What does your state withhold when RSUs vest?

State withholding on a vesting RSU

The middle column is the rate withheld on a vest. The column beside it is how the state taxes wage income generally, and the two are different things: one is what your employer sends in during the year, the other is what your return calculates.

Each source links to the document the figure was read from, at the authority that publishes it. Revision markers are the document's own. "Last read" is the date that document was opened and the figure checked against it, which is a different thing from the tax year the figure applies to.

Why is my state not listed?

Because its treatment of a vesting share has not been read first-hand from the governing document. It is left out rather than estimated, interpolated from a neighbor, or copied from a summary table on another site.

The calculator works the same way: for an unverified state it shows no rate and asks you to enter your own, and says so on screen. If we haven't checked a figure against its source, we don't show it.

Why the state rate is its own number

Most states that tax wages publish a specific withholding percentage for supplemental wages, which is the category a vest falls into. It is set by the withholding authority, often a department of labor or employment, while the income tax schedule is set by the revenue authority. Different offices publish them for different reasons, so the two numbers often do not match.

California is the clearest case, and it also shows why the category matters. California publishes two flat supplemental percentages: 10.23% for bonuses and stock options, and a lower one for other supplemental wages. Neither document names restricted stock units by that term, and employers commonly apply the 10.23% rate to a vest, which is the rate in the table above. At that rate California withholds more than its own schedule charges on a typical vest. On the sample used across this site, $9,207 is withheld against $8,370 of California tax, an excess of $837. That excess does not reduce a federal balance, because they are separate returns, which is why the shortfall on that sample is entirely federal.

Notes on particular states

A rate in the table above is what the document says. These are the modeling decisions behind a few of them, which a rate on its own does not convey.

• California. The Franchise Tax Board publishes nine bands topping out at 12.3%. The tenth band above $1,000,000 is the 1% Behavioral Health Services Tax shown as part of the rate rather than as a separate line. It is charged on the amount above $1,000,000 and on the same figure the rate schedule uses, so showing it this way reaches the same total. Anyone comparing this table against the FTB schedule will find nine rows there and ten here, and that is why.
• New York. New York takes back the benefit of its lower rates as income rises, so at higher incomes one rate applies to all taxable income. The tax on a vest can run above the rate shown for its band.
• Oregon. Oregon lets a filer subtract part of their federal income tax and gives a credit per exemption; both shrink or end as income rises. A vest that crosses those lines can cost more than the rate shown. Oregon's final 2026 amounts come in December.
• Pennsylvania. The local rate is set by the municipality, so two people at the same employer with the same vest can owe different amounts. The published range runs from none to 3.735%, Philadelphia's resident rate since July 1, 2026 (3.74% before that). Non-residents who work in Philadelphia pay 3.425%.

Local tax is a separate question

Several states permit counties, municipalities or school districts to levy their own income tax on wages, which a state-level table cannot capture. Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania all do. Where that applies the rate depends on where you live, sometimes on where you work, and it is recorded in the index as a fact about the state rather than a figure the tools apply.

Your pay stub is the authority for what was actually withheld, at every level.

Questions people ask

Does my state withhold extra on an RSU vest?

It withholds at whatever percentage it publishes for supplemental wages, which is listed for each verified jurisdiction in the table above. That percentage is set independently of the income tax schedule, so it can be higher or lower than the rate your income would otherwise face.

Which states take nothing from an RSU vest?

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming levy no state income tax on wages, so no state income tax is withheld on a vest there. Federal withholding still applies, and the federal shortfall is usually the larger one.

Is the state rate in this table what I actually owe?

No. It is what is withheld. What you owe is computed by your state return from your income, deductions and filing status. The difference between those two is the same mechanism as the federal one.

How current are these figures?

Each row carries the date its source document was last opened and checked, in the final column. Those dates are read from the underlying record rather than typed onto the page, so a row that has not been re-checked shows an older date rather than appearing fresh.

Why do you cover fewer states than other calculators?

Because every figure here was read first-hand from the document that publishes it, and a state that has not been read is left out.