Crunching the numbers on US taxation

Tax Day is one week away. If filing a return has you curious about the wide world of US taxation, USAFacts has you covered. You may be wondering which states have the highest and lowest income taxes. Or perhaps you'd like to know how much the average family pays in taxes. Here’s a preview of the information available at USAFacts.

Chart on the average family taxes by family income percentile

The average American family by income paid $17,902 in total taxes in 2021, with $10,391 of this going to federal income tax.

Forty-three states and Washington, DC, collect income taxes annually, while Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming have no income tax.

New York had 2020’s highest state income tax burden. The state collected income taxes of 4.7% of per capita personal income or nearly $3,500 per person.

Tennessee had the lowest burden among states that collect income taxes, with the average resident paying $8 or 0.02% of their income in state income taxes in 2020. New Hampshire was a slightly distant second, with the average resident paying 0.1% of their income, or $90.

Want to learn even more about overall tax burdens in your state? Interact with the visuals here.

Here’s where your morning coffee came from

The United States drinks more coffee than any other country, but not much of it comes from domestically grown beans. The US maintains its caffeine buzz through a steadily imported supply. Here’s the data on consumption and suppliers.

From October 2022 to September 2023, Americans drank more than one cup of coffee per person daily, or about 450 million cups of coffee every day.

Chart showing the top 10 countries by annual coffee exports to the US

America imports much of its coffee from Colombia (exporting $1.38 billion in coffee to the US in 2023) and Brazil ($1.35 billion). Switzerland was the third biggest source, exporting $1.12 billion. However, Switzerland's coffee exports aren’t beans — it’s roasted and ground coffee.

All of the nation’s coffee farming happens in Hawaii. The state’s production dropped 19% between the 2021–22 and 2022–23 harvest seasons from 14.2 million pounds to 11.5 million. The Agriculture Department projects it will decrease another 26% during the 2023–24 season.
Hawaiian coffee was valued at $54.1 million for the 2022–23 harvest season at $2.35 per pound.

Learn more here. And if you put cream in your coffee, you might be interested to see how much dairy Americans consume.

Data behind the news

NASA has picked three companies to design buggies that can drive astronauts around the moon. The contract, worth up to $4.6 billion, is up for grabs is part of the growing space industry.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a possible close call between a Southwest flight and an air traffic control tower. It’s one in a string of news-making near-accidents involving airplanes in 2024. But which is safer: flying or driving?

Last week, Ford Motor announced that it would start making more hybrids while delaying the production of at least two new electric cars. This article from our archives breaks down sales of hybrid vehicles versus all-electric vehicles.

Let's see what you've got – tackle the weekly fact quiz now.

One last fact

Map showing average teacher pay by state

In the 2021–22 school year, the nation’s average cost-of-living-adjusted public teacher salary was $64,300. Nineteen states and Washington, DC, paid more than the national average.

New York had the highest average salary: $84,218. Florida had the lowest: $50,508.