US States With the Highest Share of Taxes From Severance

51 US states ranked by share of taxes from severance, from highest to lowest. First are North Dakota (41), Alaska (36.1) and New Mexico (27.7). The middle one of the 51 has 0.0405.

What this measures

The percentage from severance taxes, charged on oil, gas, coal and minerals as they are taken from the ground. This reflects geology before policy. North Dakota raises 41% of all its tax money this way, Alaska 36%, New Mexico 28% and Wyoming 26%, while 19 states raise nothing at all. It is the most uneven measure in this source. Any state at the top taxes its residents lightly, since it can tax oil and minerals instead. Source: Census government finances.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

Every state

Rank	State	% of all taxes
1	North Dakota	41
2	Alaska	36.1
3	New Mexico	27.7
4	Wyoming	26.3
5	Oklahoma	8.85
6	West Virginia	8.29
7	Texas	5.41
8	Montana	4.23
9	Louisiana	3.08
10	Colorado	0.868
11	Utah	0.653
12	Arkansas	0.605
13	Kentucky	0.595
14	Nevada	0.39
15	Mississippi	0.374
16	Kansas	0.366
17	Alabama	0.227
18	Minnesota	0.206
19	South Dakota	0.117
20	Washington	0.0986
21	Ohio	0.0874
22	Michigan	0.0654
23	Idaho	0.0587
24	Oregon	0.0516
25	Arizona	0.0475
26	California	0.0405
27	Nebraska	0.0312
28	Florida	0.0241
29	Tennessee	0.0217
30	Virginia	0.0162
31	Indiana	0.00655
32	North Carolina	0.00296
33	Delaware	0
34	District of Columbia	0
35	Georgia	0
36	Hawaii	0
37	Illinois	0
38	Iowa	0
39	Maine	0
40	Maryland	0
41	Massachusetts	0
42	Missouri	0
43	New Hampshire	0
44	New Jersey	0
45	New York	0
46	Pennsylvania	0
47	Rhode Island	0
48	South Carolina	0
49	Vermont	0
50	Wisconsin	0
51	Connecticut	0

More on share of taxes from severance

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.