Despite what you may think, the size of the average individual income tax refund in any particular state does not depend on the state's economic weight, or the size of its population — and that was all the more true in 2021 (the most recent year for which data is available), thanks to the impact of pandemic relief payments.
The top five states in our ranking had an average individual income tax refund of $1,742.80 in 2021. The average traditional refund (not including COVID funds) for the top five states was $1,665.
Scroll through to see which states were in the top 20 and how they fared.
Source: IRS Data Book, 2021