The United States taxes income using a progressive system: as your taxable income rises, the additional dollars are taxed at higher rates. The figures below are for income earned in 2026 (the return you file in 2027), taken from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (Section 4.01 for the tax rate tables and Section 4.14 for the standard deduction). Beyond the tables, this guide walks through a full calculation, shows why a raise never costs you money, and explains deductions, credits and capital gains.
From income to tax owed: the steps
- Add up your income: wages, self-employment profit, interest and so on.
- Subtract adjustments to get your adjusted gross income (AGI). Examples include half of self-employment tax and contributions to a traditional 401(k), which come out of your pay before it is taxed.
- Subtract the standard deduction, or your itemized deductions. What is left is taxable income. The IRS says deductions reduce the amount of your taxable income (Topic 501).
- Apply the brackets to taxable income, layer by layer.
- Subtract credits. Credits reduce the tax itself, not the income it is calculated on.
2026 standard deduction
| Filing status | Standard deduction |
|---|---|
| Single | $16,100 |
| Married filing jointly | $32,200 |
| Head of household | $24,150 |
Most taxpayers subtract the standard deduction from their income before tax is calculated. What is left is your taxable income, and that is the number the brackets apply to. The standard deduction is a flat amount set by your filing status, and the IRS says it also depends on whether you are 65 or older or blind and whether someone else can claim you as a dependent (Topic 551). For 2026, the revenue procedure adds $1,650 for each of those conditions, or $2,050 if you are also unmarried and not a surviving spouse. A single filer who is 65 or older would have $18,150. Surviving spouses use the joint amount.
How the brackets work
The IRS describes it this way: you pay tax as a percentage of your income in layers called tax brackets, and when your income jumps to a higher bracket you do not pay the higher rate on your entire income, only on the part that is in the new bracket (IRS: federal income tax rates and brackets, which shows the prior year's tables). The tables below are the 2026 layers for the three most common filing statuses.
Single: 2026 tax brackets
| Tax rate | Taxable income |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 to $12,400 |
| 12% | $12,400 to $50,400 |
| 22% | $50,400 to $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,700 to $201,775 |
| 32% | $201,775 to $256,225 |
| 35% | $256,225 to $640,600 |
| 37% | Over $640,600 |
Married filing jointly: 2026 tax brackets
| Tax rate | Taxable income |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 to $24,800 |
| 12% | $24,800 to $100,800 |
| 22% | $100,800 to $211,400 |
| 24% | $211,400 to $403,550 |
| 32% | $403,550 to $512,450 |
| 35% | $512,450 to $768,700 |
| 37% | Over $768,700 |
Head of household: 2026 tax brackets
| Tax rate | Taxable income |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 to $17,700 |
| 12% | $17,700 to $67,450 |
| 22% | $67,450 to $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,700 to $201,750 |
| 32% | $201,750 to $256,200 |
| 35% | $256,200 to $640,600 |
| 37% | Over $640,600 |
Worked example, by hand: $75,000 of wages, single filer
Suppose a single filer earns $75,000 in wages and has no other income and no adjustments. The standard deduction is $16,100, so taxable income is $75,000 − $16,100 = $58,900. Fill each layer in turn:
| Layer | Income in the layer | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 to $12,400 | $12,400 | 10% | $1,240.00 |
| $12,400 to $50,400 | $38,000 | 12% | $4,560.00 |
| $50,400 to $58,900 | $8,500 | 22% | $1,870.00 |
| Total | $58,900 | $7,670.00 |
The tax is $7,670.00. That is 13.0% of taxable income and 10.2% of the $75,000 earned, even though the last dollars were taxed at 22%. Our paycheck calculator does exactly this arithmetic, then adds payroll taxes.
Marginal versus effective tax rate
Your marginal rate is the rate on your last dollar of income, the top bracket you reach. Your effective rate is your total tax divided by your income, and it is always lower. The table shows a single filer who takes the standard deduction and has no other income or credits:
| Income | Taxable income | Federal income tax | Marginal rate | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $13,900 | $1,420 | 12% | 4.7% |
| $50,000 | $33,900 | $3,820 | 12% | 7.6% |
| $75,000 | $58,900 | $7,670 | 22% | 10.2% |
| $100,000 | $83,900 | $13,170 | 22% | 13.2% |
| $150,000 | $133,900 | $24,734 | 24% | 16.5% |
| $250,000 | $233,900 | $51,304 | 32% | 20.5% |
The marginal rate jumps in steps, while the effective rate rises smoothly and stays well below it.
Why a raise never lowers your take-home pay
Only the additional dollars are taxed at the higher rate. Say a single filer has taxable income of $50,000, just $400 below the top of the 12% bracket ($50,400), and gets a $2,000 raise. The first $400 of the raise is taxed at 12% and the remaining $1,600 at 22%, so the extra tax is $400 and the filer keeps $1,600 of the $2,000. Nothing already earned is taxed at the higher rate. (Payroll taxes also come out of a raise, and some income-tested benefits shrink as income rises, but neither is a bracket effect.)
Do married couples just double the single brackets?
Almost. For 2026 the joint 10%, 12%, 22%, 24% and 32% ceilings are exactly twice the single ones ($24,800 against $12,400, $100,800 against $50,400, and so on), and the joint standard deduction ($32,200) is exactly twice the single one. The difference starts at the 35% bracket: it ends at $768,700 for joint filers, but at $640,600 for single filers, which is not double. Two consequences follow, from the tables alone:
- A one-earner household can pay less as a couple. A single earner with $200,000 of income pays $36,734 of federal income tax, while the same income on a joint return pays $26,340, $10,394 less, because more of it fits in the lower brackets.
