Maximize Your Benefits. Optimize Your Life.

March 30, 2026

I have moved a lot. A story not unfamiliar.

Florida to New Jersey. New Jersey back to Florida. Georgia to Washington. Washington to Florida. Not to mention all of the TDYs and deployments.

Military life. You know how it is.

But here's the thing, some of those moves I made after I got out. Voluntarily. For reasons that made sense at the time. And I made them without ever actually running the numbers on what each state was going to cost me as a veteran.

The Florida to New Jersey move is the one that stings the most.

I left one of the best states in the country for veterans - no state income tax, full property tax exemption for 100% P&T - and moved to New Jersey. Which has state income tax. Which has the highest property tax rate in the country. I did this knowingly, for personal reasons, and I do not regret it (went for a girl and a W2 job, the girl turned into a wife - great success - but I left that W2 job after 2 years because it was just ✨ the worst ✨).

What I didn't know was what it was actually going to cost me.

In Florida, I was living pretty well. GI Bill MHA - tax-free. Training clients at a gym - cash. I was rated at 0% because I hadn't filed until 3 years after I got out (a whole other story, please file your damn claims). No state income tax. I didn't think much about taxes because I barely paid any.

Then I took a W2 job in New Jersey for $50,000/year. And when I got my first paycheck, I genuinely thought something had gone wrong. I called HR. Nothing was wrong. That was just New Jersey. Truly a horrid place.

I ran my own numbers through the tool last week - plugging in what my situation actually was when I made that move: 0% rating, renting, $50K salary. New Jersey ranked 49th out of 51.

Not bottom 10. Not bottom 5. 49th. Out of 50 states plus D.C…. Lmfao, I hate you, New Jersey.

Florida, where I was moving from, ranked in the top 3.

If I had seen that number before I signed the lease, there would have certainly been hesitancy, but I would have made the exact same decision. However, I would have negotiated my salary differently, and I would not have been surprised by my own paycheck.

That's what this tool is for. It does the rankings and the math for you so you don’t have to sift through endless websites trying to figure out if you’re making the right move or if you’re going to be paying more. No more hand jamming math at 3am in a panic trying to decide if taking that job in that other state is the right move.

I just launched the Best State for Veterans tool - it ranks all 50 states, DC, and U.S. territories by estimated annual financial benefit, personalized to your specific situation.

You enter your VA rating, home value, whether you own or rent, military retirement pay, civilian salary, dependents, and age. The tool runs the numbers on every state and spits out a ranked list — with a full breakdown of exactly where each state's advantage comes from.

Takes about 60 seconds to set up. The list updates instantly as you type.

You've heard it a hundred times. "No state income tax." "Texas is the best state for veterans." "Florida has no property tax for 100% P&T."

All of that is true. None of it tells you what any of it is worth to you.

Here's what the tool showed me for a 100% P&T veteran with a $350,000 home and $3,500/month in military retirement pay — no civilian salary, just retirement and disability:

For this profile - 100% P&T, $350K home, living off military retirement, with no lifestyle preferences, or valuing anything in particular - the mathematically correct answer is not Texas. Texas is fourth.

I know how that sounds. I spent an entire paragraph earlier in this email telling you I moved away from New Jersey. I meant every word of it, may the burnt bridges I left in New Jersey light my way. But this isn't about quality of life. It's about the math.

Look at the income tax column. It's identical for every state in that table at $2,100. That's because every one of these states fully exempts military retirement pay from income tax, including New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut. When you're living off retirement and disability alone, that column is a complete wash. The only thing that separates these states is property tax.

And property tax is where the "move to Texas" advice falls apart. New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut all have higher property tax rates than Texas, which sounds like a reason to avoid them. It's actually a reason to love them if you're 100% P&T. The full exemption is worth more in a high-rate state. New Jersey's 2.47% rate turns that exemption into $8,645/year. Texas's 1.80% rate turns the same exemption on the same home into $6,300/year. That's $2,195 less - every single year - for no reason other than the state having a lower property tax rate.

New Jersey's worst feature for civilians is its best feature for 100% P&T veterans. You're exempt from all of it.

