State tax calculators and future dreaming

[farfalla2011]

I have a feeling this question isn't going to have as easy of an answer as I would hope. But, does anyone know of a source to compare simulated tax burdens of different states? 

Background for my question. I currently live in Texas. We have no state income tax, however our property tax is where the tax offset is. We are starting to brainstorm moving at some point, maybe 7-10 years from now, for sure out of our current area, but possibly out of the state. One thing I keep coming back to is with a state income tax, when looking towards retirement, combined with a lower income, your tax burden would go down whereas here, the property tax continues to rise with increases in property values which are reassessed every year. When considering the future and a lower/fixed income, this would quickly become problematic especially since it doesn't freeze until you hit 65, I think. 

Additional questions for hopefully fun discussion.

If you've voluntarily moved states, how did you assess the cost? 
If you've moved out of a bigger metro area into more of a smaller town (100K people or less), how did you pick where you ended up?
If you're considering relocating from your current area/state, what are your considerations?

[sandandsea]

We live in CA so high property and income tax rates and I feel like we could move anywhere and save money based on COL and taxes, but we love it here and I can’t imagine moving unless our kids are grown and they move elsewhere. I can see us following them in retirement.

These website are helpful. The income tax is hard to compare as states have graduated rates based on income so you may need to use a few different charts to figure things out. Also property taxes are based on assessments and so higher cost of living places may have a lower rate but significantly higher taxes for the same house. For instance, houses in the Bay Area start around $1M so 2% of that is much higher than 4% of $200k.

I would figure out some places you would want to live for life reasons and then compare tax and cost specifics if you’re seriously considering moving.

Here are the links to some charts, but again, they use average US income which is below the poverty line in some cities. So you have to mix and match charts.

wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-highest-and-lowest-property-taxes/11585/

wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-to-be-a-taxpayer/2416/

www.thebalance.com/state-income-tax-rates-3193320

[farfalla2011]

Thank you sandandsea! These sites are definitely helpful. I totally understand it being a very complex thing to assess. Perfect example is average across our state for property tax rates is 1.8%, however we pay 2.8% where we are. Adding to that, in 2 years, our home value has increased 17%. It's a good thing if we're looking to sell, but not so much if we want to reduce our work commitments without changing where we live.

[Accountingcat]

Search for "cost of living" calculators.

[mommin]

Strictly for the income tax side you can run simulated numbers on paycheckcity.com. I usually start with my current paycheck and enter the info to make sure the net is as close as possible and then I change the state. You can also fiddle around with different gross pay amounts to get a feel for what salaries would and wouldn't work for you.