U.S. Federal Tax Brackets

Current-year brackets, full historical chart since 1913, and the calculators to model your own situation. Every page shows the math.

Current

2026 Federal Tax Brackets →

Current-year brackets for all filing statuses, standard deductions, and worked bracket-stacking examples.

Reference

Tax Brackets History (1913-2026) →

Interactive chart of the top marginal rate over 113 years, with every major tax act annotated.

2026 federal tax brackets at a glance

Brackets in 2026

10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, 37%

37%

Top marginal rate (2026)

Set by the 2017 TCJA, extended through 2026

$626,350

Where 37% kicks in (single)

Married filing jointly: $751,600

94%

All-time historical peak

Set in 1944 to fund WWII

For the full bracket table by filing status, see 2026 Federal Tax Brackets.

How federal tax brackets actually work

Federal tax brackets are marginal, not flat. If you earn $100,000 as a single filer in 2026, you don't pay 22% on all of it. You pay 10% on the first $11,925, then 12% on the next portion, and so on. Only the last dollar earned is taxed at your "tax bracket" rate.

This is why the difference between the headline marginal rate and the effective rate (total tax ÷ total income) is large. In 1960, the top marginal rate was 91%, but the effective rate paid by the top 1% was about 42%. Today, a 22%-bracket filer typically has an effective rate closer to 13-15%.

The number of brackets and where they kick in moves with legislation. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 collapsed the bracket count from 14 to 2. The Bush cuts (2001) re-expanded it to 6. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017) re-set it to 7 — the current structure. See the full history chart →

Prior-year brackets

Reference schedules for amended returns, late filings, and historical comparisons. All 8 archive years use the post-TCJA 7-bracket structure (10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, 37%) with annual inflation indexing.