Optimize: Where and When to Relocate for Taxes

If a move is on the table, when you do it can matter as much as where — relocating before a big Roth-conversion or RMD year can save more tax than the same move a few years later. The Optimizer can search the destination state and the move year together.

First read the Optimizer overview. Background: Taxes and the manual recipe, what if I move in retirement?

How state choice flows into your results

Your filing state sets the state income-tax brackets, standard deduction, Social Security treatment and — where modeled — retirement-income and military-pay exclusions applied to every year of the simulation. Because RetireRange draws each year’s realized federal and state tax from the portfolio, a lower-tax state leaves more money invested. So the choice moves both your after-tax income and your ending legacy, under any withdrawal target — that’s exactly what the Optimizer ranks.

Set it up

1. On the Optimizer, add filing state and/or move year as dimensions.
2. Choose your objective — after-tax legacy, or lifetime taxes anchored to a success-rate constraint.

What to expect

State and year together is a modest grid, so it runs reasonably quickly.

Reading the results

• The best move year often lands just before a high-income year (a large RMD or a planned conversion), so you change residency before that income is taxed.
• Confirm finalists on the Compare tab.

Caveats

• Saved results from before October 2026 should be re-run. Every state’s tax figures were checked and many corrected, in both directions, and Social Security income limits are now applied — so recommendations will have moved.
• Every state’s retirement-income and military rules are now applied (October 2026), so several states — Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine and Missouri among them — rank better than they did. Oregon now taxes military retirement pay, so it ranks worse for a military retiree. Re-run a state-move search you saved before then. A few narrower state breaks still aren’t applied, and county/local taxes aren’t included, so some states’ figures run slightly high. See Taxes for the detail.
• A few states rank too well: Washington’s tax on large capital gains isn’t modeled, and neither are New York’s benefit recapture and New York City’s tax for higher incomes.
• This optimizes income tax only — not moving costs, property taxes, or cost-of-living differences.

RetireRange is for educational and planning purposes only and is not financial, tax, or investment advice. Optimizer rankings are modeled estimates based on your assumptions — not predictions or recommendations. Consult a qualified financial planner for advice specific to your situation. See Limitations.