2026 Tax Brackets for Every Filing Status

2026 tax brackets at a glance

The IRS sets federal income tax brackets each year and adjusts them for inflation. The newest official brackets are for tax year 2026. They apply to income you earn in 2026 and to the return you file in early 2027. The IRS published them on Oct. 9, 2025, in Revenue Procedure 2025-32.

There are seven rates: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%. What changes by filing status is where each rate starts.

Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, Section 4.01. Amounts are taxable income. Surviving spouses use the married filing jointly column.

Are the 2027 tax brackets out?

Not yet. As of Oct 31, 2026, the IRS had not released its inflation adjustments for tax year 2027. Its newsroom listed no such release through Oct. 29, 2026.

The IRS publishes each year’s figures in a revenue procedure; the 2026 figures came out on Oct. 9, 2025. When the 2027 brackets are published, they will apply to income earned in 2027 and to returns filed in 2028. We will add them to this page then and will not guess at them before that.

For now, here is how the years line up:

Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32; IRS newsroom, checked Oct 31, 2026.

How tax brackets work

Brackets are applied in layers. Each rate only applies to the slice of taxable income inside its bracket. Moving into a higher bracket does not raise the tax on the income below it.

The IRS tables show this with a base amount for each bracket. Here is the single filer table, copied from Rev. Proc. 2025-32:

Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, Section 4.01.

The base amount is simply the full tax on all the brackets below. For example, $5,800 is the tax on the first $50,400 of a single filer’s taxable income.

The joint table uses these base amounts: $2,480 at $24,800, $11,600 at $100,800, $35,932 at $211,400, $82,048 at $403,550, $116,896 at $512,450 and $206,583.50 at $768,700. The head of household table uses $1,770 at $17,700, $7,740 at $67,450, $16,155 at $105,700, $39,207 at $201,750, $56,631 at $256,200 and $191,171 at $640,600.

Taxable income, not total pay

Brackets apply to taxable income, which is your income minus deductions. Most people take the standard deduction. For 2026, it is $16,100 for single filers and married people filing separately, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly and $24,150 for heads of household, per the IRS.

So a single person who earns $50,000 in 2026 and takes the standard deduction has $33,900 of taxable income (our calculation). That is well inside the 12% bracket, even though $50,000 sounds close to the 22% line.

Example: marginal vs effective tax rate

This is an illustration using the IRS 2026 tables, not a tax calculation for any real person. It ignores credits, other deductions and other taxes such as Social Security and Medicare.

Example 1: single filer earning $75,000 in 2026

Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32. All math is our calculation.

You get the same total with the IRS shortcut: $5,800 plus 22% of $8,500 equals $7,670 (our calculation).

The key point: this person is “in the 22% bracket,” but only $8,500 of their income is taxed at 22%. Their overall federal income tax is about 10.2% of what they earned.

Example 2: married couple filing jointly, earning $120,000 in 2026

Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32. All math is our calculation.

This couple earns $45,000 more than the single filer in Example 1, but stays in the 12% bracket because the joint brackets and standard deduction are twice as wide at the low end.

What a raise really costs you

Because only the income above a bracket line gets the higher rate, a raise never lowers your take-home pay from federal income tax alone. If the single filer in Example 1 got a $1,000 raise, the extra $1,000 would be taxed at 22%, or $220 (our calculation). They would keep $780 of it before payroll and state taxes. Our take-home pay calculator shows the full picture with payroll taxes.

What else changed for 2026

The same IRS release covered other inflation-adjusted items for 2026. A few that affect many households:

• Standard deduction: $16,100 single or married filing separately, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household.
• Earned income credit: up to $8,231 for taxpayers with three or more qualifying children, up from $8,046 for 2025.
• Alternative minimum tax exemption: $90,100 for unmarried people and $140,200 for married couples filing jointly.
• Health FSA: the salary reduction limit is $3,400.
• Gift tax annual exclusion: $19,000.
• Personal exemption: still $0.

Source: IRS IR-2025-103, Oct. 9, 2025.

Using the brackets in your budget

Knowing your marginal rate helps with everyday choices:

1. Check your withholding. Compare the tax you estimate with the federal tax withheld on your pay stubs. A big gap either way means a large refund or a bill in 2027.
2. Value a pre-tax contribution. Money you put in a traditional 401(k) or health FSA comes off the top of your taxable income, so it saves tax at your marginal rate.
3. Plan for a raise or side income. Extra income is taxed at your top rate, not your average rate. Set that slice aside so you are not short at filing time.
4. Keep perspective. Your effective rate is the better number for your monthly 50/30/20 budget, because it shows what share of your pay actually goes to federal income tax.
5. Watch for 2027. Bracket lines usually rise with inflation each year, so the same income can land a little lower in the table. Our inflation calculator shows how prices have moved.

This page is general information about IRS tax tables, not tax advice. Your actual tax depends on credits, other deductions, state taxes and your full situation. A tax professional or the IRS instructions for your return can help with specifics.

See how we check every number on our method page, or browse more budgeting guides.