Want to Take Home $100K After Taxes? Here’s How Much You Need to Earn (2025)

By Kendrick Marshall
Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.)
(TNS)

Earning a six-figure salary is considered an achievement for many workers.

InCalifornia, you’d need to make significantly more than $100,000 per year to take home a six-figure paycheck after taxes, according to a recent GoBankingRates analysis.

The personal finance website looked into the annual salary needed to net at least $100,000 in every state across the nation.

“If you’ve landed a job making $100,000 or more, the reality is that money isn’t all yours for the keeping,” GoBankingRates reporterJordan Rosenfeldwrote in aMarch 30article.

“Federal income taxes andSocial Securityand Medicare take a chunk,” Rosenfeld wrote. “Then state and local taxes can take another bite. That six-figure salary could quickly shrink to a take-home pay of five figures.”

Nationally, GoBankingRates found that the average person needed to earn $130,000 to take home $100,000 after factoring in federal and state income taxes.

GoBankingRates identified the Golden State as one of five states—along with Oregon, Maryland, Hawaii, and Minnesota—where you needed to earn the most to net $100,000.

Californiaworkers need to make a gross salary of roughly $144,939 to take home six figures, the report found, due to a so-called “tax burden” of about 31%.

According to thePublic Policy Institute of California, about 30% ofCaliforniarenters earn more than $100,000 a year.

In comparison, workers inOregonneed an annual salary of $148,000 to earn $100,000 after taxes, GoBankingRates said, overcoming a 32.6% tax burden.

Meanwhile, workers inWyoming,Texas,South Dakota,WashingtonandTennesseeeach need $130,999 in annual income to pocket $100,000 in take-home pay, according to GoBankingRates.

[Editor’s note: Nine states don’t tax incomeand thus tied for the least amount needed to net $100,000: $130,999. Those states are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. In addition, four states have income tax below 3%and came in just above the states with no income tax: Louisiana, Ohio, Arizona, and North Dakota, according to GoBankingRates.]

How manyU.S.workers actually earn $100,000 a year?

About 18% of all adult workers inthe United States—roughly 38 million people—earn six figures a year, according to data from online research company YouGov Profiles.

About 25% of men in the workforce earn an annual salary of more than $100,000, the website said, compared to just 12% of women.

The average median household income inCaliforniais $96,334, according to the most recent data from theU.S. Census Bureau.

Where is making $100,000 after taxes the hardest?

These were the 10 states in the nation where workers need to earn the most per year to take home at least $100,000 after taxes, according to GoBankingRates:

1. Oregon: $148,309 per year
2. Maryland: $146,521
3. Hawaii: $144,939
4. California: $144,879
5. Minnesota: $143,539
6. Maine: $143,206
7. Delaware: $142,135
8. Montana: $142,121
9. New York: $141,923
10. Virginia: $141,801

Which states require lowest salary to earn six-figure paycheck?

According to GoBankingRates, workers in theseU.S.states had to make $130,999 per year to earn a six-figure paycheck after taxes:

1. Wyoming
2. Washington
3. Texas
4. Tennessee
5. South Dakota
6. New Hampshire
7. Nevada
8. Florida
9. Alaska
10. North Dakota

How did GoBankingRates come up with findings?

To determine the annual income needed to earn $100,000 after taxes in each state, GoBankingRates said it looked at income taxes on the federal and state level including Federal Insurance Contributions Act payroll tax, which funds the Medicare andSocial Securityprograms.

The income tax estimates were created using an in-house calculator for people who filed as single or head of household.

The personal finance website then calculated income tax amounts to find each state’s tax burden.

All data used in the report was up-to-date as ofMarch 12.

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© 2025 the Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.). Visitwww.mercedsunstar.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC