Head to head
Maui vs San Francisco.
Income tax on $1M lands within $2K in Maui and San Francisco, so a sale decides it: Maui taxes a resident's capital gain at 31% and San Francisco at 37%. Both in 🇺🇸 United States, compared on tax, residence, cost and the life.
In short, current to October 2026
- State income tax on $1,000,000: $100,216 in Maui (Hawaii) and $102,460 in San Francisco (California). Federal income tax, $320,000, is the same in both at this income, so the whole difference is state tax.
- On $1,000,000 of income, Maui takes an effective 42% and San Francisco takes 42%, federal and state together, so Maui leaves about $2K more in hand each year on the Patrician.ch 2026 model.
- On a capital gain realized after residence begins, the total is 31% in Maui and 37% in San Francisco. Federal tax is the same in both, and the gap is state tax: 7.2% in Hawaii, 13.3% in California. On a $5,000,000 event that is about $305K.
- Estate: the federal estate tax, 40% above $15M per person in 2026 and paid by the estate, applies in both. Hawaii adds an estate tax of its own. California has none.
- Cost of the life is 115 in Maui against 112 in San Francisco on the Patrician.ch index where Zurich is 100, and safety 8 against 5 of 10. Both are Patrician.ch editorial indices scored by us, not published statistics.
Source: the Patrician.ch board, an original ranking of 100 residence addresses across 47 countries and territories. Tax rates, thresholds and routes are sourced. Cost, safety, schools, sun and beauty are Patrician.ch editorial indices. Figures current to October 2026. Updated . Cite as: Patrician.ch, Maui (Hawaii) vs San Francisco (California): tax, residence and cost 2026, patrician.ch/compare/maui-vs-san-francisco/, October 2026.
