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Net capital gains, the profits from selling assets like stocks, real estate, or businesses, are a key measure of investment success and regional wealth. These gains are realized only upon sale and are taxable at preferential rates when held for a year or longer: 0%, 15% or 20%. Other investment incomes, such as ordinary dividends and taxable interest, which are taxed at generally higher income tax rates, or tax-exempt interest (often from municipal bonds), may offer other advantages for a diversified portfolio or retirement account withdrawal strategies. Overall, high net capital gains can signal robust markets and affluent populations, with realized gains potentially boosting local economies through tax revenues and spending.
With this in mind, SmartAsset ranked U.S. counties and states by the average net capital gains reported on the latest tax return data per the IRS. Other types of investment gains were also considered.
Key Findings
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Teton County, WY investment gains lead all counties by wide margin. Teton County, WY, reported the highest average net capital gain per return at $515,267, far surpassing other counties. With a relatively small number of returns (6,010 reporting gains out of 15,180 total), this affluent area also showed significant ordinary dividends ($196,121 average 6,150 returns) and qualified dividends ($167,921 average on 5,940 returns), signaling a concentration of high-net-worth individuals and diversified investment activity.
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Florida ekes past Wyoming for highest state-level investment gains. Florida topped the state rankings with an average net capital gain per return of $84,911. The state’s 2,136,380 returns reporting gains amounted to $181.4 billion, bolstered by high activity in counties like Palm Beach ($40.4 billion in gains) and Miami-Dade ($37.4 billion). Wyoming comes in a close second place for average net capital gains of $84,246 across nearly 60,000 tax returns.
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These Georgia counties report the lowest capital gains. At the opposite end, Chattahoochee, Quitman and Taliaferro Counties in Georgia have the lowest net capital gains in the contiguous states with an average of $2,400 or less each. Few returns reported net capital gains at all, as they were reported on less than 10% of tax returns across these counties.
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West Virginia lags in state-level investment returns. West Virginia reported the lowest average net capital gain per return at $14,612, with only 91,930 returns reporting $1.34 billion in gains. Wisconsin has the second lowest average net capital gains reported at $19,590.
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