Federal income tax brackets, 2026.
Seven brackets, four filing statuses, and one widely-misunderstood thing: your bracket isn’t the rate you pay on all of your income. Here are the actual 2026 numbers, where they came from, and how the math works — with three worked examples.
The 2026 federal income tax brackets, by filing status.
The IRS adjusts brackets each year for inflation. For 2026, the OBBBA made the seven-bracket TCJA structure permanent and gave the bottom two brackets an extra inflation bump (4% instead of 2.3%) — a small structural change worth knowing about if you’re near the 10/12 boundary.
| Rate | Taxable income |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $12,400 |
| 12% | $12,401 – $50,400 |
| 22% | $50,401 – $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,701 – $201,775 |
| 32% | $201,776 – $256,225 |
| 35% | $256,226 – $640,600 |
| 37% | $640,601+ |
| Rate | Taxable income |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $24,800 |
| 12% | $24,801 – $100,800 |
| 22% | $100,801 – $211,400 |
| 24% | $211,401 – $403,550 |
| 32% | $403,551 – $512,450 |
| 35% | $512,451 – $768,700 |
| 37% | $768,701+ |
| Rate | Taxable income |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $17,700 |
| 12% | $17,701 – $67,450 |
| 22% | $67,451 – $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,701 – $201,775 |
| 32% | $201,776 – $256,200 |
| 35% | $256,201 – $640,600 |
| 37% | $640,601+ |
| Rate | Taxable income |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $12,400 |
| 12% | $12,401 – $50,400 |
| 22% | $50,401 – $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,701 – $201,775 |
| 32% | $201,776 – $256,225 |
| 35% | $256,226 – $384,350 |
| 37% | $384,351+ |
A few quick notes on reading the table: taxable income is what’s left after your standard deduction (or itemized) and above-the-line deductions like the new OBBBA tips/overtime/senior deductions. It’s not your gross salary. For most filers, taxable income is meaningfully lower than gross income — sometimes by $30,000 or more.
Your bracket isn’t the rate you pay on everything.
“I just got a raise that pushed me into the 22% bracket — so now all my income gets taxed at 22% and I’d actually take home less.”
This is one of the most persistent personal-finance myths in the United States. It is not how the tax code works — and the math we’re about to walk through proves it.
The bracket rate only applies to the dollars within that bracket’s range. When a raise pushes you into a higher bracket, only the new dollars get taxed at the new rate. Everything below stays at its original rate. It is mathematically impossible for a raise to leave you with less take-home pay because of brackets.
This is called a progressive marginal-rate system. The rate on your last dollar of income (your “marginal rate”) is higher than the rate on your first dollar. The blended rate across all your income (your “effective rate”) sits well below your marginal rate.
To see why, let’s walk through the math with a real example — a single filer earning $85,000 in taxable income for tax year 2026.
The first $12,400 is taxed at 10%. The next $38,000 at 12%. The next $34,600 at 22%. Done — nothing reaches higher brackets. Here’s the visual:
| Bracket | Income in band | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $12,400 | 10% | $1,240.00 |
| 12% | $12,401 – $50,400 | 12% | $4,560.00 |
| 22% | $50,401 – $85,000 | 22% | $7,612.00 |
| Total federal tax | on $85,000 taxable income | $13,412.00 | |
The marginal rate is what matters for “should I take more income?” decisions — bonuses, side hustles, Roth conversions, RSU vesting. The effective rate is what matters for “what’s my real tax burden as a share of income?” comparisons.
Both are useful. They’re just used for different questions. Confusing them is the source of bad financial decisions (“I shouldn’t take the bonus, it’ll push me into a higher bracket”). It won’t. The bracket only applies to the dollars within it.
How the brackets play out at different income levels.
Same math, different starting points. All three of these assume the figures shown are taxable income — after the standard deduction and any above-the-line adjustments. Single-filer brackets used for all three.
Notice the pattern: even Sam — whose marginal rate is 35% — pays an effective rate of only 24.59% on the full $300K. That’s the progressive-rate structure doing its job. The 35% rate only hits the last $43,775 of Sam’s income, not all of it.
The federal-only effective rate is also not your total tax burden. FICA (Social Security and Medicare) adds 7.65% on wage income up to the Social Security wage base, with an additional 0.9% Medicare surcharge above $200K single / $250K MFJ. The FICA & Additional Medicare guide walks through the layering.
2025 vs 2026 — side by side.
For a single filer, here’s exactly what shifted. The bracket structure stayed the same; the dollar thresholds rose with inflation. The bottom two brackets got a slightly larger inflation adjustment under the OBBBA — about 4% vs 2.3% for the higher brackets.
| Rate | 2025 single | 2026 single |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $11,925 | $0 – $12,400 +4.0% |
| 12% | $11,926 – $48,475 | $12,401 – $50,400 +4.0% |
| 22% | $48,476 – $103,350 | $50,401 – $105,700 +2.3% |
| 24% | $103,351 – $197,300 | $105,701 – $201,775 +2.3% |
| 32% | $197,301 – $250,525 | $201,776 – $256,225 +2.3% |
| 35% | $250,526 – $626,350 | $256,226 – $640,600 +2.3% |
| 37% | $626,351+ | $640,601+ +2.3% |
The practical effect: at the same nominal income, you owe slightly less tax in 2026 than in 2025 — because more of your income falls into lower brackets. This is intentional. Inflation-indexing the brackets prevents what tax economists call “bracket creep” — getting pushed into a higher rate purely because wages rose with inflation but the brackets didn’t.
The OBBBA-extra adjustment on the bottom two brackets (4% instead of 2.3%) was specifically aimed at lower- and middle-income filers. The extra few percentage points of room in the 10% and 12% brackets means a $50K earner pays slightly less in 2026 than a 2.3% adjustment would have produced. For higher earners, the effect is the same as the standard inflation adjustment.
Five things people get wrong about tax brackets.
“My whole income gets taxed at my bracket’s rate.”
Already covered above. Bracket rates apply only to dollars within that bracket. The rate on your first dollar is 10%; your last dollar may be at a higher rate. The blended effective rate sits well below your top bracket.
“A raise can push me into a bracket where I make less money.”
Mathematically impossible at the federal-bracket level. A raise of $10,000 that crosses you into a 24% bracket adds (at most) 24% × $10,000 = $2,400 in extra tax. You’re always at least $7,600 better off. The only way a raise lowers take-home is if it phases you out of a means-tested credit (EITC, premium subsidies, etc.) — that’s a different mechanism, not brackets.
“State tax brackets work the same as federal.”
Sometimes, but not always. Seven states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah) use a flat rate — every dollar at the same rate. Nine states (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming) have no state income tax. Among states with progressive brackets, the bands and rates vary wildly. See state tax brackets by state.
“Capital gains use the same brackets.”
No. Long-term capital gains (assets held more than one year) get their own 0% / 15% / 20% brackets — far lower than ordinary income rates at the same income level. Short-term capital gains (held one year or less) do use the ordinary income brackets above. The full breakdown is in capital gains brackets.
“Bracket creep means I’m being taxed more for inflation.”
Not anymore, at the federal level. The IRS has indexed brackets to inflation (originally CPI, now C-CPI since TCJA) since the 1980s. Bracket creep was a real thing in the 1970s, before indexing — but for tax year 2026, the brackets have already moved with inflation. You can still see “bracket creep” effects on state taxes in states that don’t index, and on means-tested credits where the phase-out thresholds don’t move with inflation.
Other things brackets touch.
Tax brackets are one input to the overall tax calculation. These six subtopics cover the rest of the calculation — and how brackets interact with other parts of the code.