Retiring in Hawaii

Every figure below is sourced to Hawaii’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: Not taxed
Top marginal rate: 11%; The top of 12 graduated brackets.
Tax year: 2026; Brackets are legislated and change on a fixed calendar, so the year matters.

The single most consequential Hawaii fact for a retirement calculator: Hawaii is often listed among the states that 'do not tax pensions', and for a traditional employer-funded pension that is true. It is NOT true of a 401(k) built from elective deferrals, which is how most people below retirement age today have actually saved. The same retiree can be fully exempt on one income stream and fully taxed on another.
Because the rule apportions within a single plan, a Hawaii retiree with a hybrid 401(k) needs the employer-versus-employee split of their own account. A calculator cannot produce a correct Hawaii number from a distribution total alone, and should say so rather than assume either extreme.
Act 46, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024, phases in bracket widening and standard deduction increases on two DIFFERENT calendars: standard deduction steps up in 2024, 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2031, while brackets step up in 2025, 2027 and 2029. Tax year 2026 is therefore a standard-deduction year and not a bracket year - the schedule below is unchanged from 2025, while the deduction nearly doubles.
The next bracket change lands in tax year 2027, when the bottom married-joint band widens to $28,800 and the 11% top bracket moves to $650,000 of joint income and above. Any record still showing the 2026 schedule in 2027 is wrong.