Filing 2025 taxes: what's my tax bracket?
Here's how to determine your tax rate and its impact on taxes owed.
- By Kimberly Lankford and Emma Kerr,
- U.S. News & World Report
- – 11/05/2024
An unexpected bonus, income from a side gig or a life change like retirement or marriage may have landed you in a new tax bracket this year.
Determining your tax bracket, however, is complex, and the income cutoffs for each tax rate typically change each year.
Here are the 2025 income tax brackets for federal taxes due in April 2026:
Explore the 2025 income tax brackets
A taxpayer's bracket is based on his or her taxable income earned in 2025. Income ranges are adjusted annually for inflation, and as such, income ranges have increased slightly from 2024 ranges. The tax rates remain unchanged.
The 2025 income tax brackets
Taxes filed by April 2026
| Rate | Single | Married filing jointly | Head of household |
| 10% | $0 to $11,925 | $0 to $23,850 | $0 to $17,000 |
| 12% | $11,926 to $48,475 | $23,851 to $96,950 | $17,001 to $64,850 |
| 22% | $48,476 to $103,350 | $96,951 to $206,700 | $64,851 to $103,350 |
| 24% | $103,351 to $197,300 | $206,701 to $394,600 | $103,351 to $197,300 |
| 32% | $197,301 to $250,525 | $394,601 to $501,050 | $197,301 to $250,500 |
| 35% | $250,526 to $626,350 | $501,051 to $751,600 | $250,501 to $626,350 |
| 37% | Over $626,350 | Over $751,600 | Over $626,350 |
Source: Internal Revenue Service
How Tax Brackets Work
A federal income tax bracket determines a taxpayer's tax rate. There are seven tax rates for the 2025 tax season: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%. Filing status and amount of taxable income determine a taxpayer's marginal tax rate, or the rate at which their last dollar is taxed.
The progressive federal tax system in the U.S. requires filers with higher incomes to pay higher tax rates, but taxpayers don't pay the same rate on every dollar earned.
For example, a taxpayer who files as single with $35,000 in taxable income would fall in the 12% bracket. But they would pay only 10% on the first $11,925 and 12% on the rest.
Identify your filing status
Your filing status is one element that determines your tax bracket and, ultimately, your tax liability.
The filing statuses include:
- Single: Unmarried or divorced taxpayers not claimed as a dependent on another person's return.
- Married filing jointly: Couples married by December 31 of the tax year have the option to file jointly.
- Married filing separately: Couples married by December 31 of the tax year have the option to file separately.
- Head of household: Unmarried or divorced taxpayers who have a qualifying child or dependent and pay more than half of the costs of running the household where the qualifying child or dependent resided for at least half the year.
- Qualifying surviving spouse: Taxpayers with a qualifying dependent who were entitled to file a joint return with a spouse the year their spouse died.
Married taxpayers have the choice to file jointly or separately, but some aspects of their returns will be connected regardless of their filing status. Couples who choose to file jointly may find themselves in a lower tax bracket than if they had filed separately.
How to calculate your taxable income
Though not a simple process, these are the three steps to calculating your taxable income:
- Calculate your gross income by adding up earnings.
- Calculate your adjusted gross income by subtracting tax adjustments.
- Calculate your taxable income by subtracting deductions.
First, add up all of your earnings, including those from full-time employment, part-time employment, freelance work, income from rental properties and other sources. Then subtract any income from that list that is considered an exclusion by the tax code, such as tax-free proceeds from a life insurance policy, to determine your gross income.
Next, subtract any adjustments from your gross income.
"Take your gross income and subtract adjustments and deductions like half of your self-employment taxes, if you're a teacher you get the teacher's education deduction, the student loan interest deduction," says Lisa Greene-Lewis, certified public accountant and tax expert at TurboTax.
Other adjustments include tax-deductible contributions to a traditional IRA, student loan interest payments and health savings account contributions.
This amount you arrive at is your adjusted gross income.
Finally, subtract either the standard deduction from your adjusted gross income or itemize your deductions to determine your taxable income, whichever is higher.
In 2025, the standard deduction is $15,000 for single filers, $22,500 for heads of households or $30,000 for married couples filing jointly (higher if 65 or older and/or blind) Common itemized deductions include mortgage interest payments, real estate taxes and charitable contributions.
After subtracting your deductions, you have your taxable income, which is the amount you can use to determine your tax bracket – though keep in mind that investment income is taxed at a separate capital gains rate.
Understand the marginal tax rate vs. effective tax rate
Your marginal tax rate is the rate you see listed on the federal income tax bracket.
So, for example, individuals with a taxable income of $55,000 will have a marginal tax rate of 22%. But this rate isn't applied to all of their taxable income.
Instead, in this example, the marginal tax rate is only applied to taxable income above $48,475 in 2025. Your effective tax rate is the percentage of your total taxable income that you actually pay in taxes, and it looks like this:
10% x $11,925 = $1,192.50
12% x ($48,475 - $11,925) = $4,386
22% x ($55,000 - $48,475) = $1,435.50
In this example, the total tax liability for an individual with $55,000 in taxable income is $7,014. To get the effective tax rate, divide the tax bill by taxable income ($7,014 / $55,000 = 12.7%).
The 2024 income tax brackets
Taxes filed by April 2025.
| Rate | Single | Married filing Jointly | Head of household |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 to $11,600 | $0 to $23,200 | $0 to $16,550 |
| 12% | $11,600 to $47,150 | $23,200 to $94,300 | $16,550 to $63,100 |
| 22% | $47,150 to $100,525 | $94,300 to $201,050 | $63,100 to $100,500 |
| 24% | $100,525 to $191,950 | $201,050 to $383,900 | $100,500 to $191,950 |
| 32% | $191,950 to $243,725 | $383,900 to $487,450 | $191,950 to $243,700 |
| 35% | $243,725 to $609,350 | $487,450 to $731,200 | $243,700 to $609,350 |
| 37% | $609,350 and up | $731,200 and up | $609,350 and up |
Source: Internal Revenue Service
The 2023 income tax brackets
Taxes filed by April 2024
| Rate | Single | Married filing jointly | Head of household |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 to $11,000 | $0 to $22,000 | $0 to $15,700 |
| 12% | $11,000 to $44,725 | $22,000 to $89,450 | $15,700 to $59,850 |
| 22% | $44,725 to $95,375 | $89,450 to $190,750 | $59,850 to $95,350 |
| 24% | $95,375 to $182,100 | $190,750 to $364,200 | $95,350 to $182,100 |
| 32% | $182,100 to $231,250 | $364,200 to $462,500 | $182,100 to $231,250 |
| 35% | $231,250 to $578,125 | $462,500 to $693,750 | $231,250 to $578,100 |
| 37% | $578,125 and up | $693,750 and up | $578,100 and up |
Source: Internal Revenue Service
Ways to lower your tax rate
Knowing your tax bracket can help you legally reduce your tax liability. If your taxable income falls on the cusp of two tax brackets, there are a few options for lowering your tax liability.
Two common strategies are delaying income and making contributions to accounts like a health savings account or retirement funds that will earn you a deduction. These strategies can reduce a taxpayer's taxable income, possibly allowing them to maintain a lower rate.
"If a taxpayer is in a situation where they have the ability to recognize or not recognize some income in a certain year – such as year-end bonuses, when a company might give you the option to have that bonus paid out the week of Christmas or in early January – knowing where you fall within your tax bracket and how much room there is before that tax bracket is reached could weigh in on your decision," says Martin Kamenski, CEO of Revel CPA in Chicago.
But to most taxpayers, he says, "Don't sweat your tax bracket too much. Making more money is generally a great thing.”
