Capital Gains Tax by State for Retirees, 2026: What Selling Stock Costs in All 50 States and DC

Published 2026-10-28. Tax year 2026 (the return filed in early 2027).

How much tax does a retiree pay on a capital gain in 2026, federal and in each state?

For a couple at 67 with $40,000 of Social Security and $40,000 of IRA withdrawals, a $100,000 long-term gain in 2026 adds $6,388 of federal income tax (6.4% of the gain, partly because it makes $14,400 more of their Social Security taxable). The state adds $0 in 12 jurisdictions and up to $9,188 in Maryland; the median is $3,749. Most states tax a gain as ordinary income; several tax part of it or tax it at a lower rate, and Washington taxes only the largest gain here. Across the 12 federal cases, the federal tax ran from 5.9% to 18.4% of the gain. Missouri, which no longer taxes capital gains (RSMo 143.121), charged $0 on all of them.

Price your own gain: the 2026 capital gains tax calculator
Free: the federal tax on a long-term gain at your income, with the NIIT.

The three retirees and the four gains

Each household is 67, on Social Security, with IRA withdrawals, and sells stock held for more than a year. The gain is the amount over the shares' cost basis. The federal side: the 0%, 15% and 20% long-term rates (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), the 3.8% net investment income tax above its thresholds (IRC §1411), and the Social Security the gain pulls into income (IRC §86). IRMAA: the Part B and Part D surcharge the year's MAGI sets (the 2026 tiers). Couples' IRA money is split evenly between the spouses.

The federal tax and IRMAA the gain adds

A gain is not taxed only at its own rate. Gains stack on top of ordinary income, so part of a gain can fall in the 0% band and the rest at 15% or 20%; the same gain raises provisional income, which can make more of the Social Security taxable at ordinary rates; and it counts in the MAGI that sets the IRMAA surcharge two years later.

The state tax on a $100,000 gain, ranked

12 jurisdictions add $0 on this gain: Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming.

Every state, every gain

G1: Single, 67: $24,000 Social Security + $20,000 IRA. G2: Couple, 67 and 67: $40,000 Social Security + $40,000 IRA. G3: Couple, 67 and 67: $50,000 Social Security + $100,000 IRA. Every household-gain-state case is in the data files below.

Related: Is 0% gain harvesting really free? · Which states tax retirement income · When tax-loss harvesting pays · States with no income tax

Download the data

Every case on this page, with its inputs: capital-gains-tax-by-state-retirees-2026.csv (the 12 federal cases) · capital-gains-tax-by-state-retirees-2026-states.csv (the 612 state cases) · capital-gains-tax-by-state-retirees-2026.json (both, CC0). Dollar amounts in USD; IRMAA is a year of surcharges on the 2026 tiers.

Questions

How much is capital gains tax by state for retirees in 2026?

For a couple at 67 with $40,000 of Social Security and $40,000 of IRA withdrawals, a $100,000 long-term gain adds $0 of state tax in 12 jurisdictions, a median of $3,749, and up to $9,188 in Maryland, on top of $6,388 of federal income tax.

Which states have no capital gains tax?

9 jurisdictions taxed none of the gains in this study: Alaska, Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming. Washington taxed only the $500,000 gain.

How much California tax is due on a $100,000 capital gain in retirement?

For the couple above, $4,214; on $500,000, $41,758. California taxes capital gains as ordinary income.

Does Washington tax capital gains?

Washington has no income tax but a separate capital gains excise above a standard deduction: for the couple above it adds $0 on a $100,000 gain and $15,540 on $500,000.

Can a capital gain raise a retiree's Medicare premiums?

Yes. The gain counts in the MAGI that sets the IRMAA surcharge. In 8 of the 12 federal cases here the gain raised it, by up to $12,710 a year on the 2026 tiers.

Can a capital gain make Social Security taxable?

Yes. In 8 of the 12 cases the gain made more of the household's Social Security taxable, which is taxed at ordinary rates even when part of the gain itself is in the 0% band.

Method and sources

Every figure was computed by QuantCalc's open tax engines (federal 2.5.1, state 1.21.2) and the IRMAA module through the household module the free capital gains and state tax calculators run, then recomputed by the C engines behind the federal and state tax APIs from independently written requests, agreeing to the cent. "Added" is the tax on the year with the sale less the same year without it. Each state's capital gains rules and their official sources are in the state tax engine documentation; the federal sources:

• Missouri: RSMo 143.121 Missouri adjusted gross income
• Washington: RCW 82.87.040 Tax imposed
• Washington: Capital gains tax
• Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 inflation-adjusted items (incl. One Big Beautiful Bill amendments)
• 26 U.S. Code § 1411
• Net Investment Income Tax
• 26 U.S. Code § 86
• Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits
• 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles
• 26 U.S. Code § 151

What is not modelled

• The Indiana and Maryland figures include the county income tax every county there levies, on the state return, at a default county rate: Indiana at 1.75% (county rates); Maryland at 3.12% (county rates). A resident pays their own county's rate. Other local income taxes (city and school-district taxes, and county taxes in other states) are not included (see local income tax on retirement income).
• One long-term gain on stock held more than a year; no short-term gains, collectibles, real estate depreciation recapture or home sale (whose gain up to the exclusion is not taxed).
• Washington's capital gains excise is priced with its most recently published inflation-adjusted standard deduction until the 2026 figure is published.
• IRMAA is priced on the 2026 tiers and premiums; the surcharge a 2026 gain sets is paid in 2028, on tiers not yet published.
• No capital losses or loss carryovers, no state tax credits for taxes paid to another state, no estimated-tax penalty.
• The households are illustrations, not averages.

An estimate, not tax advice. These are computed examples for the 2026 tax year from QuantCalc's open tax engines (federal 2.5.1, state 1.21.2). Your own return depends on facts these examples do not include. Check any decision with your tax preparer before acting.

@misc{quantcalc2026capitalgainstaxbystateforretirees2026the,
  title  = {Capital Gains Tax by State for Retirees (2026): The Federal, IRMAA and State Tax on Selling $25,000 to $500,000 of Stock},
  author = {{QuantCalc Research}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://quantcalc.app/research/capital-gains-tax-by-state-retirees-2026/},
  note   = {Accessed <date>}
}