A $65,000 Renter Gets $968 From Minnesota and Nothing From California

A single renter earning $65,000 and paying $1,500 a month gets $968 back from Minnesota for the 2025 tax year (the return filed in 2026), and the same $968 under Minnesota's 2026 table. California, which also has a renter's credit, pays that renter nothing: its 2025 credit stops at $53,994 of income.

That gap is the pattern across the twelve states checked here. Six pay the $65,000 renter something. Six do not, because their limits sit far below that income or the program is written for older or disabled residents. The renter in every row is TaxMath's first persona, the $65,000 single filer with one W-2 and the standard deduction, plus three assumptions this piece adds: $18,000 of rent for the year, heat not included, and no one in the household 65 or older.

Rent, counted as property tax

Most of these programs rest on one legal fiction. A landlord pays property tax and passes it through in the rent, so the statute declares a fixed share of rent to be property tax the tenant paid, then runs that figure through a homeowner-style formula. The share is set in each state's own law, and it differs:

• Minnesota counts 17% of gross rent as "rent constituting property taxes" (Minn. Stat. §290.0693, subd. 1(j)).
• New Jersey counts 18% (Division of Taxation).
• Wisconsin counts 25% when heat is not included and 20% when it is (Wis. Stat. §71.07(9)(a)4.).
• Michigan counts 23% "in most cases" (MI-1040CR instructions).
• Maryland's Renters' Tax Credit assumes 15% (SDAT), and the Massachusetts circuit breaker for filers 65 and older uses 25% (TIR 25-7).

Two states skip the fiction and let rent reduce income directly. Massachusetts deducts half of rent paid, capped at $4,000 (M.G.L. c. 62, §3(B)(a)(9)). Indiana deducts rent up to $3,000 (Information Bulletin #38). California, New York and Hawaii pay a flat amount to renters under an income line.

What the $65,000 renter gets, state by state

Tax year 2025, the return filed in 2026, is the last year for which every state below has published its limits. Deductions are valued at the state rate this renter's last dollar faces, from TaxMath's rate tables.

Minnesota

Seventeen percent of $18,000 is $3,060. Because that is $2,500 or more, the renter uses the Renter's Worksheet in the 2025 Form M1 instructions, where household income of $64,260 to $66,480 carries a 0.020 income share, a 0.55 state share and a $1,830 ceiling. The renter absorbs 2% of $65,000, or $1,300, leaving $1,760; the state pays 55% of that, $968. The credit is refundable (Department of Revenue), so it arrives whether or not the renter owes tax, and it sits beside $2,931’25 prov.Minnesota: tax before credits, 2025×$2,931Single filer, $65,000 of wages, standard deduction, full-year residentFederal starting figure line 1$65,000Additions line 2$0Subtractions line 7$0State income$65,000Deduction line 4$14,950Exemptions line 5$0Taxable income line 9$50,050Tax before credits line 10$2,931This is one line of the Minnesota return, not its total.Built on figures the state has not finalized.Minnesota Department of Revenue, Form Form M1Open the full Minnesota return of Minnesota income tax before credits for this filer.

Michigan

Twenty-three percent of $18,000 is $4,140. The claim subtracts 3.2% of total household resources ($2,080, taking resources as the $65,000 wage with no pre-tax retirement contributions) to reach $2,060, and a filer who is neither a senior nor disabled receives 60% of that: $1,236. The 2025 credit starts shrinking above $62,500 of resources (Treasury), losing 10% for each $1,000 or part of $1,000, so at $65,000 it keeps 70% under Table B of the MI-1040CR instructions: $865. At $71,501 it is zero.

New Jersey

Eighteen percent of $18,000 is $3,240 of property tax "paid through rent." The NJ-1040 offers either a deduction of up to $15,000 of that or a refundable $50 credit, never both (Division of Taxation). At this income the deduction lowers New Jersey tax by $179, so it wins. Separately, the ANCHOR program paid renters with 2025 income of $150,000 or less a flat $450, or $700 at 65 and older (ANCHOR). ANCHOR is not on the income tax return; the Division filed for most eligible renters itself, and the deadline to apply for the 2025 benefit was November 2, 2026 (Division of Taxation).

