Simple Income Tax Estimator

Income tax in the United States uses a progressive bracket system: you pay different rates on different portions of your income, not a single flat rate on everything. Understanding this eliminates the common misconception that earning more always leaves you worse off after taxes.

Formula: Taxable Income = Gross Income − Above-the-Line Deductions − Standard Deduction (or Itemized) Tax Owed = Σ(Tax Rate × Income within each bracket) Effective Tax Rate = Total Tax Owed ÷ Gross Income × 100 Marginal Tax Rate = The rate that applies to your last dollar of income

Divide by gross income, not by taxable income. Both are defensible arithmetic, but the gross figure is the one that answers the question people are actually asking, which is what share of their pay went to federal tax. Dividing by taxable income quietly hides the standard deduction, and on a modest salary that gap is a couple of percentage points.

What each variable means:

• Gross Income: all wages, salaries, freelance income, interest, dividends, and other taxable income.
• Above-the-Line Deductions: student loan interest, HSA contributions, self-employed health insurance, IRA deductions.
• Standard Deduction (2026): $16,100 (single), $32,200 (married filing jointly), $24,150 (head of household).

2026 Federal Tax Brackets (Single filer):

• 10%: $0 – $12,400
• 12%: $12,401 – $50,400
• 22%: $50,401 – $105,700
• 24%: $105,701 – $201,775
• 32%: $201,776 – $256,225
• 35%: $256,226 – $640,600
• 37%: Over $640,600

Worked example: Single filer, gross income $75,000, takes standard deduction. Taxable income = $75,000 − $16,100 = $58,900

Tax = (10% × $12,400) + (12% × $38,000) + (22% × $8,500) Tax = $1,240 + $4,560 + $1,870 = $7,670

Effective rate = $7,670 ÷ $75,000 = 10.2%, against a marginal rate of 22%. The gap between those two numbers is the single most useful thing on this page: only the last $8,500 was taxed at 22%, and a raise would be taxed at 22% while the average stays near 10%.

Why the numbers move every year

Every threshold above is indexed to inflation, and the IRS resets them each autumn for the year ahead. That indexing is the only thing standing between you and bracket creep, where a cost-of-living raise pushes you into a higher bracket without buying you anything extra.

The shift is not trivial. The single standard deduction went from $14,600 in 2024 to $16,100 in 2026, and the 22% bracket now starts at $50,401 rather than $47,151. Same salary, less tax, purely from indexation.

One caveat worth stating plainly: this calculator applies the standard deduction and nothing else. It ignores credits, which come off the tax itself rather than off your income and are therefore worth far more per dollar. The Child Tax Credit alone can wipe out several thousand dollars of the figure shown here.