Retiring in Idaho

Every figure below is sourced to Idaho’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: Taxed
Social Security: Not taxed
Top marginal rate: 5.3%; The top of 2 graduated brackets.
Tax year: 2026; Brackets are legislated and change on a fixed calendar, so the year matters.

Idaho is a poor state for an ordinary private-sector retiree and a good one for a narrow set of federal and public-safety retirees. Social Security is exempt, but a 401(k), an IRA and a private pension are all taxed at the full 5.3%, and even the enumerated deduction is clawed back dollar for dollar by Social Security.
Because the retirement benefits deduction is offset by Social Security received, a calculator that applies the published maximum without the offset will overstate it for nearly every real retiree - the same trap Indiana's civil service annuity deduction sets.
PERSI, the retirement system covering most Idaho state and local government employees, is NOT among the systems Idaho Code 63-3022A enumerates. Reading publicPension as 'Idaho government pensions are excluded' would be wrong for the large majority of Idaho public retirees.