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Where should I die?

Almost nobody owes the federal estate tax anymore: it starts at $15 million. Twelve states and DC have their own, starting as low as $1 million, and five tax the heirs instead. Enter what you'll leave behind and see what gets through, in every state.

Dying in Oregon

$2,795,000 to your children

Of $3,000,000, $205,000 (6.83%) goes to tax.

Where it goes

  • Federal estate tax $0

    40% of everything over $15M, after deducting state death taxes.

  • Oregon estate tax $205,000

    Exemption $1M. The lowest threshold in the country, unchanged and unindexed since 2012. A bill to raise it to $2.5 million died in March 2026.

  • Over Oregon's $1M exemption but under the federal $15M: the state is the whole bill.
Death taxes by estate size in Oregon Federal and state Oregon alone
$0$0.2M$0.4M$0.6M$0$1M$2M$3M$4M$5M$6M
This estate $3,000,000 $205,000 $205,000 to Oregon, $0 federal

The same estate in every state

5 of the 17 states with a death tax of their own take something from this estate. The most is Oregon, at $205,000. Select a state to see its breakdown.

Least tax first

About this tool

Who it's for
For people with a large estate, their heirs, and anyone curious which states tax inheritances.
What you can enter
The size of everything you'd leave behind, whether you're married (and whether you use a trust), and who inherits: children, siblings, nieces and nephews, or anyone else.
What it runs on
2026 federal estate tax and the estate and inheritance tax law of every state and DC. Sources and simplifications are under How this is calculated.
Who made it
Sam Wen, co-founder of Square. Free, no sign-up; it runs in your browser. Last updated .

Spot a mistake, or a rule that changed? Tell me.

Frequently asked questions

So where should I die?

Florida, with everyone else. No estate tax, no inheritance tax, no income tax while you wait. Thirty-seven other states score the same on this map; Florida's edge is that a tax auditor will believe you moved there. Dying in Oregon with a paid-off Portland house and a 401(k) is the expensive option: the state starts counting at $1 million and hasn't raised that number since 2012.

Can I move to Florida at 85 and keep the apartment in Manhattan?

You can try. New York decides where you were domiciled, not where you said you lived, and its auditors check the day count (183 is the magic number), where your doctor, your dog and your safe-deposit box are, and which house has the family photos. Even if you win, New York still taxes real estate within its borders no matter where its owner died. Sell the apartment or put it in an LLC, which turns it into intangible property that follows you to Florida.

Can I just give it all away before I go?

Mostly. Federal law lets you give $19,000 per person per year with no paperwork, and bigger gifts only eat into the $15 million exemption you weren't going to use anyway. Most states ignore lifetime gifts entirely, which is the loophole. The exceptions: Connecticut has a gift tax, New York adds back any gift made within three years of death, Illinois counts taxable gifts toward its $4 million threshold, and Pennsylvania reaches back a year. A gift to charity in the will also works: a bequest that pulls an estate back under New York's cliff can leave the kids more than if they'd taken it all. Estate lawyers call this the Santa clause.

What is the step-up in basis and why does my accountant keep bringing it up?

When you die, your heirs' cost basis in everything you owned resets to its value that day, and the capital gains you spent a lifetime not realizing disappear. The Apple shares from 1998, the house, the Bitcoin: all of it passes with no income tax ever due on the gain. It's the reason the advice is "buy, borrow, die" and not "buy, sell, retire." The estate tax is the price of admission, and in 38 states it's zero.

Does my life insurance count?

If you own the policy, yes: the whole death benefit lands in your estate, which is how a schoolteacher with a $2 million term policy ends up over Massachusetts' line. So does the house, the 401(k), and the half of the joint account that's yours. The fix is an irrevocable life insurance trust, which owns the policy so you don't, and which you have to set up more than three years before you need it.

I'm leaving everything to my cat.

Legally you're leaving it to a trust for the cat, and the trust is an unrelated heir: 15% in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 15% over $25,000 in Nebraska, and 10% in Maryland, where the cat is not on the list of exempt relatives. Leona Helmsley left $12 million to her Maltese, Trouble; a judge trimmed it to $2 million and the dog lived out her days in Florida, tax-free.

Logan Roy died on a plane over the Atlantic. Who gets the estate tax?

Wherever he was domiciled, which for a man with a Manhattan townhouse and a Hamptons compound is New York. Try the Media baron preset: at $18 billion, New York's 16% top rate takes about $2.9 billion before the IRS collects its 40% on what's left. The real Logan would have put the shares in trusts decades earlier, which is why the show is about the trust's voting rights and not the tax bill.

The kids are inheriting the house. Do they have to sell it to pay the tax?

Often. Federal and most state estate taxes are due nine months after death, in cash, and the house isn't. An Oregon farm or a Minnesota family business gets special relief, and the IRS will let a closely held business pay over 14 years, but a $3 million house with $200,000 of tax and no savings usually means a sale or a mortgage the kids didn't want. Life insurance owned by a trust (see above) is the traditional way to have the cash arrive the same week as the bill.

Partly jokes. Not tax or estate-planning advice, and no tax break is worth dying early for.

How this is calculated

What's included

  • Federal estate tax under 2026 law: 40% of the taxable estate over the $15 million basic exclusion, which is portable between spouses. State estate and inheritance taxes are deducted first, as §2058 allows.
  • State estate taxes in twelve states and DC, each the way its own law works. Most tax only the amount over an exemption, in brackets. Massachusetts and Rhode Island tax the whole estate on the 2001 federal credit table and subtract a credit equal to the tax on the exemption. New York does the same on its own table, but the credit shrinks to nothing between 100% and 105% of the exemption. Illinois taxes the whole estate once it passes $4 million, on the 2001 table, in the circular computation its instructions require. Connecticut's tax is capped at $15 million.
  • Inheritance taxes in Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, by the heir's relationship to the deceased, with each state's per-heir exemption. Maryland's inheritance tax is credited against its estate tax.
  • Couples are assumed to own everything half each. With a trust, the first death moves up to one state exemption into a bypass trust and the rest to the survivor; the second death is taxed on the remainder. Without one, everything passes to the survivor and the second death gets one state exemption, except in Hawaii and Maryland, where the survivor can claim the first spouse's. Federally the couple always has two exemptions.

Simplifications

  • One number for the estate, with no debts, funeral or administration costs, charitable bequests or lifetime gifts. Gifts matter in a few states: New York adds back gifts made within three years of death, Illinois counts taxable gifts toward its threshold, Pennsylvania reaches back one year, and Connecticut taxes them outright.
  • Everything is taxed where you were domiciled. Real estate in another state is taxed by that state too, and most states prorate for out-of-state property. Neither is modeled.
  • The estate goes to one heir. Inheritance-tax exemptions are per heir, so Nebraska's $100,000 or New Jersey's $25,000 would apply once for each child or sibling.
  • No growth between the two deaths of a couple, and the trust holds exactly the exemption. Portability in Hawaii and Maryland, like the federal kind, requires an election on a timely return.
  • Washington's rates are those for deaths on or after July 1, 2026. Exemptions indexed for inflation (New York, Maine, Rhode Island, DC, Connecticut, the federal one) are the 2026 amounts.
  • Relief for farms, closely held businesses and family-owned property (Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, Pennsylvania and the federal §6166 installment plan) is left out.
  • This is an estimate for comparing states, not tax or legal advice. Exemptions change every year.

Sources

Rules compiled October 2026.