US States with an Estate Tax: Top 10 by Statutory Top Rate

PlainEstate ranks the US states (and the District of Columbia) that levy a state estate tax, sorted by statutory top marginal rate. The ranking draws current numbers directly from the states dataset, surfacing both the rate and the exemption threshold for each jurisdiction.

Research period: 2026-05-16

Compiled byPlainEstate Editorial, Estate Tax Data Editorial Team · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainEstate is rendered directly from IRS Statistics of Income and state statutory data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on IRS Statistics of Income and state statutory data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

Research question

Among the US states and DC that levy a state-level estate tax separate from federal estate tax, which carry the highest statutory top marginal rates, and how do those rates pair with the exemption thresholds that determine which estates are subject to tax at all?

Methodology

This ranking is generated fresh from the current state revenue departments dataset every time the page loads, not a fixed figure typed in once and forgotten. When state revenue departments publishes an update, our next data refresh picks it up automatically.

Records with no data reported are left out rather than shown as a false zero, since state revenue departments occasionally withholds a figure for data-quality reasons.

Every number on this page traces back to a specific state revenue departments record, so you can verify it yourself against the original source. See the methodology page for the full data pipeline and how often we refresh.

The ranked top 10

Every row below reflects the current state revenue departments dataset and updates automatically the next time we refresh it.

#	State	Top rate (%)	Exemption ($)	Min rate (%)
1	Washington	20	2,193,000	10
2	Hawaii	20	5,490,000	10
3	Oregon	16	1,000,000	10
4	Rhode Island	16	1,838,056	0.8
5	Massachusetts	16	2,000,000	0.8
6	Minnesota	16	3,000,000	13
7	Illinois	16	4,000,000	0.8
8	District of Columbia	16	4,988,400	11.2
9	Maryland	16	5,000,000	0.8
10	Vermont	16	5,000,000	16

Source: State revenue and taxation departments (50 states + DC) - State estate and inheritance tax statutory frameworks. Values are current as of our most recent state revenue departments data refresh. State revenue and taxation departments (50 states + DC) - State estate and inheritance tax statutory frameworks. Values are current as of our most recent state revenue departments data refresh.

Findings

Top entity in the ranking

The top-ranked record in this dataset is Washington, with a value of 20 on the Top rate (%) column. The full top-10 set is rendered in the table above. Every value derives from the underlying states table; no number is hardcoded into this page. When the source agency publishes a revision and our ETL pipeline reingests, the ranking and the prose around it update on the next page load.

Distribution shape

The gap between the top-ranked record (20) and the 10th-ranked record (16) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.

Aggregate context

Across the full states population, the aggregate query returns the following summary statistics. These anchors situate the top-10 ranking against the underlying population: how many records exist in total, what the sum of the ranking column is across all qualifying rows, and what the mean per-record value looks like. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied by the aggregate query (records with null or zero values on the ranking column are excluded). The aggregate row is computed by the same database engine that renders the ranking above, against the same snapshot.

Source provenance

The records in this ranking originate from State revenue and taxation departments (50 states + DC), specifically the State estate and inheritance tax statutory frameworks. PlainEstate ingests each new release from the source agency and republishes the figures here automatically, so this page always reflects the current dataset rather than a fixed snapshot. The methodology page documents the source URL, the vintage date, and the transformation steps applied during ETL.

Why this ranking matters

Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.

What this analysis cannot tell us

State estate-tax rates and exemptions are codified in state statute and adjusted by the state legislature on irregular schedules. The values shown reflect the most recent published rates as of the PlainEstate ETL ingest; legislative changes between ingest dates may not yet be reflected. The 'top rate' is the highest marginal bracket rate, applied to the portion of the taxable estate above the threshold for that bracket; effective tax rates on real estates fall below the top marginal rate because lower brackets are taxed at lower rates. Exemption thresholds determine which estates owe any state estate tax, an estate valued below the state's exemption owes no state estate tax even in a state with a high top rate. Federal estate tax (with its substantially higher exemption, see the secondary federal table) applies independently. Six states levy an inheritance tax (paid by beneficiaries) rather than or in addition to an estate tax (paid by the estate); the two are distinct legal instruments and this ranking covers only the estate-tax variant. Estate-tax portability, the ability of a surviving spouse to use the deceased spouse's unused exemption, is a separate state-level policy choice noted on the per-state detail pages.

Sources

Tax Foundation, State Estate and Inheritance Tax compilation - https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-inheritance-and-estate-tax-rates/
Individual state revenue departments, statutory estate-tax provisions - https://www.taxadmin.org/state-revenue-agencies