Brackets · explained
Marginal tax rate and effective tax rate, explained with 2026 numbers
Your bracket tells you what the next dollar costs; your effective rate tells you what the whole year cost.
Find your federal tax bracket
2026 marginal bracket, single
22%
Federal income tax $7,010 on $55,900 of taxable income
| Standard deduction subtracted | $16,100 |
| 10% on $12,400 | $1,240 |
| 12% on $38,000 | $4,560 |
| 22% on $5,500 | $1,210 |
| Average rate on taxable income | 12.5% |
| Average rate on total income | 9.7% |
| Room before the 24% bracket | $49,800 |
Rate schedule of the IRS revenue procedure. Credits, the Schedule 1-A deductions and capital gains rates are not applied here.
Your marginal tax rate is the rate of the highest bracket your taxable income reaches: the tax on your next dollar. Your effective tax rate is your total federal income tax divided by your income: the share you actually pay. They differ because the brackets fill one after the other. In 2026 a single nurse earning $72,000 subtracts the $16,100 standard deduction, has $55,900 of taxable income and lands in the 22% bracket, yet her federal income tax is $7,010, an effective rate of 9.7% of AGI. The first $12,400 of her taxable income was taxed at 10%, the next slice at 12%, and only the part above $50,400 at 22%. Credits pull the effective rate down further: a married couple with $110,000 of wages and two children is in the 12% bracket but pays 4.0% of AGI after the child tax credit. Moving into a higher bracket never lowers your take-home pay; only the dollars above the threshold pay the higher rate.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
How the brackets fill, slice by slice
Picture taxable income as a column of water filling a set of stacked jars. The first jar holds $12,400 for a single filer and is taxed at 10%. Once it is full, the next dollars pour into the 12% jar, which holds up to $50,400 in total, then the 22% jar, and so on. The rate printed on a jar applies only to the water inside it. That is why "I am in the 22% bracket" never means "I pay 22% of my income".
| Slice of taxable income | Rate | Amount taxed | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 to $12,400 | 10% | $12,400 | $1,240 |
| $12,400 to $50,400 | 12% | $38,000 | $4,560 |
| $50,400 to $105,700 | 22% | $5,500 | $1,210 |
The three rows add up to $7,010. Divided by taxable income, that is an average of 12.5%; divided by the $72,000 salary, 9.7%. Both are far below the 22% marginal rate.
Three rates people confuse
Marginal rate: the rate on the next dollar of taxable income. It is the number that matters for decisions at the edge, such as an extra shift, a 401(k) deferral, a Roth conversion or a deduction. A deduction is worth its amount times the marginal rate.
Average rate on taxable income: tax divided by taxable income, the measure the bracket calculator shows. It rises smoothly with income and never reaches the top marginal rate.
Effective rate: tax after credits divided by AGI or by total income. It includes the effect of the standard deduction, of the Schedule 1-A deductions and of credits such as the child tax credit. Families with children often have effective rates near zero at incomes where their marginal rate is 12%.
Estimate your federal refund
Estimated refund
$1,420
Taxable income $41,900 · marginal bracket 12% · effective rate 8.2%
| Adjusted gross income | $58,000 |
| Standard deduction | $16,100 |
| Schedule 1-A deductions (tips, overtime, seniors) | $0 |
| Tax before credits | $4,780 |
| Child tax credit used against tax | $0 |
| Refundable credits (ACTC, EITC) | $0 |
| Withholding | $6,200 |
Wage earner return: no self-employment tax, education credits, AMT or state tax. The EITC also assumes no investment income.
When the marginal rate is higher than the bracket
Some rules make the real cost of an extra dollar higher than the bracket rate, because the dollar also shrinks a deduction or credit. In 2026, inside the phase-out of the senior deduction, each dollar of income above $75,000 also removes six cents of deduction, so a retiree in the 22% bracket pays about 23.3 cents on that dollar. Inside the SALT phase-down, between $505,000 and the point where the cap reaches its floor, a dollar of income removes 30 cents of deduction for someone paying more state tax than the cap allows. The earned income credit shrinks as income rises in its phase-out range, which raises the marginal rate of low-income workers. Capital gains add their own layer: long-term gains use the 0%, 15% and 20% rates of the capital gains table, stacked above ordinary income.
Same income, different statuses
Filing status changes both rates at once. At $90,000 of income, a single filer is in the 22% bracket; a head of household, with a wider 12% band and a larger standard deduction, is in the 22% bracket too but pays $3,422 less; a married couple with one income of $90,000 stays in the 12% bracket. The single, head of household and joint pages give the thresholds of each schedule.
| Status | Taxable income | Marginal | Tax | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single | $73,900 | 22% | $10,970 | 14.8% |
| Head of household | $65,850 | 12% | $7,548 | 11.5% |
| Married, one income | $57,800 | 12% | $6,440 | 11.1% |
Payroll taxes are a separate layer
Employees also pay 6.2% of wages for Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base and 1.45% for Medicare on all wages, plus 0.9% above $200,000. For most workers under the wage base, the combined marginal rate on an extra dollar of salary is the income tax bracket plus 7.65%. That is why a worker in the 12% bracket keeps about 80 cents of each extra dollar earned, before state tax, and why the overtime deduction saves less than its name suggests: it removes the income tax layer only.
A common mistake with refunds
A large refund is not a sign of a low tax rate, and a balance due is not a sign of a high one. Both measure withholding against the final tax. Someone whose employer withheld too little because of a second job, or who received freelance income with nothing withheld, can owe money while having a modest effective rate. Checking the effective rate on last year's return, then comparing it with this year's withholding as a share of pay, is the quickest test of whether the next return will bring a surprise.
Using the two numbers well
Compare effective rates across years, between countries or between households. Use marginal rates to decide: whether to contribute to a traditional or Roth account, whether to realize a gain this year or next, how much a deduction is worth, how much of a bonus you will keep. Both figures come out of the same calculation, which is why every calculator on this site shows the bracket and the tax together.
Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 inflation-adjusted items and 2025 items modified by Public Law 119-21 (October 9, 2025); IRS Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates, read on October 11, 2026.