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FILM INCENTIVES BY STATE

Every state incentive, in one place.

39 active state programs, 66 stackable uplifts and 88 city, county and regional incentives — rates, caps, minimum spend and payout mechanism for each, plus the date we last checked it. This is the database we run our own consulting from.

Active programs worldwide
117
Uplifts tracked
360
Highest US base rate
40% Tennessee

Across 91 countries. We are actively verifying 25 of these programs and uplifts; a rate publishes only once it is checked against the statute and the film office.

THE CALCULATOR

Estimate for your state.

Pick a state and run your budget through its actual program rules — every estimate shows its working. Or line several states up side by side on the compare page.

THE MAP

Where the money is.

Color shows the mechanism, because that is what determines how much cash actually reaches a production. Gold dots are city and county programs, which usually stack on top of the state. Switch on film commissions to see every AFCI member office, worldwide.

Verify before you budget. These figures come from our own incentives database and each shows when it was last reviewed — but programs change between funding cycles and legislative sessions. Confirm with the film office, or ask us, before a number goes into a budget.

READ THE MECHANISM, NOT THE RATE

A 30% credit is not 30%.

Two states quoting the same incentive percentage can be worth very different amounts by the time the money actually reaches the production. This is the single most expensive thing to get wrong.

  • Cash grant

    Cash grant

    The state pays cash against qualified spend. No tax liability needed, no broker, no discount — the cleanest structure for an independent production.

    39 jurisdictionsHow this pays →

  • Rebate

    Rebate

    A cash payment back on qualified spend, usually after an audit. Like a grant in practice, though often funded from a capped pool.

    24 jurisdictionsHow this pays →

  • Transferable credit

    Transferable credit

    A credit you can sell to a company that owes tax in the state. You rarely get face value — expect a broker discount — so model the net, not the headline.

    26 jurisdictionsHow this pays →

  • Refundable credit

    Refundable credit

    A credit that pays out in cash when it exceeds what you owe the state. Close to a rebate for most independent productions.

    20 jurisdictionsHow this pays →

  • Non-transferable credit

    Non-transferable credit

    Only usable against your own liability in that state. For most independent productions that is worth close to nothing.

    4 jurisdictionsHow this pays →

RANKED

Highest base rates.

The top 15 of 39 active programs by the rate that applies to all qualified spend. A program’s maximum is usually higher, but it reaches only a slice of spend, so it is the wrong number to rank on. Every jurisdiction, including the 12 with no statewide program, is in the browser below.

US film incentive programs ranked by maximum headline rate
JurisdictionRateMechanismMinimum spendUplifts
Tennessee40%up to 50%Non-transferable credit$500K scripted film/TV; $100K non-scripted/games/animation/commercials; $50K post1
Puerto Rico40%Transferable credit$50K PR Production Expenditures per project; $25K for short films and documentaries; $100K aggregated for commercial campaigns or bundled post-production (§2091.01(a)(1))1
Illinois35%up to 65%Transferable credit$100K—
California35%up to 40%+ Sacramento up to 25% on its own qualified spend†Refundable credit$1M (feature/TV per ep); indie $1M1
New Jersey35%up to 40%Transferable credit$1,000,000 in qualified NJ production expenses, OR 60% of total film production expenses (excl. post) through NJ-authorized vendors2
New York30%up to 40%Refundable credit$250,000; $1,000,000 if most principal-photography days are in NYC, Westchester, Rockland, Nassau or Suffolk4
Kentucky30%up to 35%Refundable credit$200K2
Washington30%up to 35%Cash grant$500K motion pictures; $300K/episode episodic series; $150K commercials (excludes nonresident labor)2
Delaware30%Transferable credit> $100,000 qualified expenditures in any 12 consecutive months (aggregable across projects) — § 2003F(b)—
Ohio30%+ Columbus up to 10% on its own qualified spend†Refundable credit$300,000 per project (Ohio eligible expenditures); $300,000 per Broadway theatrical production—
Rhode Island30%Transferable credit$100K minimum total production budget (§44-31.2-5(a)(1)); or $10M+ RI spend in 12 months (no primary-location test)—
Wisconsin30%Transferable creditAggregate salary & wages > $100K (≥30 min) / > $50K (<30 min) within 12 months of start of principal photography (s. 71.07(5f)(a)1)—
Maryland28%up to 30%Refundable credit$250,000 (in-state authorized direct costs)—
West Virginia27%up to 31%Transferable credit$50K—
District of Columbia25%up to 50%Rebate$250K qualified DC spend (or $250K infrastructure)—

Headline rate is the ceiling, not the expectation. Caps, queues, transfer discounts and residency gates all sit between it and your bank account. † City and county programs stack on the state but run on their own qualified-spend definitions and caps — a combined figure is a best-case ceiling, not a quoted rate.

BROWSE ALL

Every jurisdiction.

Want this applied to your project?

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