Wisconsin

Twenty-five percent of $18,000 is $4,500, and the credit is 12% of the first $2,500 of it, a fixed $300 (§71.07(9)(b)). It cannot exceed the tax, which is no constraint for a renter whose Wisconsin tax before credits is $2,395’25 prov.Wisconsin: tax before credits, 2025×$2,395Single filer, $65,000 of wages, standard deduction, full-year residentFederal starting figure line 1$65,000Additions line 2$0Subtractions line 5$0State income line 3$65,000Deduction line 8$8,076Exemptions line 10c$700Taxable income line 11$56,224Tax before credits line 12$2,395This is one line of the Wisconsin return, not its total.Built on figures the state has not finalized.Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Form 1Open the full Wisconsin return. There is no income limit: any Wisconsin renter with $10,000 of rent excluding heat and at least $300 of tax gets the full $300.

Massachusetts and Indiana

Half of $18,000 is $9,000, capped at $4,000, which saves $200 of Massachusetts tax. Indiana's $3,000 deduction saves $90 of state tax at 3.00%; it also lowers the county income tax, which runs on the same Indiana AGI at a rate that depends on the county, so that part is not computed here.

Where the line falls below $65,000

California's credit is $60 for a single filer and $120 on a joint, head-of-household or surviving-spouse return, against tax only. For 2025 it required California income of $53,994 or less single, $107,987 or less joint (FTB). The statute starts those limits at $25,000 and $50,000 and indexes them every year from 1999 under R&TC §17053.5(j).

New York's IT-214 credit is refundable, up to $75, or $375 when someone in the household is 65 or older. It requires federal AGI of $18,000 or less and average rent of $450 a month or less, excluding heat and utilities (Tax Department). This renter fails both tests.

Vermont's credit is 10% of HUD's fair market rent for the household's size in its county, refundable, with no cliff (Department of Taxes). Eligibility tops out at 65% of county median income: for one person in 2025, $47,190 in the lowest counties and $59,090 in Chittenden (income limits). No Vermont county reaches $65,000 for a household of one.

Hawaii pays $50 per qualified exemption, doubled at 65 and refundable, for AGI under $30,000 and more than $1,000 of rent (HRS §235-55.7), a line this renter's income passes by $35,000.

Wisconsin's homestead credit, separate from the school property tax credit above, pays up to $1,168 but only below $24,680 of 2025 household income (Fact Sheet 1116).

Maryland and Missouri write their renter programs for older or disabled residents. Maryland's Renters' Tax Credit, up to $1,000 and paid by check rather than through the income tax, is open to renters 60 or older or fully disabled, or under 60 with a child under 18 at incomes below $21,150 for a household of two (SDAT). Missouri's Property Tax Credit pays renters up to $750 at 65 or older, fully disabled, or 60 and older on surviving-spouse Social Security, with 2025 household income of $27,200 or less single (qualification chart).

Age alone would not help this renter in Massachusetts either. The circuit breaker pays the amount by which 25% of rent exceeds 10% of total income, up to $2,820 for 2025 (TIR 25-7). At 65, 25% of $18,000 is $4,500, which does not exceed 10% of $65,000 ($6,500), so the credit is zero.

This is not a census of every state. Other states run property tax relief that reaches some renters, mostly older or disabled ones, and those programs are not covered here.

What 2026 changes

Minnesota has already published its 2026 table (Department of Revenue). Household income of $63,470 to $65,719 carries the same 2.0% and 45% shares with a $2,080 ceiling, so the formula gives this renter $968 again. The 2026 credit reaches $2,780 at the bottom of the scale and ends at $79,330 of household income, up from $77,570 for 2025.

Indiana's rate falls to 2.95% for 2026, which trims the renter's deduction to $89. Massachusetts, New Jersey and Wisconsin hold the same dollar amounts in statute, so their 2026 figures for this renter are $200, $179 and $300.

California is the odd case. Assembly Bill 130, effective June 30, 2025, rewrote §17053.5 so that for years from 2026 the credit reads $250 for a renter without dependents and $500 for one with dependents. Subdivision (k) then sets both to $0 unless a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Act specifies otherwise for that year, and when they are $0, subdivision (k)(2) restores the old $60 and $120 (R&TC §17053.5). The higher figures are in the code; they pay only in a year a budget bill names them.

Minnesota's 2026 credit depends on one document the renter does not produce. The landlord must hand over a Certificate of Rent Paid by January 31, 2027, and a renter still without one by February 1 can ask the Department of Revenue for a Rent Paid Affidavit instead (Department of Revenue).