Retiring in Connecticut

Every figure below is sourced to Connecticut’s own publications and dated. Estimates only, and not tax advice.

Retirement tax by state

What your state actually takes from a 401(k) withdrawal, a pension, and Social Security — in dollars, not a yes/no list.

Long-term index-fund growth after expense-ratio drag — and what your state takes from the gains at withdrawal.

Decided on the two rates that actually govern it — yours now, and yours at withdrawal, in the state you'll retire in rather than the one you're in.

2026 limits, employer match, the 60-63 super catch-up, and whether the Roth catch-up mandate applies to you.

When your RMDs start under SECURE 2.0, how much this year's is, and what missing it costs.

What a backdoor Roth conversion would actually cost you in tax — the pro-rata rule most calculators only describe.

The tax a leveraged rental owes inside a self-directed IRA — computed at trust rates, not the rate you'd assume.

401(k) and IRA withdrawals: Partly excluded
Social Security: Taxed above an income threshold; Below the threshold it is exempt, which is why a yes-or-no answer is usually wrong here.
Top marginal rate: 6.99%; The top of 7 graduated brackets.
Tax year: 2025; Brackets are legislated and change on a fixed calendar, so the year matters.

Connecticut taxes Social Security only above federal AGI of $75,000 (single, married-separate) or $100,000 (joint, qualifying surviving spouse, HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD), and even then leaves 75% of the benefit exempt -- it is never fully taxed.
Military retirement pay and railroad retirement are 100% exempt with no age or income test; Connecticut teachers' retirement pay gets 50% and cannot be combined with the general pension subtraction.
The IRA portion of the pension and annuity subtraction was still phasing in at 75% for tax year 2025 and is scheduled to reach 100% for 2026, which is the single largest year-over-year change a Connecticut retiree will see.