Louisiana
Retirement benefits paid under Chapter 1 of Title 11 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes, including DROP account disbursements, are exempt from state taxation. Other retirement income falls under the annual retirement exemption.
States That Tax Pensions (2025)
24 of the 37 jurisdictions we publish tax private pension income in some form: 12 tax it as ordinary income with no pension-specific relief, and 12 exclude part of it.
The trap is the public/private split. 3 of these states exempt government pensions in full while taxing a private one — so two neighbours with the same income can owe very different amounts depending on who they worked for.
Retirement treatment shown for tax year 2025, the most recent year for which states have published these rules. Rate schedules elsewhere on this site are for a later tax year; the two are verified separately and are labelled separately.
Tax private pensions
24
of 37 published
In full
12
as ordinary income
Partly excluded
12
Public exempt, private taxed
3
Public versus private pension treatment
| Jurisdiction | Public pension | Private pension | Largest stated exclusion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Partly excluded | Taxed as ordinary income | $2,500 |
| Connecticut | Partly excluded | Partly excluded | — |
| Delaware | Partly excluded | Partly excluded | $12,500 |
| Georgia | Partly excluded | Partly excluded | $65,000 |
| Indiana | Partly excluded | Taxed as ordinary income | $16,000 |
| Kansas | Partly excluded | Taxed as ordinary income | — |
| Kentucky | Partly excluded | Partly excluded | $31,110 |
| Louisiana | Not taxed | Partly excluded | $12,000 |
| Maine | Partly excluded | Partly excluded | $48,216 |
| Maryland | Partly excluded | Partly excluded | $41,200 |
| Massachusetts | Not taxed | Taxed as ordinary income | $2,000 |
| Minnesota | Taxed as ordinary income | Taxed as ordinary income | — |
| Missouri | Partly excluded | Partly excluded | $47,633 |
| New Mexico | Taxed as ordinary income | Taxed as ordinary income | — |
| New York | Not taxed | Partly excluded | $20,000 |
| North Carolina | Partly excluded | Taxed as ordinary income | — |
| Oklahoma | Partly excluded | Taxed as ordinary income | $10,000 |
| Oregon | Taxed as ordinary income | Taxed as ordinary income | — |
| Rhode Island | Partly excluded | Partly excluded | $50,000 |
| South Carolina | Partly excluded | Partly excluded | $15,000 |
| Vermont | Partly excluded | Taxed as ordinary income | $10,000 |
| Virginia | Taxed as ordinary income | Taxed as ordinary income | $12,000 |
| West Virginia | Partly excluded | Taxed as ordinary income | — |
| Wisconsin | Partly excluded | Partly excluded | $24,000 |
"Largest stated exclusion" is the biggest dollar cap the state publishes across its retirement exclusions. It is not necessarily available against pension income alone, and several states share one cap across pensions, interest and dividends. A dash means the state publishes no dollar cap.
Where who you worked for changes the bill
In these states a government pension is exempt while a private one is not. It is the single most common surprise in state retirement taxation, and it is invisible on any list that reports one "pension" answer per state.
Massachusetts
Income from certain government pensions is excluded: those paid by the Commonwealth and its cities and towns, contributory plans of other states, and contributory plans of the federal government. Private pensions are taxed.
New York
New York State, local government and federal government pensions are exempt in full. Other qualified pension and annuity income is excluded up to $20,000 for taxpayers aged 59 1/2 or older.
A pension and a 401(k) are not always the same thing
Several states tax a defined benefit pension and a defined contribution account differently, even though both are retirement money to the person receiving it. Alabama is the clearest case: payments from a defined benefit plan are exempt, while IRA distributions are reportable.
If your retirement income is mostly in a 401(k) or IRA rather than a traditional pension, check the 401(k) column on the full table rather than the pension one — they are not interchangeable.
What this page does not tell you
These are the rules a state applies to retirement income, not a calculation of your bill. Whether a particular pension or account qualifies for an exclusion usually turns on the plan, your age, your service history and your income — facts this dataset does not hold about you.
14 jurisdictions are withheld from every figure and count on this page because we could not establish the treatment from a primary source: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah. They are excluded rather than estimated. That is deliberate: a wrong "does not tax Social Security" is exactly the kind of claim someone moves house on.
How we verify this data · Sources · Disclaimer — this is published information, not tax advice.