Where you retire
Which states tax military retired pay
Most of your pension is decided by things you cannot change — your grade, your years, your High-3. This is the one large input that is still a choice, and it moves the after-tax result by a six-figure sum across a retirement.
3 of 51 jurisdictions currently have complete primary-source metadata here — California, Kentucky and North Carolina.
The remaining classifications are a secondary-source shortlist, not a tax conclusion. The comparison refuses to assign zero tax or lifetime relocation savings from them until that state's revenue authority, tax year, eligibility, cap and SBP treatment are recorded.
Compare three states
Put in your own retired pay and your own marginal rate. This does not look up state brackets — see why below.
No state income tax
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Partly exempt — conditions apply
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Subtraction for military benefits, phased in and subject to a cap. Confirm the current amount.
Partly exempt — conditions apply
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For tax years 2025 through 2029, a qualified taxpayer may exclude up to $20,000 of uniformed-services retirement pay. The same exclusion expressly covers qualifying Survivor Benefit Plan annuity payments and is subject to federal-AGI limits.
Primary rule reviewed 2026-08-15 for tax year 2026. State authority
The 51-jurisdiction list is a secondary-source shortlist. Only California, Kentucky and North Carolina currently carry typed primary-source metadata, and all three have eligibility or amount conditions. Calculators must not assign zero tax or relocation savings from an unverified row. Confirm the current rule and your eligibility with the state's own revenue authority before acting.
Why this does not compute your tax bill
It would be straightforward to encode fifty-one sets of brackets, caps, age gates and income thresholds and print a confident annual figure. It would also be wrong within a year, and wrong in the worst way — silently, while still looking computed.
Treatment CATEGORIES are durable. Amounts are not: they move every legislative session, and several states changed within the last two years. So this site holds the category, applies your own marginal rate where a state taxes, and for the partly-exempt states states a bound rather than inventing a cap. A range with an honest boundary is more useful than a point estimate that is quietly stale.
Every state
Secondary-source shortlist: no tax on military retired pay (38)
- Alabamaexempt
- Alaskano income tax
- Arizonaexempt
- Arkansasexempt
- Connecticutexempt
- Floridano income tax
- Hawaiiexempt
- Illinoisexempt
- Indianaexempt
- Iowaexempt
- Kansasexempt
- Louisianaexempt
- Maineexempt
- Massachusettsexempt
- Michiganexempt
- Minnesotaexempt
- Mississippiexempt
- Missouriexempt
- Nebraskaexempt
- Nevadano income tax
- New Hampshireno income tax
- New Jerseyexempt
- New Yorkexempt
- North Carolinaexempt
- North Dakotaexempt
- Ohioexempt
- Oklahomaexempt
- Pennsylvaniaexempt
- Rhode Islandexempt
- South Carolinaexempt
- South Dakotano income tax
- Tennesseeno income tax
- Texasno income tax
- Utahexempt
- Washingtonno income tax
- West Virginiaexempt
- Wisconsinexempt
- Wyomingno income tax
Secondary-source shortlist: partly exempt, conditions apply (12)
California
For tax years 2025 through 2029, a qualified taxpayer may exclude up to $20,000 of uniformed-services retirement pay. The same exclusion expressly covers qualifying Survivor Benefit Plan annuity payments and is subject to federal-AGI limits.
Colorado
Exempts an amount that varies with the retiree's age. Confirm the current bracket and cap.
Delaware
Exclusion for pension income, with the amount depending on age. Confirm the current figure.
Georgia
Exemption expanded for the 2026 tax year and available regardless of age. Confirm the current cap.
Idaho
Deduction available subject to age or disability conditions. Confirm eligibility.
Kentucky
Kentucky generally excludes up to $31,110 of taxable pension and retirement income. A retired federal or military member may exclude more through Schedule P based on service credit before January 1, 1998; it is not a blanket military-pay exemption.
Maryland
Subtraction for military retirement income, with the amount varying by age. Confirm the current figure.
Montana
Limited exemption subject to conditions. Confirm eligibility and the amount.
New Mexico
Phased exemption for military retirement income. Confirm the current cap.
Oregon
Subtraction tied to service before a statutory date. Confirm how your service is treated.
Vermont
Exemption available below an adjusted gross income threshold, effective from the 2025 tax year.
Virginia
Subtraction for military benefits, phased in and subject to a cap. Confirm the current amount.
Secondary-source shortlist: taxed as ordinary income (1)
District of Columbia
Taxes military retired pay as ordinary income.
Before you move on this
- Tax treatment is one input, not the answer.Housing costs, property tax, sales tax, healthcare access and how far you are from family all move the same decision, and several of them are larger.
- VA compensation is untaxed everywhere.If a large share of your income is compensation rather than retired pay, this decision matters proportionally less to you.
- Residency is a legal question, not a preference.Where you are domiciled is established by facts and intent, and it is not changed by wanting it to be. This is worth an hour with a tax professional before a move, not after one.
- Confirm with the state itself.The categories here are a shortlist. Each state's department of revenue is the authority, reachable throughthe state tax agency directory.
Estimates and explanation only. Not tax advice. The full table's provenance is secondary. California, Kentucky and North Carolina were checked against their official revenue authorities on 15 August 2026; their conditions still require individual eligibility review.