State tax residency
How leaving a state actually works, and what the record has to show (2026)
Moving is a physical act. Ending tax residency is a legal one, and the two do not happen on the same day. A state keeps treating you as a resident until the record shows otherwise — and across the 25 states documented here, it is the record, not the intention, that decides.
Two tests do the work. One is mechanical and counts days. The other weighs where a life is actually lived. A state may apply either, and most apply both — which is why a clean day count is not the same thing as a clean exit.
What the records show, in aggregate
- 1.with the exit rules documented in full
- 2.the rest decide on facts and circumstances
- 3.used by 15 of them
- 4.8 states covered levy none
- 5.across 7 categories
The two tests
Statutory residency — the test with a number in it
17 of the 25 states covered set a fixed day count: cross it while a home in the state is still available to you, and you are taxed as a resident regardless of where you say you live. 15 of them use 183 days, and the rest sit at 200 and 270 days. How a day is counted varies, and the difference matters more than the threshold does — in several states any part of a day in the state counts as a whole one.
Domicile — the test with no number in it
Domicile is the home a state treats as permanent, and it continues until it is shown to have changed. 8 of the states covered have no fixed day count at all, so domicile is the whole question there — but it applies in the others too, which is why keeping the day count clean does not close the matter. Examiners weigh conduct: where the home is, where the work is, where the time goes, where the people and possessions that matter are.
The rules side by side
Each figure below is drawn from that state's record and carries its source on the state's own plate.
| State | Covered for | Top rate | Statutory test | Domicile standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | leaving | 5% | No fixed test | Domicile is the home, the fixed place of habitation where… |
| Arizona | arriving | 2.5% | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
| California | leaving | 13.3% | No fixed test | Facts and circumstances |
| Colorado | leaving | 4.4% | No fixed test | The place a person considers their home |
| Connecticut | leaving | 6.99% | 183 days | Intent shown by conduct |
| Florida | arriving | None | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
| Georgia | leaving | 4.99% | 183 days | The place where the person's family permanently resides |
| Idaho | leaving | 5.3% | 270 days | Domicile in Idaho for the entire taxable year makes an… |
| Illinois | leaving | 4.95% | No fixed test | Clear and convincing |
| Indiana | arriving | 2.95% | 183 days | — not carried on an arrival record |
| Kentucky | leaving | 3.5% | 183 days | Domicile is the place where an individual has established… |
| Louisiana | leaving | 3% | 183 days | A temporary absence from Louisiana does not automatically… |
| Maryland | leaving | 6.5% | 183 days | The true, fixed, permanent home, habitation and principal… |
| Massachusetts | leaving | 9% | 183 days | True, fixed and permanent home |
| Michigan | leaving | 4.25% | 183 days | A place where a person has his true, fixed and permanent… |
| Minnesota | leaving | 9.85% | 183 days | Bodily presence in a place coupled with an intent to make… |
| Missouri | leaving | 4.7% | 183 days | Section 143.101 defines residence in terms of domicile… |
| Montana | leaving | 5.65% | No fixed test | Residency is determined in light of all facts and… |
| Nevada | arriving | None | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
| New Hampshire | arriving | None | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
| New Jersey | leaving | 10.75% | 183 days | Facts and circumstances |
| New York | leaving | 10.9% | 183 days | Clear and convincing |
| North Carolina | arriving | 3.99% | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
| Ohio | leaving | 2.75% | No fixed test | The true, fixed, permanent home and principal… |
| Oklahoma | leaving | 4.5% | No fixed test | Domicile is the place established as a person's true… |
| Oregon | leaving | 9.9% | 200 days | The place a person considers home and plans to return to… |
| Pennsylvania | leaving | 3.07% | 183 days | The place where an individual, by present and voluntary… |
| Rhode Island | arriving | 5.99% | 183 days | — not carried on an arrival record |
| South Carolina | leaving | 5.21% | No fixed test | 'the true test of domicile is the intent of the… |
| South Dakota | arriving | None | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
| Tennessee | arriving | None | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
| Texas | arriving | None | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
| Utah | leaving | 4.5% | 183 days | Two tests. Test 1 establishes Utah domicile outright… |
| Virginia | leaving | 5.75% | 183 days | The permanent home |
| Washington | arriving | None | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
| Washington, DC | leaving | 10.75% | 183 days | Physical presence in the new jurisdiction together with… |
| Wisconsin | arriving | 7.65% | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
| Wyoming | arriving | None | No fixed test | — not carried on an arrival record |
A dash in the last column is not an unknown rule. The domicile standard is what a state demands before it accepts that you left, so it is recorded on the 25 states covered for leaving. The 13states covered for arriving answer the opposite question — what establishes residence there — on their own plate.
A clean exit does not end every claim
77 rules across the states covered keep taxing specific situations after the move — income earned before it and paid after, work done remotely for an employer left behind, property and equity that stay connected to the old state. Each one is documented on its state's plate with the statute or agency page it comes from.
The severance record
An examination is not an argument about intentions — it is a request for documents. Across the states covered, the actions a departure record is built from number 335, grouped into 7 categories: government registrations, home and property, financial, professional and medical, social and civic, personal property, and filing. Each produces something dated. Years later, each either exists from the year of the move or it does not.