Oklahoma is among the 10 states imposing the lowest overall tax burden, according to a new report from the finance site WalletHub.

But several states beating Oklahoma in the ranking have no income tax, and they are also attracting more new residents and generating greater growth, based on other recent reports.

Even so, experts cited in the WalletHub report say Oklahoma’s low-tax status provides a competitive edge, although other factors also impact economic growth.

“We live in a competitive federal system,” Howard A. Frank, professor of public policy and administration at Florida International University, stated in the report. “Any jurisdiction that taxes higher than its neighbors is at risk of losing its people and businesses.”

Latha Ramchand, executive vice president of Indiana University, conceded that “high tax burdens do lead to outward migration of individuals and businesses.”

WalletHub compared all 50 states by examining three major types of state tax burdens—property taxes, individual income taxes, and sales and excise taxes—and calculating their cost as a percentage of total personal income in each state.

Oklahoma was among the 10 states with the lowest overall tax burden. WalletHub found that Oklahomans’ total tax burden equated to 7.05 percent of total personal income, ranking 41st nationally.

Oklahoma’s property tax was the fifth lowest, equating to 1.78 percent of income. However, Oklahoma’s personal income tax ranked higher, seizing 1.78 percent of income, which ranked 36th nationally, or 15th lowest.

Oklahoma lagged behind several states that impose no personal income tax and still have a lower overall tax burden, including Wyoming, South Dakota, Florida, Tennessee, New Hampshire, and Alaska.

While lawmakers have put Oklahoma’s personal income tax on a gradual path to full repeal, states that do not currently tax work and investment with an income tax retain a significant competitive advantage, according to one expert cited in the WalletHub report.

“Recent data indicate that the nine states without a personal income tax have experienced some of the highest net migration and GDP growth rates over the last decade,” said Andrew Burnstine, associate professor at the College of Business and Management at Lynn University. “A 2026 report suggests that phasing out state income taxes could increase total GDP by 1.6 percent by encouraging new startups and attracting high earners.”

Several no-income-tax states that rank ahead of Oklahoma in the WalletHub report have also outperformed Oklahoma in other recent reports.

A 2024 analysis by an official with the Committee to Unleash Prosperity found that Oklahoma generated more jobs than 34 states from February 2020 to September 2024.

However, the states that outpaced Oklahoma included South Dakota, Tennessee, and Florida.

A recent report from Hire a Helper, a moving company, ranked Oklahoma among the top 10 states for net domestic migration in 2025. But, on a per-capita basis, Tennessee far outpaced Oklahoma, while Wyoming almost equaled Oklahoma.

Recently released IRS data showed that domestic migration—people moving to Oklahoma from other states—boosted Oklahoma’s cumulative net adjusted gross income by roughly $1.3 billion from 2019 to 2023.

But several no-income-tax states saw their income levels surge even more via domestic migration.

Net adjusted gross income in South Dakota increased by $1.7 billion from 2019 to 2023, while that figure rose by $2.8 billion in Wyoming. In New Hampshire, domestic migration boosted adjusted gross income by $4.4 billion during that time period, and Nevada’s net total increased by $13.9 billion. The biggest gains among no-income-tax states were Tennessee (a $16.1 billion increase), Texas ($36.8 billion), and Florida ($137 billion increase).

Some critics have argued that the elimination of the personal income tax almost automatically leads to much higher taxes elsewhere, particularly property taxes. But the WalletHub report shows that is not always the case.

Tennessee ranked lower than Oklahoma on both income-tax and property-tax burdens. South Dakota and Florida each ranked in the bottom half of states for property tax burden, while also having no income tax.

In contrast, some states with the nation’s highest income-tax burdens also had high property-tax burdens.

New York had the second-highest income tax burden and the fourth-highest property tax burden in the WalletHub report. Oregon had the highest income-tax burden and the 17th-highest property-tax burden. Massachusetts had the fifth-highest income-tax burden and 11th-highest property-tax burden. Vermont’s income-tax burden was the 14th-highest, and its property-tax burden was larger than any other state in the nation. Income tax in Maine was the 15th-highest nationwide, while the property tax burden was fifth highest.

Officials have noted that spending restraint allows lower taxes in all forms.

In 2025, Gov. Kevin Stitt noted that New York and Florida both have roughly 20 million citizens apiece, yet the state budget in New York was more than $230 billion while Florida’s budget was $115 billion. New York imposed an income tax of 10.9 percent to fund the government, Stitt noted, while Florida has no state income tax and still provides law enforcement, schools, roads, and other basic government functions.

In his 2025 State of the State speech, Stitt declared, “We need to ask ourselves: How big should government be? States like Texas and Florida, they spend less per person than any other state. They also have no income tax. And you don’t hear anyone complaining about their roads, their schools, or their hospitals.”