Some states are greedier than others. One of the ways you can tell is by comparing which states are highly populated and which ones are taking advantage of their populations with high gas taxes.

The top ten most populated states (in order) are:

1. California
2. Texas
3. New York
4. Florida
5. Illinois
6. Pennsylvania
7. Ohio
8. Michigan
9. Georgia
10. North Carolina

And the ten least populated states (in order) are:

40. New Hampshire
41. Maine
42. Hawaii
43. Rhode Island
44. Montana
45. Delaware
46. South Dakota
47. Alaska
48. North Dakota
49. Vermont
50. Wyoming

(source: Wikipedia)

Now look at the states that have the highest gas tax:

1. California
2. New York
3. Hawaii
4. Connecticut
5. Illinois
6. Washington
7. Michigan
8. Florida
9. Indiana
10. Nevada

… and the lowest gas tax:

40. New Hampshire
41. Virginia
42. Arizona
43. New Mexico (tied)
43. Mississippi (tied)
45. Missouri
46. Oklahoma
47. South Carolina
48. New Jersey
49. Wyoming
50. Alaska

(Source: TaxFoundation)

So, what does this tell us? California has a huge population and huge tourist base and they are making a mint on gas tax. Other states with similar high populations/high gas taxes include New York, Florida, Michigan, and Illinois. Alaska, which has one of the lowest populations also has the lowest gas tax rate.

Check out the Tax Foundation resource on state gas tax and download the PDF or Excel resource of where your taxes are allocated.

[Image source: Alex E. Proimos]