Hawaii vs Washington taxes

An income tax against two premiums

On $75,000 a single filer keeps $60,552 in Washington and $57,321 in Hawaii: $3,231 a year more in Washington, about $269 a month.

Hawaii’s side is mostly income tax: $3,896 on $75,000. After a $8,000 standard deduction and a $1,144 exemption, its brackets start at 1.4% and reach 7.6% once taxable income passes $48,000. Temporary Disability Insurance adds at most $375.

Washington’s side is two payroll premiums and nothing else: paid family and medical leave, of which the employee pays 71.43% of the premium, and WA Cares at 0.58% of every dollar for the state’s long-term care benefit. On $75,000 they take $1,040, more than Hawaii’s TDI but far less than Hawaii’s income tax.

How the gap moves

For a single filer Washington keeps more at every salary in the tables, and the lead grows fast: $1,581 on $50,000, $7,953 on $150,000 and $15,344 on $250,000. Hawaii’s rate keeps rising, to 11% above $325,000 of taxable income, while its TDI stops at $390 a year. Washington’s premiums keep growing too, since WA Cares is uncapped, but at 0.58% it never comes close.

Married couples are the one place Hawaii can come out ahead. Its joint brackets are exactly twice the single ones, and a couple deducts $16,000 plus two exemptions, so on a modest combined salary Hawaii’s tax is smaller than Washington’s premiums. From about $40,500 of combined salary Washington keeps more, and on $150,000 jointly its lead is $6,102.

Why Washington has no income tax, and Hawaii’s is changing

Washington’s absence of an income tax rests on a 1933 state supreme court ruling that a graduated income tax violates the state constitution’s uniformity clause. Attempts to change that have failed ever since, at the ballot box and in the courts.

Hawaii’s brackets are moving the other way at the bottom. Act 24 of 2026 lowers the second and third bands from 2027 and adds a higher top band, and the standard deduction is scheduled to rise again in 2028. None of that applies to 2026.

What the take-home figure does not count

Washington funds itself through sales tax, a business and occupation tax and property tax instead, and housing costs differ widely between Seattle, the rest of Washington and the Hawaiian islands. None of that is here: this page compares only what is taken from wages.

Questions people ask

Do you take home more in Hawaii or Washington on $75,000?

Washington, by $3,231 a year, or $269 a month, for a single filer in 2026. That counts federal tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax and every state payroll deduction.

Is the difference the same at every salary?

No, but the same side stays ahead. The gap is $392 a year at $30,000 and $15,344 at $250,000, for a single filer.

Does Washington tax anything a Hawaii resident would not expect?

Two things. Its paid family and medical leave premium and its WA Cares long-term care premium both come out of wages, and WA Cares has no wage cap. Washington also levies an excise tax on large long-term capital gains, which does not touch wages and is not in these figures.

Does any county in either state levy an income tax?

No. No Hawaii county levies an income tax, and Washington has no income tax at state or local level. Both columns hold anywhere in their state.

What if my Hawaii employer pays all of the TDI premium?

Then add the TDI line back to the Hawaii column. Hawaii employers must provide disability insurance and may withhold up to half the premium, but no more than 0.5% of wages up to a weekly maximum. They may also pay all of it. The Hawaii figures here assume the most that can be withheld.

What this comparison covers

Income tax and payroll deductions on wages: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax, every state payroll deduction. It does not compare sales tax, property tax, housing or the cost of living, which can outweigh the difference in take-home pay. Figures assume the standard deduction, no dependents and no pre-tax retirement contributions. See how we calculate.