See Full Topic Page)

Unlike the income-tax and sales-tax pictures above, which run in the middle of the pack nationally, Wilmington's property tax rate is a genuine, sourced advantage: a cited 0.57%-0.59% effective rate, well below both the North Carolina state median (0.81%) and the roughly 1.02% national median. See the property-taxes topic page for the full county-versus-municipality breakdown and the ZIP-code-level variance this summary intentionally doesn't repeat.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-22. Independent research; not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.