I can't speak for California but for New York vs. Minnesota, the taxes breakdown is roughly: 50% in NYC vs. 35% in Minnie. When you look at mortgage deductions - a far more common scenario in the "rest of the country" - the difference is even greater.
I'm getting much lower rates when I plug them into tax calculators. For example, if you make $100k, are single, and take the standard deduction, you pay an overall $18k in federal income tax (18%) and just under $7k in MN income tax (7%), for 25% total. YMMV if you have a spouse, kids, or a mortgage, of course.
