Federal marginal tax brackets are the seven rates the IRS applies to ordinary income: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. Each rate applies only to the portion of your taxable income that falls inside its dollar range, not to every dollar you earn. For tax year 2026, a single filer pays 10% on the first $12,400 of taxable income, and the top 37% rate applies only above $640,600.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
How the Layered Rates Work
Picture your taxable income flowing into a stack of containers. The first fills at 10%. When it’s full, the next dollar spills into a container taxed at 12%, then 22%, and so on through the seven rates. Money already sitting in a lower container stays taxed at that lower rate no matter how much later income arrives.
That’s why a raise never actually leaves you worse off. Crossing into a higher bracket only affects the dollars above the new threshold. Every dollar below it keeps its old rate. A single filer whose taxable income moves from $50,000 to $55,000 pays 22% only on the last $4,600 of that increase, not on the entire $55,000.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
The seven rates themselves are set by federal statute.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1 – Tax Imposed The dollar ranges attached to each rate shift every year with inflation, so the thresholds you use for 2026 are different from the ones you used a few years ago.
2026 Federal Tax Brackets
The tables below cover the three filing statuses most people use. All figures come from the IRS’s 2026 inflation adjustments.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
Single Filers
- 10%: $0 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%: $640,601 and above
Married Filing Jointly
- 10%: $0 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%: $768,701 and above
Head of Household
- 10%: $0 to $17,700
- 12%: $17,701 to $67,450
- 22%: $67,451 to $105,700
- 24%: $105,701 to $201,775
- 32%: $201,776 to $256,200
- 35%: $256,201 to $640,600
- 37%: $640,601 and above
How Filing Status Reshapes Your Brackets
Filing status changes every dollar threshold in the table. The Married Filing Jointly brackets are roughly double the single-filer brackets at most levels, which keeps a married couple from paying more than two singles earning the same amounts. Head of Household brackets sit between the two, giving some relief to unmarried taxpayers who pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home for a qualifying dependent.3Internal Revenue Service. Filing Status
The IRS recognizes five statuses in total: Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, Head of Household, and Qualifying Surviving Spouse. Married Filing Separately uses its own bracket schedule that generally produces a higher combined bill than filing jointly, though it occasionally lowers a couple’s total. Your status is determined by your situation on December 31 of the tax year.3Internal Revenue Service. Filing Status
Brackets Apply to Taxable Income, Not Your Paycheck
Running your gross salary through the bracket table is the most common mistake, and it always overstates what you actually owe. The brackets apply to taxable income, which sits well below your gross pay for most people.
Certain expenses come off your gross income first to produce your adjusted gross income (AGI). Traditional IRA contributions, student loan interest, health savings account deposits, and half of self-employment tax are among the adjustments allowed.4Internal Revenue Service. Credits and Deductions for Individuals
From AGI, you subtract either the standard deduction or your itemized deductions, whichever is larger. The 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and Married Filing Separately, $32,200 for Married Filing Jointly, and $24,150 for Head of Household.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 Personal exemptions remain at $0 for 2026 after being permanently eliminated.
A single filer with $91,100 in gross wages who takes the standard deduction ends up with $75,000 in taxable income. That $75,000 is the number to run through the brackets.
Working Through the Math
Using that same $75,000 in taxable income for a single filer in 2026:
- First $12,400 taxed at 10% = $1,240
- Next $38,000 (from $12,401 to $50,400) taxed at 12% = $4,560
- Remaining $24,600 (from $50,401 to $75,000) taxed at 22% = $5,412
The total before credits comes to $11,212. Only the top $24,600 sees the 22% rate. The first $50,400 never leaves the 10% and 12% brackets. Any tax credits you qualify for, such as the child tax credit or earned income credit, come off that $11,212 figure afterward.
Marginal Rate vs. Effective Rate
Your marginal rate is the percentage charged on your last dollar of taxable income. In the example above, that’s 22%. Your effective rate is the percentage of your total taxable income that actually goes to federal tax. Divide $11,212 by $75,000, and the effective rate is roughly 14.9%.
The gap between those two numbers is why the fear of “moving into a higher bracket” is usually overblown. Someone who says they’re in the 22% bracket is describing their marginal rate; the share of their income actually paid in federal tax is much lower. Both numbers are useful. The marginal rate tells you how much of your next dollar goes to tax, which matters for decisions about extra work, a Roth conversion, or a bonus. The effective rate tells you what your overall federal tax burden looks like.
What the Brackets Don’t Cover
The seven bracket rates apply to ordinary income: wages, salaries, business profits, interest, and short-term capital gains. Several other pieces of the federal tax system run on separate rules, and they can change your total bill in ways the brackets alone don’t capture.
Long-term capital gains, on assets held longer than one year, use their own three-rate schedule of 0%, 15%, and 20% tied to taxable income thresholds rather than the ordinary brackets.5Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses Short-term gains flow through the ordinary rates.
Self-employment income carries an extra 15.3% self-employment tax on top of income tax, covering the employer and employee shares of Social Security (12.4%) and Medicare (2.9%). The Social Security portion applies to the first $184,500 of net self-employment income in 2026; the Medicare portion has no cap.6Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
A 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax applies to investment income once modified AGI passes $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for joint filers.7Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 559, Net Investment Income Tax An Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9% applies to wages and self-employment income above the same thresholds.8Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers for the Additional Medicare Tax
State income tax is a separate matter entirely. Most states charge their own tax on top of the federal bill, using either flat or graduated rates, and eight charge none at all. Your combined federal and state effective rate depends on where you live.