If you were to say that something would be taxed by the federal government, you could say it was taxable federally (though you would more likely say it was federally taxable).

If something would instead be taxed by the state government, you could say it was state taxable, but you couldn't say it is taxable stately. Is there a word that would fit in that same sentence structure, replacing federally?

The best I can find is statewise, but I can only find a single online dictionary defining it as rare.

With regard to the State or a state.
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    Please confirm: You are asking about AmE usage with regard to state and federal issues in reference to government/governing/governance. Is that correct, Professor Chaos? – Lambie Dec 29 '19 at 20:01
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    Your problem is partly already present in your question: federal is an adjective while state is a noun. The reason you are asking apples and pears is probably that there is no adjective on the state level (ha!) corresponding to federal, and hence no adverb either. Your question is at the core "Federation is to federal as state is to ...". – Peter - Reinstate Monica Dec 30 '19 at 2:03
  • @Peter-ReinstateMonica state is not only a noun: "State funding was very low". Many nouns in English can function as adjectives, fyi. And all these points to inaccurate answers just shows what people simply do not know, I'm afraid. This question stands out in that some answers do not answer the question at all.....This is one of those oddities one gets around here. – Lambie Dec 30 '19 at 15:00
  • @Lambie Yes, my question refers mostly to American government, with federal and state level authorities. I've added American-English as a tag. – Profesor Caos Dec 30 '19 at 15:16
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    "Provincial" and move to Canada :/ – gktscrk Dec 30 '19 at 20:23

You've seen a bunch of suggestions, but when a single word is used in this context, it's overwhelmingly state.

Notice we pretty much always use "federally" with a passive verb. Since "federal" is an adjective, we need to turn it into an adverb so that we can modify a verb. But the noun "state" has no such problem.

  • Federally-insured: state-insured
  • Federally-owned: state-owned
  • Federally-funded: state-funded
  • Federally-subsidized: state-subsidized
  • Federally-recognized: state-recognized (but only in a hurry)

You didn't explicitly ask for an adverb, so this definitely answers the question as you asked it. But you can also think of it this way: Not all adverbs end in -ly.

  • There is an old alternate use of "federally" as "generally", or "integral(ly)" but that's not what OP was asking about. – Spencer Dec 28 '19 at 14:34
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    What do you mean by (but only in a hurry)? – Roddy of the Frozen Peas Dec 29 '19 at 18:34
  • @Roddy I might use the other ones in general writing, but the last one only where brevity is important. – Spencer Dec 29 '19 at 18:43
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    You don't even answer the question. – Lambie Dec 29 '19 at 19:59
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    @Lambie My state had a deposit insurance program for S&L's and we heard "state-insured" in the news a lot, especially while the program was crashing and burning. – Spencer Dec 30 '19 at 15:29

There are a few adverbs for governmental levels, but stately is not one of them.

For example, one quote in definition 2 for the entry "federally, adv." in the Oxford English Dictionary features municipally:

1940 Amer. Guardian 5 Apr. 4/3 The privateers never..reduce their rate unless forced to do so by public competition in the shape of municipally or federally owned [electric power] plants.

Municipally suggests a form of local control, like by a town or county government. In many countries, the next step up would be provincially or regionally, as this example from "provincially, adv." suggests:

1992 J. M. Bumsted Peoples of Canada vi. 190 During the Depression, Canadians thought regionally or provincially rather than nationally.

I've been able to uncover no adverb for state that is the equivalent of provincially or municipally. Instead, I've only found articles that refer to the US levels of government - state, federal, and municipal - as adjectives, while slipping in "federally, provincially, and municipally" when referring to Canadian tax collection ("Policing in Canada v. Policing in the US").

So you would be stuck saying something was state taxable (example), taxable by state (example), or taxable at the state level.

