Brackets · calculator
Head of household tax brackets for 2026
A status for unmarried people who keep up a home for a child or relative, with wider low brackets than single.
Find your federal tax bracket
2026 marginal bracket, head of household
12%
Federal income tax $3,348 on $30,850 of taxable income
- Standard deduction subtracted$24,150
- 10% on $17,700$1,770
- 12% on $13,150$1,578
- Average rate on taxable income10.9%
- Average rate on total income6.1%
- Room before the 22% bracket$36,600
Rate schedule of the IRS revenue procedure. Credits, the Schedule 1-A deductions and capital gains rates are not applied here.
Head of household is the filing status of an unmarried taxpayer who pays more than half the cost of keeping up a home where a qualifying person, usually a child, lived for more than half the year. In 2026 it taxes 10% of taxable income up to $17,700, 12% up to $67,450, 22% up to $105,700, 24% up to $201,750, 32% up to $256,200, 35% up to $640,600 and 37% above (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), and the standard deduction is $24,150 against $16,100 for a single filer. The gain is concentrated at low and middle incomes, where the wider 10% and 12% bands and the larger deduction apply: a parent earning $55,000 owes $3,348 as head of household instead of $4,420 as single, $1,072 less, before the child tax credit. Above $105,700 of taxable income the thresholds join the single ones. Heads of household use the single thresholds for the tips, overtime and senior deductions.
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Head of household against single, income by income
| Income | Single | Head of household | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25,000 | $890 | $85 | $805 |
| $40,000 | $2,620 | $1,585 | $1,035 |
| $55,000 | $4,420 | $3,348 | $1,072 |
| $70,000 | $6,570 | $5,148 | $1,422 |
| $90,000 | $10,970 | $7,548 | $3,422 |
| $130,000 | $19,934 | $16,191 | $3,743 |
| $250,000 | $51,304 | $46,919 | $4,385 |
The saving levels off once income passes the 22% bracket: from $105,700 of taxable income upward, the head of household thresholds are within a few dollars of the single ones ($201,750 against $201,775 for the end of the 24% band), and only the $8,050 of extra standard deduction remains.
The cost of keeping up a home
The IRS counts rent or mortgage interest, property taxes, home insurance, repairs, utilities and food eaten in the home. Clothing, education, medical care, vacations and transportation do not count. Public assistance received for the household counts as paid by someone else. Keeping receipts for these costs matters, because head of household is one of the statuses the IRS checks most often, and a paid preparer has a due diligence duty for it with a penalty of $665 per failure on returns filed in 2027 under Rev. Proc. 2025-32.
A qualifying person, defined
A qualifying child (son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, sibling or a descendant of one) who lived with you more than half the year and is under 19, under 24 and a full-time student, or permanently disabled, qualifies. So does a qualifying relative you can claim as a dependent who lived with you all year, except that a parent can live elsewhere. A friend or partner who is not a relative never makes you head of household, even if you support them.
Other figures tied to the status
A head of household uses the single thresholds for the tips, overtime and senior deductions, the Roth IRA range of $153,000 to $168,000, and its own 0% capital gains band, up to $66,200 of taxable income. The additional standard deduction at 65 is $2,050.
Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 inflation-adjusted items and 2025 items modified by Public Law 119-21 (October 9, 2025), read on October 11, 2026.