How your county is affected by "big beautiful bill" tax cuts
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Americans dodged a big tax hike when Congress passed the "big, beautiful bill," making permanent the tax cuts of President Trump's first term — and adding on a bunch more.
Why it matters: Tax cuts free up money for folks to spend on other things — which could be dearly needed next year as wages still haven't caught up with inflation and tariffs threaten to push costs up further.
The big picture: The average American will receive a federal tax cut of $3,752 in 2026 thanks to the bill, per an analysis from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research group that mostly supports lower taxes.
The intrigue: They may not feel much of a change.
- The map above compares the tax rate in 2026 with what it would've been had the big bill not passed and the 2017 tax cuts expired.
By the numbers: The largest average tax cuts will be in Wyoming ($5,375), Washington ($5,372) and Massachusetts ($5,139).
- Taxpayers in West Virginia ($2,503) and Mississippi ($2,401) will see the smallest average cuts.
How it works: The big bill not only made the 2017 tax cuts permanent, it added on new breaks: deductions for tips and overtime income, a cut for seniors and an expanded child-care tax cut.
- These are temporary provisions.
Zoom in: Business owners will get some of the biggest cuts — thanks, in part, to tax breaks being made permanent for research and development expenses and other provisions.
- Those in high-tax coastal regions will also get big breaks, thanks to the increased cap on state and local tax deductions (known as SALT — also temporary).
- For example, the average tax cut in 2026 for Westchester County, N.Y. — a high-income New York City suburb poised for a big SALT payoff — is $6,644. But just to the south, in the Bronx, the average tax cut is $1,761.
The largest average tax cuts are happening in mountain resort towns where high-earners and business owners live. In Teton County, Wy., residents will see an average tax cut of $37,373, the highest in the U.S.
- The smallest tax cuts are in rural counties — like Loup County, in Nebraska, where the average tax cut in 2026 is $824.
Reality check: The big bill also made some steep cuts to social spending on food benefits and Medicaid, but those mostly don't kick in until 2027 and 2028. For many lower-income Americans, those cuts will outweigh any benefits of these tax breaks.
