2026 tax brackets: single filers
Use this table if you are unmarried (or legally separated) as of December 31, 2026 and do not qualify for head of household status. Remember that the income column means taxable income: your gross pay minus deductions, not your salary.
| Tax rate | Taxable income over | Up to |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 | $12,400 |
| 12% | $12,400 | $50,400 |
| 22% | $50,400 | $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,700 | $201,775 |
| 32% | $201,775 | $256,225 |
| 35% | $256,225 | $640,600 |
| 37% | $640,600 | No limit |
Married filing jointly
Joint brackets are wider than single brackets, exactly double at every threshold in 2026. This is why marriage often lowers a couple’s combined tax when one spouse earns much more than the other: the higher earner’s income spreads across bracket space the lower earner was not using.
| Tax rate | Taxable income over | Up to |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 | $24,800 |
| 12% | $24,800 | $100,800 |
| 22% | $100,800 | $211,400 |
| 24% | $211,400 | $403,550 |
| 32% | $403,550 | $512,450 |
| 35% | $512,450 | $768,700 |
| 37% | $768,700 | No limit |
Head of household
Head of household status is for unmarried filers who pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home for a qualifying dependent. Its brackets sit between single and married filing jointly, and its standard deduction is higher than a single filer’s, so claiming it when you qualify is worth real money.
| Tax rate | Taxable income over | Up to |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 | $17,700 |
| 12% | $17,700 | $67,450 |
| 22% | $67,450 | $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,700 | $201,775 |
| 32% | $201,775 | $256,200 |
| 35% | $256,200 | $640,600 |
| 37% | $640,600 | No limit |
Married filing separately
Couples who file separately each use thresholds that are exactly half of the joint thresholds. Filing separately occasionally helps (income-driven student loan payments, large medical deductions for one spouse), but for most couples it costs more: several credits shrink or disappear on separate returns.
| Tax rate | Taxable income over | Up to |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 | $12,400 |
| 12% | $12,400 | $50,400 |
| 22% | $50,400 | $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,700 | $201,775 |
| 32% | $201,775 | $256,225 |
| 35% | $256,225 | $384,350 |
| 37% | $384,350 | No limit |
How tax brackets actually work
The single most expensive misconception in personal finance: moving into a higher bracket does not raise the tax on all of your income. Federal tax is marginal. Each rate applies only to the slice of taxable income that falls inside that bracket. A raise can never leave you with less after-tax income because of brackets alone.
Here is the full math for a single filer earning $75,000 in 2026, taking the standard deduction of $16,100. Taxable income comes to $58,900, and the tax builds slice by slice:
| Bracket | Income taxed in it | Tax |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $12,400 | $1,240 |
| 12% | $38,000 | $4,560 |
| 22% | $8,500 | $1,870 |
Total federal income tax: $7,670. That is an effective rate of 10.2% on the $75,000 salary, even though this filer’s "tax bracket" is 22%. The marginal rate answers "what does my next dollar earn me after tax"; the effective rate answers "what did I actually pay". You can see this same slice-by-slice breakdown for your own income in our tax bracket calculator.
The 2026 standard deduction
Before any bracket applies, the standard deduction comes off the top of your income. Roughly nine in ten filers take it instead of itemizing.
| Filing status | Standard deduction |
|---|---|
| Single | $16,100 |
| Married filing jointly | $32,200 |
| Head of household | $24,150 |
| Married filing separately | $16,100 |
A practical consequence: a single filer’s first $16,100 of income is federally tax-free before the 10% bracket even starts. When you estimate your refund with our tax refund estimator, this deduction is already built in.
How to lower your taxable income
Because brackets apply to taxable income, anything that reduces taxable income saves tax at your marginal rate first, the highest rate you pay. In 2026 the biggest levers for most people are:
- Traditional 401(k) contributions: up to $24,500 of salary deferral in 2026 comes out before federal tax. Model the paycheck impact with the 401(k) calculator.
- HSA contributions: up to $4,400 for self-only coverage or $8,750 for family coverage, and unlike a 401(k), HSA money also avoids FICA when contributed through payroll.
- Traditional IRA contributions, if you are eligible to deduct them given your income and workplace-plan coverage.
- For the self-employed: retirement-plan contributions and the deductible half of self-employment tax.
Someone in the 22% bracket saves 22% on every dollar deferred, so a $5,000 401(k) contribution costs far less in take-home pay than it adds to savings. See the exact effect on your paycheck with the take-home pay calculator.
FICA: the other federal tax on your paycheck
Income tax brackets are only part of what leaves your paycheck. FICA runs alongside them in 2026: Social Security at 6.2% on wages up to $184,500, and Medicare at 1.45% on all wages, plus an extra 0.9% above $200,000 for single filers ($250,000 joint).
FICA is flat, not bracketed, and it applies from the first dollar with no standard deduction. For lower incomes it is often bigger than the income tax itself. Our paycheck calculator stacks both together so you can see the real deduction line by line.