Income Tax Calculator (US Federal, 2026)

How it works

Federal income tax is progressive: your income is sliced into brackets, and each slice is taxed at its own rate. For 2026, a single filer's income is taxed at 10 percent on the first slice, then 12, 22, 24, 32 and 35 percent on progressively higher slices, with 37 percent applying only above $640,600 of taxable income. Before brackets apply, the standard deduction reduces your income. For 2026 the standard deduction for a single filer is $16,100, so a $100,000 salary has $83,900 of taxable income. Pre-tax deductions such as traditional 401(k) contributions reduce taxable income further, which is why the calculator asks for them. Your marginal rate is the rate on your highest slice, the rate your next dollar of income would face. Your effective rate is your total tax divided by gross income, and it is always lower than your marginal rate because the first dollars are taxed at 10 and 12 percent. A common misunderstanding is that a raise pushing you into a higher bracket taxes all your income at that rate; in reality only the dollars above the threshold face the higher rate, so a raise never reduces your take-home pay by itself.