That said: change the disability rating to 70% and New Jersey falls apart — no full exemption. Add a civilian salary and the income tax column shifts dramatically. The "right" state depends entirely on your numbers. That's the whole point.

This is one of the few times New Jersey wins, and I didn’t do this on purpose. If you don’t mind being around miserable people, in 8 months of wet cold winters, losing your mind not being able to make a simple left-hand turn and using 5 jug handles to get where you need to go, paying to go on the beach during the 3 months it’s nice - New Jersey is the place for you.

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There's a "Where Do You Live Now?" dropdown at the top of the tool.

Pick your current state and every result in the ranked list changes. Instead of seeing "Texas saves you $14,400/year," you see "+$8,200 vs. California" or "+$3,200 vs. Florida" right under the savings number.

The tool also adjusts for cost of living. Because $14,400 in Texas, where the cost of living is 8% below the national average, goes further than the same number in New Hampshire, which is 12% above average. Every state card shows you both the raw savings and the purchasing-power-adjusted number.

The difference between the best state and a bad state for that veteran above? Over $19,000/year. Over 20 years, that's $380,000. That's not a rounding error — that's a retirement account.

That $380,000 is just the state-level picture. If you want the full number - what 100% P&T is actually worth over a lifetime, federal comp included - run it through the P&T Benefits Calculator. The state you're in changes that number more than most people realize.

And if you're deciding between states AND deciding whether to buy a home, those two decisions interact. The VA Loan Calculator already models state property tax exemptions - so you can see what your actual monthly payment looks like in Texas vs. Florida vs. New Jersey, full exemption factored in.

If you're moving for a job, the Salary Translator shows you what the civilian offer is worth in military compensation terms. The state you take that job in determines how much of it you keep.

I’ve built all of these things to tie together in order to give you the best view of how your benefits interact for you.

The tool isn't just income tax and property tax. Every state gets scored on:

If you've narrowed it down to a few candidates, there's a "State Deep Dive" section at the bottom of the tool.

Pick two states and it puts them side by side - every category, both dollar amounts, winner highlighted. Then it writes a 3-4 sentence summary of exactly why one beats the other for your profile.

For that same 100% P&T veteran comparing Texas vs. Florida, the summary reads something like: "Texas saves $3,200 more per year than Florida. The biggest driver is property tax — Texas leads by $3,200/yr on a $350K home. On education, Texas has significantly more programs for veterans and dependents (9 vs. 3) thanks to the Hazelwood Act."

That's the punchline. That's the "oh, now I get it" moment.

I want to be straight with you about what this tool is and isn't.

It uses state average property tax rates, which can vary significantly by county. It uses effective income tax rates, not marginal rates. The dollar amounts are estimates - real savings depend on your specific county, exemption application status, and eligibility details.

Before this launched I ran a full accuracy audit: 15 data corrections across states including Pennsylvania (military retirement was wrongly being flagged as taxable), New Jersey (the full 100% P&T exemption wasn't calculating correctly), and Texas (the Hazelwood Act dependent education benefits weren't scoring correctly).

The numbers are as accurate as I can make them. If you find something off for your state, hit reply and I'll fix it.

Also: VA disability compensation is tax-free everywhere. Federal benefits like GI Bill, CHAMPVA, VA healthcare, apply equally in every state. This tool only captures what changes based on where you live. That's still a lot of money.

One more thing for National Guard members: many states have additional Guard-specific benefits - tuition waivers, retirement supplements, deployment pay top-ups - beyond what's modeled here. The tool flags this and points you to your state's Adjutant General's office for the full picture.

Run your numbers. If you own a home and have a disability rating, the property tax section alone will probably surprise you. If you have military retirement pay, the income tax section will.

And if you're already in the right state — the tool will tell you that too.

This one took longer to build than anything else I've done. The data alone - 50 states, property tax exemption tiers by rating, income tax treatment of military retirement, education programs, vehicle exemptions - is a research project by itself. I've been collecting it for weeks.

If this helps you figure out whether you're in the right state, or gives you the number you need to finally make the decision you've been putting off - that's the whole point.

Share it with someone who's asking the question. Forward this email. Drop the link in your veteran group chat.

Talk soon,

Zak

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