- Two very high earners can pay more. Two people each earning $500,000 would owe $276,269 combined on separate single returns, against $280,251 on one joint return, $3,982 more, because the joint 37% bracket begins sooner than twice the single 35% ceiling.
Those figures compare brackets and standard deductions only. Other tax rules, credits and limits also differ by filing status, so use them as an illustration, not a forecast for your household.
Deductions versus credits
A deduction lowers the income you are taxed on, so it is worth your marginal rate. A credit lowers the tax itself, so it is worth its full amount. Using the $75,000 example, where the marginal rate is 22%:
| Effect on tax | |
|---|---|
| A $1,000 deduction | Saves $220 |
| A $1,000 credit | Saves $1,000 |
The Child Tax Credit is the best-known credit. The IRS describes it as a non-refundable credit that reduces tax liability for people with a qualifying child, worth up to $2,200 per qualifying child, with a refundable part for some filers (IRS: Child Tax Credit). Eligibility depends on income and other rules, so check the IRS page for your situation.
Standard deduction or itemizing?
The IRS says you should itemize on Schedule A if your allowable itemized deductions are greater than your standard deduction, or if you must itemize because you cannot use the standard deduction (Topic 501). For a single filer, itemized deductions below $16,100 lose to the standard deduction. In the $75,000 example, itemized deductions of $19,000 would lower the tax by $638, which is the $2,900 above the standard deduction taxed at 22%. Our paycheck calculator assumes the standard deduction.
Long-term capital gains
Profit from selling an asset held for more than one year is generally a long-term capital gain, and one held for a year or less is short-term (IRS Topic 409). Short-term gains are taxed like ordinary income. Most long-term gains are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%, and the rate depends on your taxable income. For 2026:
| Filing status | 0% rate up to taxable income of | 15% rate up to | 20% rate above |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | $49,450 | $545,500 | $545,500 |
| Married filing jointly | $98,900 | $613,700 | $613,700 |
| Head of household | $66,200 | $579,600 | $579,600 |
The gain is stacked on top of your other taxable income, and each part of the stack takes the rate for where it sits. For a single filer with $20,000 of long-term gain:
| Other taxable income | Gain taxed at 0% | Gain taxed at 15% | Tax on the gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $9,450 | $10,550 | $1,582.50 |
| $60,000 | $0 | $20,000 | $3,000.00 |
In the second row, the same $20,000 taxed as ordinary income on top of $60,000 would have cost $4,400.00, against $3,000.00 as a long-term gain. The IRS notes some gains have other rates, and lists the exceptions in Topic 409, so treat this as the general case.
Payroll tax limits for 2026
Social Security and Medicare are separate from income tax. They are figured on your earnings, not on your taxable income, so the standard deduction does not reduce them.
- Social Security: 6.2% for employees (12.4% self-employed) on earnings up to $184,500. The Social Security Administration publishes this contribution and benefit base each year.
- Medicare: 1.45% for employees (2.9% self-employed) on all earnings, plus a 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax. Employers must begin withholding it on wages above $200,000 in a year. The tax itself applies above $200,000 for single and head of household filers and above $250,000 for married couples filing jointly, per the IRS's Topic 560.
- 401(k) employee deferral limit: $24,500, with catch-up amounts for age 50 and over, from the IRS announcement of the 2026 limits.
Check your withholding
The tax on your paycheck is an estimate of the tax on your return, and the two rarely match exactly. The IRS offers a Tax Withholding Estimator to help you check it. If you have self-employment income, withholding does not apply, and you make estimated payments instead. See our guide to self-employment tax.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Applying your top bracket to all your income. Only the slice in each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate.
- Applying the brackets to gross income. They apply to taxable income, after the standard deduction or itemized deductions.
- Turning down a raise to avoid a bracket. As shown above, you keep most of every extra dollar.
- Treating a deduction like a credit. A deduction saves only your marginal rate on the amount.
- Using last year's tables. Bracket edges and deductions change with inflation each year, so check the tax year on any table you use.
What these tables do not cover
This guide covers single, married filing jointly and head of household. It does not cover married filing separately, estates and trusts, or the special rates and extra taxes that apply to some capital gains and other income. Credits, itemized deductions, the alternative minimum tax and state taxes also affect what you owe. Use the tables to understand the structure, and consult a tax professional for your own return.
Try it yourself
See how the brackets apply to your pay with the paycheck calculator, or estimate freelance taxes with the self-employment tax calculator. To see how state tax changes what you keep, read take-home pay by state.
Sources and review
Tax rate tables, standard deductions, the extra standard deduction and the capital gains thresholds: IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, which we checked line by line, and a test on this site fails if any figure here stops matching it. Concepts: IRS federal income tax rates and brackets, Topic 501, Topic 551, Topic 409 and the Child Tax Credit page. Social Security base: Social Security Administration. Medicare and Additional Medicare Tax: IRS Topic 560. 401(k) limit: IRS news release IR-2025-111. The IRS pages on brackets and capital gains still showed the prior year's tables when we checked, which is why the 2026 numbers here come from the revenue procedure. Last reviewed September 2026. See our methodology. This is general information, not tax advice.