Guide · Updated November 2026
2026 federal tax brackets, explained
Seven rates, four filing statuses, and one number that matters more than any of them: your taxable income. Here is how the 2026 brackets actually apply to a paycheck.
The United States taxes ordinary income in layers. Each band of income is taxed at its own rate, and only the dollars inside a band face that rate. This structure is called a marginal schedule, and misunderstanding it is the source of the most common tax myth in the country — that earning more can leave you with less.
The short version
- There are seven rates in 2026: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%.
- The rate that applies to your last dollar is your marginal rate. It is not applied to all your income.
- Your effective rate — total tax divided by total income — is always lower than your marginal rate.
- Taxable income is gross income minus deductions. For most wage earners that means the standard deduction.
2026 brackets by filing status
The thresholds below apply to taxable income — that is, after the standard deduction has been subtracted. They are the figures published by the IRS for the 2026 tax year.
| Rate | Single | Married filing jointly | Head of household |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $12,400 | $0 – $24,800 | $0 – $17,700 |
| 12% | $12,400 – $50,400 | $24,800 – $100,800 | $17,700 – $67,450 |
| 22% | $50,400 – $105,700 | $100,800 – $211,400 | $67,450 – $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,700 – $201,775 | $211,400 – $403,550 | $105,700 – $201,750 |
| 32% | $201,775 – $256,225 | $403,550 – $512,450 | $201,750 – $256,200 |
| 35% | $256,225 – $640,600 | $512,450 – $768,700 | $256,200 – $640,600 |
| 37% | Over $640,600 | Over $768,700 | Over $640,600 |
Married filing separately uses the same thresholds as single for the lower brackets, but the 35% band ends at $384,350 rather than $640,600.
2026 standard deduction
The standard deduction is subtracted before any bracket applies. It is the reason a $50,000 salary is never taxed as $50,000 of taxable income.
| Filing status | Standard deduction |
|---|---|
| Single | $16,100 |
| Married filing jointly | $32,200 |
| Married filing separately | $16,100 |
| Head of household | $24,150 |
Taxpayers who are 65 or older or blind may claim an additional amount on top of the standard deduction — $1,650 for married filers, $2,050 for unmarried filers, doubled if both conditions apply. Separately, a temporary deduction of up to $6,000 per qualifying individual age 65 or older applies for tax years 2025 through 2028, phasing out above $75,000 of modified adjusted gross income for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers.
Worked example: $75,000 single filer
Take a single taxpayer earning $75,000 with no pre-tax retirement contributions.
- Taxable income: $75,000 − $16,100 = $58,900
- 10% band: $12,400 × 10% = $1,240
- 12% band: ($50,400 − $12,400) = $38,000 × 12% = $4,560
- 22% band: ($58,900 − $50,400) = $8,500 × 22% = $1,870
- Total federal income tax: $7,670
The marginal rate is 22%, because the last dollar of taxable income falls in that band. The effective federal rate is $7,670 ÷ $75,000 = 10.2%. The gap between those two numbers — nearly twelve percentage points — is why a single "tax bracket" headline is misleading.
Payroll taxes are separate and not part of the bracket calculation: 6.2% for Social Security up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500, plus 1.45% for Medicare on all wages. A pre-tax 401(k) contribution reduces income tax but does not reduce Social Security or Medicare.
Why a raise cannot lower your take-home pay
Because brackets are marginal, crossing a threshold only changes the rate applied to the dollars above that threshold. Moving from $105,000 to $106,000 of taxable income does not tax the first $105,700 at 24% — it taxes only the additional amount at the rate for its band.
The genuine edge cases sit elsewhere: income-tested benefit phase-outs, credit cliffs, and the additional Medicare tax. Those create effective marginal rates above the published bracket, but they are provisions of their own rather than a failure of the bracket schedule.
What changed for 2026
The individual rate structure created in 2017 was made permanent by legislation enacted in 2025, so the seven-bracket schedule is no longer scheduled to expire. Thresholds and the standard deduction were adjusted upward for inflation. The 2026 tax year also introduced deductions for qualified tips and qualified overtime compensation, plus the senior deduction described above; these are claimed through an updated Form W-4 rather than folded into the brackets.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 37% bracket applied to all my income?
No. Only taxable income above $640,600 (single) or $768,700 (married filing jointly) is taxed at 37%. Every dollar below those thresholds is taxed at the lower rate for its band.
Does the standard deduction reduce Social Security tax?
No. The standard deduction reduces income tax only. Social Security and Medicare are calculated on gross wages, subject to the annual wage base for Social Security.
Should I itemize instead?
Only if your eligible itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction for your filing status. For most wage earners without a mortgage or large charitable contributions, the standard deduction is larger. Itemized deductions are also subject to a limitation at very high income levels.
How do state brackets interact with federal ones?
They are calculated independently. Most states start from federal adjusted gross income or federal taxable income, then apply their own schedule, so a state can tax income that the federal standard deduction already shielded. Nine states impose no tax on wage income at all.
Sources
- IRS, Working Families Tax Cuts — 2026 inflation adjustments
- IRS Publication 15 (2026), Circular E
- IRS Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax (2026)
- Congressional Research Service RL34498 — Federal Individual Income Tax Brackets, 1988 to 2026
- Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base
Educational information only. This is not tax, legal or financial advice. Confirm your situation with a qualified tax professional.