Federal Income Tax Brackets: Marginal vs. Effective Rates

The 2026 federal income tax brackets keep the same seven rates as prior years — 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37% — with the dollar thresholds adjusted upward for inflation under Revenue Procedure 2025-32.¹ Each rate applies only to the slice of taxable income that falls inside its bracket, not to your whole income. A single filer with $60,000 of taxable income pays 10% on the first $12,400, 12% on the next slice, and 22% only on what spills above $50,400. Congress preserved these rates through the One, Big, Beautiful Bill and directed the IRS to apply the updated inflation adjustments for tax year 2026.²

Brackets by Filing Status for 2026

Find your filing status below and match your taxable income to the row it lands in. That row is your top, or marginal, rate. The tax you actually owe is calculated slice by slice through every lower bracket first.

Single Filers

10%: up to $12,400
12%: $12,401 to $50,400
22%: $50,401 to $105,700
24%: $105,701 to $201,775
32%: $201,776 to $256,225
35%: $256,226 to $640,600
37%: over $640,600

Married Filing Jointly

10%: up to $24,800
12%: $24,801 to $100,800
22%: $100,801 to $211,400
24%: $211,401 to $403,550
32%: $403,551 to $512,450
35%: $512,451 to $768,700
37%: over $768,700

The joint brackets are generally double the single-filer amounts through the lower tiers, which keeps a married couple from owing more than two single people earning the same combined income.²

Head of Household

10%: up to $17,700
12%: $17,701 to $67,450
22%: $67,451 to $105,700
24%: $105,701 to $201,750
32%: $201,751 to $256,200
35%: $256,201 to $640,600
37%: over $640,600

Head of household status is available to unmarried taxpayers who pay more than half the cost of maintaining a home for a qualifying dependent. Compared with single-filer brackets, the wider 10% and 12% tiers translate into real savings.¹

Married Filing Separately

10%: up to $12,400
12%: $12,401 to $50,400
22%: $50,401 to $105,700
24%: $105,701 to $201,775
32%: $201,776 to $256,225
35%: $256,226 to $384,350
37%: over $384,350

Filing separately mirrors the single-filer brackets through the 32% tier but hits the 37% rate at $384,350 rather than $640,600. Couples sometimes file separately for strategic reasons, such as qualifying for income-driven student loan repayments, though the tradeoff is losing access to several credits and deductions.¹

How the Bracket Math Actually Works

The brackets are stacked, not a switch. Earning a dollar that crosses into a higher bracket never re-taxes the dollars below it. Only the dollars above the threshold get the higher rate. Congress sets this structure under 26 U.S.C. § 1, which divides taxable income into progressively taxed layers.³

The annual adjustment to bracket widths keeps inflation from quietly pushing you into a higher rate while your real income stays flat. That phenomenon is called bracket creep, and the yearly indexing is the main defense against it.

Finding the Taxable Income the Brackets Apply To

The bracket thresholds apply to taxable income, not to your paycheck or gross earnings. Reaching that number takes two steps.

Start with gross income — wages, interest, bonuses, business profits, capital gains, and most other money that came in during the year. Subtract certain adjustments the tax code allows, such as student loan interest and health savings account contributions.⁴ The result is your adjusted gross income, or AGI.

From AGI, subtract either the standard deduction or your itemized deductions, whichever is larger.⁵ The 2026 standard deduction is:

$16,100 for single filers
$32,200 for married couples filing jointly
$16,100 for married filing separately
$24,150 for head of household²

Whatever remains is the number you run through the bracket tables. Most taxpayers take the standard deduction because the 2017 law roughly doubled it, making it hard to beat with individual expenses like charitable donations and mortgage interest.

Marginal Rate vs. Effective Rate

Two numbers describe your tax, and mixing them up is the most common source of confusion about brackets. Your marginal rate is the percentage charged on your last dollar of income. Your effective rate is the average across all your income. The effective rate is always lower, usually significantly so.

Consider a single filer with $60,000 of taxable income in 2026. The marginal rate is 22% because the final dollars land in the 22% bracket. The actual math:

First $12,400 at 10%: $1,240
Next $38,000 at 12%: $4,560 (covering $12,401 to $50,400)
Remaining $9,600 at 22%: $2,112 (covering $50,401 to $60,000)

Total federal tax: $7,912. Divided by $60,000, the effective rate is about 13.2%, well under the 22% marginal label. Every taxpayer benefits from the lower rates on initial earnings before higher rates apply to the top slice.

The distinction matters when you decide whether to take on extra income, such as overtime or freelance work. New earnings are taxed at your marginal rate, but they never reach back and raise the tax on income you already earned.

Rates That Sit Outside the Ordinary Brackets

The seven-rate schedule above applies to ordinary income. A few categories are taxed on their own tracks, and a couple of surtaxes sit on top of the brackets for higher earners.

Long-Term Capital Gains

Profits from selling investments held longer than one year are taxed under a separate schedule with just three rates: 0%, 15%, and 20%. For 2026, single filers with taxable income up to roughly $49,450 pay 0% on long-term gains, and the 20% rate does not apply until income exceeds about $545,500. Joint filers reach the 20% rate at approximately $613,700. Short-term gains, on assets held a year or less, get no special treatment and are taxed at your ordinary marginal rate.

Additional Medicare Tax

An extra 0.9% applies to wages and self-employment income above $200,000 for most filers, or above $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.⁶ Your employer starts withholding it once your wages at a single job cross $200,000, regardless of filing status.

Net Investment Income Tax

A 3.8% charge applies to the lesser of your net investment income or the amount by which your modified AGI exceeds the same $200,000 and $250,000 thresholds.⁷ Investment income here includes interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income, and royalties. Neither threshold is indexed for inflation, so they have stayed unchanged since 2013 and pull in more taxpayers each year.

State Income Taxes Are Separate

The federal brackets are only part of what you owe. Most states impose their own income tax, with top marginal rates ranging from about 2.5% to over 13% among states that levy one. Eight states have no individual income tax at all. State brackets, deductions, and credits vary widely, so your combined federal-and-state effective rate depends heavily on where you live. Some states use a flat rate, while others mirror the federal progressive structure with their own thresholds.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32
2
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1 – Tax Imposed
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 62 – Adjusted Gross Income Defined
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 63 – Taxable Income Defined
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 560, Additional Medicare Tax
7
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 559, Net Investment Income Tax