State-by-state answers
The numbers change every time you cross a border. Small-claims ceilings, childcare price, Social Security tax, IVF coverage — one page per state, 51 jurisdictions, sources named.
Data verified Sept–Oct 2026 (official court/statute compendium; Child Care Aware 2025 survey; 2026 tax compendia; state IVF law surveys). Each state name links to its small-claims page; childcare, tax and IVF pages live beside it in the same folder.
How this table was built
- Small-claims caps come from the state court compendium of statutory jurisdictional limits, cross-checked against each state court system's self-help page. Caps are the money ceiling for the claim, not the judgment you can collect.
- Childcare cost is the annual price of centre-based infant care from the Child Care Aware national survey (2025 edition, published 2026), state by state. It is a state average, not a city quote — metro prices run 20–60% above it.
- Social Security status is the state's treatment of Social Security benefits in its 2026 income tax code: exempt, taxed (with the exemption amount on the state page), or no income tax at all.
- IVF status is the mandate category as of late 2026: a full fertility/IVF mandate, a preservation law (IVF cannot be banned, coverage not required), a coverage-offer requirement, a restriction, or no law.
- Every state page names its source and verification date. The link in the first column of each row goes to that state's small-claims page; the other three columns link to their own pages in the same folder.
Which states have the highest small claims limit?
Delaware and Tennessee, both $25,000. Then Minnesota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia at $20,000, and North Dakota, Idaho and Georgia at $15,000. The short end of the range is Kentucky at $2,500 and Mississippi at $3,500 — the limit is the amount you sue for, so a bigger claim in those states means dropping the excess or filing in a higher court.
Which states tax Social Security benefits in 2026?
Eight: Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont. Every other state with an income tax exempts Social Security benefits. Nine states have no state income tax at all — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming — so they tax nothing, benefits included. Each state page shows the exemption detail.
Which states require IVF coverage?
Thirteen with a fertility/IVF coverage mandate: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. Arkansas and Hawaii restrict IVF practice without requiring coverage; Montana and Texas require insurers to offer an IVF rider; Pennsylvania is partial; Virginia's benchmark-package rule takes effect in 2028. The rest have no coverage mandate.
What is the cheapest state for infant childcare?
Mississippi at about $6,868 a year, then Alabama ($7,871) and South Dakota ($8,680). The most expensive is the District of Columbia at about $28,356, followed by Massachusetts ($26,709) and California ($21,945). The spread is roughly 4×, which is the single largest cost difference between states for a young family.