Retiring in Maine

Every figure below is sourced to Maine’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.

Brokerage account growth

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

Roth vs. Traditional

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.

Contribution limit optimizer

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

Required minimum distribution

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

Backdoor Roth pro-rata

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

Self-directed IRA real estate (UDFI)

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

Maine at a glance

401(k) and IRA withdrawals
Partly excluded
Social Security
Not taxed
Top marginal rate
7.15%
The top of 3 graduated brackets.
Tax year
2025
Brackets are legislated and change on a fixed calendar, so the year matters.
  • The single most consequential Maine fact for a retirement calculator is the Social Security offset. Maine's $48,216 deduction is one of the most generous headline numbers in this dataset, and for a typical retiree drawing full Social Security it is worth barely a quarter of that. Applying the headline figure is the largest single error available in this record.
  • The offset uses GROSS Social Security and railroad retirement received, not the federally taxable portion. A retiree whose benefits are entirely untaxed federally still loses the full amount from the pension deduction.
  • Maine military retirees get the best treatment in this batch outside the fully-exempt states: an uncapped exemption that is not reduced by Social Security, stacked on top of a $48,216 allowance for any other pension income.
  • TAX YEAR CAVEAT, STATED RATHER THAN BURIED: this record is tax year 2025, not 2026. Maine indexes its brackets, standard deduction and personal exemption annually, so every dollar figure here will change for 2026. See the sources entry for brackets.