Moving States in Retirement: The Part-Year Tax, State by State (2026)

Published 2026-10-07. Tax year 2026.

If you move to a state with no income tax mid-year, what does the old state still tax?

The income you received while you lived there. For a retired couple moving out on July 1 the old state's tax fell to a median of 22.7% of a full year's. Converting $40,000 to Roth after the move instead of before saved up to $2,387 (Massachusetts), a median of $996. 24 of the 32 states still taxed the half-year received before the move.

One couple, both 66, with $48,000 of Social Security, $40,000 of IRA withdrawals spread over the year and a $40,000 Roth conversion, retiring from a state with an income tax to one without (Florida, Texas, Nevada, Tennessee and the like) on July 1, 2026. Social Security and IRA withdrawals are received evenly through the year, so half arrive while they are still residents. The question is what the state they leave still taxes, and how much the timing of the conversion matters. Their federal tax ($8,300) is the same in every row.

The state you leave, by state

A conversion is income on the day it is made, so a conversion made after the move is the new state's income, not the old one's. In 20 of these states the part-year tax is the full-year resident tax on all income times the share of income received while a resident (the "income ratio" method); the other states tax the resident-period income directly. Either way the half-year of Social Security and IRA income stays taxable where it was received: 24 of the 32 states still taxed the couple after a December conversion (17 of the 20 income-ratio states). In California the couple pays $195 with the conversion after the move against $585 before it.

When one spouse moves first

Couples often move in stages: one spouse goes ahead, the other stays to sell the house. Then the spouses have different residency, and each state has its own rule for the return: a joint part-year return, separate returns, or an election to file jointly as residents. The last column is the state's own default treatment (with every allowed option in the data file). 31 states have a settled rule for this couple; for Massachusetts the state's published guidance does not describe the return of such a couple in full, so it is not computed here (the reason is in the data file).

Moving between two income-tax states

Virginia is not included. Each spouse's IRA withdrawals and conversion are their own (half each); taxable Social Security is the federal figure, split the same way. Residency itself (domicile, the days test, a statutory-resident rule) is a question of facts and is assumed here. Credits for tax paid to another state do not arise: no income is taxed by both.

Compare your income in your current and your next state
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Related: The states with no income tax, and how each treats retirement income · The tax on a Roth conversion in every state

Download the data

Every row on this page, with its inputs: moving-states-in-retirement-tax-2026.csv · moving-states-in-retirement-tax-2026.json (CC0).

Questions

Do I pay state tax on a Roth conversion after I move?

A conversion is income when it is made, so one made after you become a resident of the new state is generally not the old state's income. In states that compute the part-year tax as a full-year tax times your income share, it can still raise the rate on your resident-period income.

Is my pension taxed by the state I left?

Federal law (4 U.S.C. §114) bars a state from taxing a nonresident's retirement income, including IRA and pension distributions; what you received while a resident stays taxable there.

What if my spouse moves later than I do?

Then you have different residency for part of the year. Each state decides whether you file one joint part-year return, separate returns, or may elect a joint resident return; the rules differ, and a few states do not settle it in their instructions.

Does the move change my federal tax?

No. Federal tax is the same wherever you live; only the state returns change.

Sources and method

Every figure was computed by QuantCalc's open tax engines — federal 2.2.0 and state 1.14.1, the engines behind the federal and state tax APIs — for the 2026 tax year, and every row can be re-run through those APIs with the inputs in the data files. The engine documentation lists the official source of every rule; the rules this study leans on:

• California: 2025 Form 540NR California Nonresident or Part-Year Resident Income Tax Return Booklet
• New York: Instructions for Form IT-203 Nonresident and Part-Year Resident Income Tax Return (2025)
• New Jersey: 2025 Form NJ-1040 Resident Return Instructions
• Illinois: Schedule NR IL-1040 Instructions 2025
• Massachusetts: 2025 Form 1-NR/PY Instructions
• Minnesota: 2025 Schedule M1NR, Nonresidents/Part-Year Residents (with instructions)
• North Carolina: 2025 D-401 Individual Income Tax Instructions (Forms D-400, Schedule S, A, PN, PN-1, D-400TC)
• Arizona: Arizona Form 140PY 2025 Part-Year Resident Personal Income Tax Return Instructions
• 26 U.S. Code § 86

Federal tax uses the tax rate schedule (the IRS Tax Table, used on returns below $100,000 of taxable income, differs by a few dollars). Households are illustrations, not averages; each takes the standard deduction.

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

@misc{quantcalc2026movingtoanotherstateinretirementwhatthes,
  title  = {Moving to Another State in Retirement: What the State You Leave Still Taxes, and When to Convert (2026)},
  author = {{QuantCalc Research}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://quantcalc.app/research/moving-states-in-retirement-tax-2026/},
  note   = {Accessed <date>}
}