Income Taxes in Wyoming
Wyoming's Constitution forbids a state individual income tax outright -- not a 0%-bracket policy choice like some states this dataset has documented, but a genuine, constitutional prohibition on wages, salaries, investment income, retirement income, and Social Security benefits alike -- one of nine US states with no state income tax at all, confirmed unchanged for tax year 2026 across every source this pass reviewed.
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Learn moreA real, constitutional, and genuinely absolute prohibition
Wyoming's individual income tax status is real, current, and genuinely absolute: the Wyoming Constitution forbids a state income tax outright, and no tax applies to wages, salaries, investment income, retirement income, or Social Security benefits -- a status multiple 2026 tax-guide sources this pass reviewed (Tax Foundation, AARP, ustax.tools, countrytaxcalc.com) independently confirmed unchanged for tax year 2026. This is not a graduated structure with a 0% bottom bracket that rises at higher income, as some no-income-tax-adjacent states run -- it is a genuine, constitutional prohibition on any state-level tax on income of any kind, at any income level.
Driving the nation's #1 tax-competitiveness ranking
Wyoming's constitutionally absolute lack of income tax, combined with a genuinely low combined sales tax rate (approximately 5.36%-5.39%) and an effective property tax rate (approximately 0.53%) running roughly 38% below the national average, drives the Tax Foundation's own #1-nationally 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index ranking for Wyoming -- the top overall ranking of any US state. Wyoming is one of nine US states with no state income tax at all, funding state and local government instead primarily through mineral-extraction severance taxes and royalties (coal, oil, gas, plus trona, bentonite, and uranium).
Still owe federal income tax and real, if genuinely low, local property tax
A prospective Wyoming mover should understand that the absence of state income tax does not mean an absence of all taxation: Wyoming residents still owe federal income tax at the same rates as any other US resident, and every Wyoming county levies real, current property tax (a statewide average effective rate this record anchors at approximately 0.53%, with real, and genuinely counterintuitive, county-by-county variation). Every Wyoming county and the state itself also levy real sales tax on most purchases (a flat 4.00% state rate, with local-option add-ons up to 3%). See the property-taxes and sales-tax topics for the fuller picture.
A real advantage that sits alongside a structural fiscal dependence on mineral revenue
Wyoming's genuine absence of state income tax is a real, meaningful advantage, particularly relative to Wyoming's real, current median household income of approximately $76,176 -- modestly (approximately 6%) below the national figure this dataset found, a gap the state's genuinely light overall tax burden helps offset. This record discloses honestly, though, that Wyoming's favorable income-tax-free structure sits alongside a real, structural fiscal dependence on volatile coal, oil, and gas severance-tax revenue -- a genuine sustainability tension a prospective mover should weigh alongside the tax-free headline rather than treating Wyoming's tax advantage as costless or permanently guaranteed. See the cost-of-living topic for the full disclosure.
Key takeaways
- Wyoming's Constitution forbids a state individual income tax outright -- a genuine, constitutional prohibition, not a 0%-bottom-bracket structure -- on wages, salaries, investment income, retirement income, and Social Security benefits alike, one of nine such US states.
- That constitutionally absolute lack of income tax, alongside low sales and property tax, drives the Tax Foundation's #1-nationally 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index ranking for Wyoming.
- Wyoming residents still owe federal income tax and real, if genuinely low, county-administered property tax and state-plus-local sales tax -- the absence of state income tax does not mean an absence of all taxation.
- Wyoming's income-tax-free structure is a real advantage that depends structurally on volatile coal, oil, and gas severance-tax revenue -- weigh both together, not the tax headline alone.
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