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    Agree. I’d probably go with “taxable at the state level” myself. – Jim Dec 28 '19 at 5:44
  • The words "statutory", and "statutorily" are used in Britain to mean something governed by "statute", as opposed to Common Law. Clearly statute and state have a common root. I am wondering if US states enact "statutes"? The word long predates the modern "nation state", and is found in the bible - as a law enacted by God or by a sovereign. – WS2 Dec 28 '19 at 10:32
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    @WS2, The words "statute" and "statutory" are known and (lightly) used in common American English. The former is approximately synonymous with "law", which is generally the preferred word over here. I suspect that many Americans' familiarity with "statutory" may be limited to the name of the criminal offense "statutory rape". Usage in the specialized dialects of the courts and government is likely a bit broader. – John Bollinger Dec 28 '19 at 16:22
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    @WS2, statutorily is of no help to the OP, because both the state governments and the federal one enact statutes; the distinction between the common law and the statutes is independent of the federal-state distinction. – jsw29 Dec 29 '19 at 17:06
  • All these points for not answering the question? – Lambie Dec 29 '19 at 17:15

In American English and in the U.S., generally federally is to federal as state is to state level since there is no adverb for this meaning of the word state.

For example:

to be decided federally:

to be decided federally


to be decided at state level

state-wise is slightly different. It just means: as regards or with regard to (the) states and it can't be used exactly like at (the) state level.

  • Freedom of speech is federally protected by and in the U.S. Constitution.
  • Freedom of speech is protected at state level in many states.

to be decided at state level

-wise in English means in reference to the preceding noun:

state-wise, goverment-wise, construction-wise

with regard to a or the state, government or construction (building)

It is not the adverb that matches federally.


The word Statal fits the question if you need an adjective. But I can't find reference to the adverbial 'statally', as in 'taxable statally'.

Definition of statal:

1 often capitalized : of or relating to a state (as of the U.S. or India)

: statal citizenship

: the statal economy


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    This is one of those examples from a dictionary the use of which is quite dubious. – Lambie Dec 29 '19 at 17:17
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    Yes; it gives a nicely increasing Google Ngram, but one that is negligible when compared with that of 'federal'. The word exists (if M-W has it, OED will have), but is so uncommon as to be best avoided except in rarefied circles. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 29 '19 at 19:41
  • @EdwinAshworth The same sort of circles that would use "materteral" or "amicular" as a complement of "avuncular"? ;) – Spencer Dec 30 '19 at 13:22
  • @Spencer Now how would I know? – Edwin Ashworth Dec 30 '19 at 13:44
  • @EdwinAshworth I don't know. I thought perhaps someone might. – Spencer Dec 30 '19 at 13:49

I agree -- statewise is the best (and possibly only) option in that situation, if it must be a single word.

If you were to discuss taxes in a more global way, an argument could be made for using provincially, but that wouldn't apply when talking about countries such as the United States. Statewise is still your best option.

  • @vectory common definitions of stateside seem to refer to the continental United States in general, as opposed to government at the state level specifically. – freginold Dec 28 '19 at 5:16
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    Although statewise might be the best literal drop-in, it's not really the best option in general -- you would probably want to find a more conventional formulation like "taxable at the state level", "state taxable", "taxable by the state". – Mike Graham Dec 28 '19 at 8:41
  • @MikeGraham I agree, I'd go with "taxable at the state level" myself, but the OP asked for a single word. – freginold Dec 28 '19 at 13:31
  • state-wise, with a dash is a no go here. "It was decided federally" is not "It was decided state-wise", the latter being ungrammatical and not having the same meaning at all. – Lambie Dec 29 '19 at 17:16

I can't think of many cases where a noun has an equivalent adverb but fortunately nouns can be used as adjectives to modify other nouns or adjectives or to replace adverb phrases. Examples: state taxable, girl talk, man trap, boy choir, school rules, state mandated, animal control. Some nouns can be changed into adjectives: yearly taxes, monthly rent

  • Yes; Lambie and indeed OP themself have already suggested the use of 'state' as a premodifier: state taxable. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 1 '20 at 14:11

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