Everyone selling Florida waves at “the tax savings.” Almost nobody shows the arithmetic. Here is one family, one income, every figure straight off the state’s own published tables — and then we run the same numbers on yours.
A married couple filing jointly, $300,000 of household income, all of it wages, standard deduction, resident in the five boroughs the full year. Every figure is tax year 2025 — the most recent schedule New York has published.
About $2,318 a month, and $278,190 over ten years before a dollar of it is invested. The city piece alone — $10,782 — disappears the day you stop being a New York City resident.
The same three numbers, with the working — every line traceable to the state’s 2025 IT-201 instructions.
$300,000 minus the $16,050 standard deduction leaves $283,950 of taxable income. The married-filing-jointly schedule says $8,553 plus 6% of the excess over $161,550 — that is $15,897. Then, because income is over $161,550, New York claws back the benefit of its lower brackets: $333 + $807 on top (the state’s Tax computation worksheet 2). Total: $17,037.
The city taxes its residents on the same $283,950: $3,264 plus 3.876% of the excess over $90,000 = $10,781.50 — call it $10,782. A city income tax on top of the state one is the part of the bill most other states do not even have a line for.
Florida’s constitution (Article VII, section 5) mandates “that no income tax be levied upon natural persons who are residents and citizens” of the state — the words are quoted in the state’s own tax statute. It would take a constitutional amendment to change, not a budget.
Change any of these and the figure moves — which is exactly why the next step is running it on your numbers, not ours.
Married filing jointly · all $300,000 from wages · standard deduction · no credits · NYC resident the full year. A move mid-year splits the year in two; itemizing, credits, or income that is not wages all shift the result. And these are the 2025 tables — if Albany changes the 2026 schedule, the number moves with it. We fill in your exact number as part of the plan.
Property taxes reset to your purchase price the year after you buy, and insurance here is real money. The honest comparison puts those on the other side of the ledger — the planner below does.
We are not your accountant and this is not tax advice. Everything here is arithmetic on the state’s own published tables and the numbers you give us — run it past the person who signs your return before you act on it.
What it costs, what you save against where you are now, then the look-see trip, temporary housing, schools, movers, licence and registration deadlines — on one timeline.
What it costs, what you save, where to land — then look-see trip, temporary housing, schools, movers, licence and registration deadlines.
Two ways forward.