Income Tax Estimator (2026)

Income tax is the largest bill most American households pay each year — and the one they understand least. What lands in your bank account is not your salary; it is what remains after the federal government, and in most states your state government, takes its share.

This estimator answers the question in seconds. Enter your gross annual income, pick a filing status and a state, and it computes an estimate of your 2026 federal and state income tax using current IRS brackets and state bracket tables. A planning number, not a filing number — but a good planning number beats a guess.

Find more tools in our Cents & Sense: the inflation calculator shows what your after-tax dollars bought in prior years, and the crypto profit/loss calculator prices a portfolio in a different asset class.

What it measures

The calculator estimates the income tax a US resident owes on wage or self-employment income for tax year 2026, split into a federal layer and a state layer. The federal side applies the 2026 standard deduction — $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household — then the seven federal brackets from 10% to 37%.

For the state side it covers all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, using each state’s 2026 standard deduction and bracket structure — flat rate, graduated brackets, or nothing at all for the nine states with no wage income tax. It reports your combined tax, your combined effective rate, and your federal marginal rate: the rate the next dollar you earn is taxed at. Income taxes fund federal spending, which is one of the things What GDP Growth Really Measures — and What It Misses puts in context.

How it works

The math follows three steps. First, taxable income is gross income minus the standard deduction (never below zero), computed separately for federal and state since states set their own deductions. Second, the graduated brackets are applied: each slice of taxable income is taxed at its own rate, so only the top slice faces your highest marginal rate. Third, federal and state results are summed and divided by gross income for the effective rate.

State logic follows each state’s actual 2026 structure. Flat-rate states tax the state taxable base at a single rate — Colorado at 4.4%, Pennsylvania at 3.07%. Graduated states apply their own ladders: California’s nine brackets top out at 13.3%, Hawaii’s twelve at 11%. States with no wage income tax — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming — return $0 on the state line. Washington deserves a footnote: it taxes the capital gains of high earners, not wages, so the calculator shows $0 for wage income and says so.

Each input, explained

Gross annual income. Total pre-tax earnings for the year — salary, bonuses, freelance income. Starts at $100,000 as a reference point.

Filing status. Single, married filing jointly, or head of household. Status sets the federal deduction and bracket widths: joint filers get a $32,200 deduction and brackets roughly twice as wide as single filers. Head of household gets a $24,150 deduction and its own federal thresholds.

State. Where you live for tax purposes — the input that changes the answer most. Try your income in Texas versus California and watch the state line move from $0 to several thousand dollars. That gap is the “state tax cost” of a location, and it is why remote workers and retirees run this exact comparison before moving.

Worked example

Take $100,000 of gross income, single filer, living in Texas.

Federal taxable income is $100,000 minus the $16,100 single standard deduction: $83,900. Apply the 2026 single brackets — 10% on the first $12,400 ($1,240), 12% on the $38,000 between $12,400 and $50,400 ($4,560), 22% on the $33,500 between $50,400 and $83,900 ($7,370). Federal tax: $1,240 + $4,560 + $7,370 = $13,170. Texas has no wage income tax, so state tax is $0. Combined: $13,170 — an effective rate of 13.17% and a federal marginal rate of 22%.

Change only the state to California. The same $100,000 becomes $94,460 of state taxable income after California’s $5,540 deduction, and its graduated brackets produce $5,223.42 of state tax. Combined: $18,393.42, an effective rate of 18.39%. Same income, same federal rules, $5,223.42 apart.

Limitations

This is an estimate built on simplifying assumptions. It excludes payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare) — a large share of the bill for most earners. It ignores personal exemptions and credits: the child tax credit, education credits, and similar items can move a real return by thousands. It excludes local and city income taxes, which exist in parts of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.

State-specific provisions are deliberately simplified: Arkansas’s low-income table, Connecticut’s tax recapture, Ohio’s simplified treatment, Utah’s tax credit, and the Idaho/Mississippi/Ohio zero-rate thresholds are applied as coded. Head-of-household filers use the single-state bracket structures, since states publish only single and joint schedules. For filing, consult a tax professional or the IRS free-filing options.

FAQs

What is the difference between my marginal rate and my effective rate?
The marginal rate is the tax on your next dollar — 22% in the example above. The effective rate is total tax divided by total income — 13.17% there. A higher bracket never taxes your whole income at the higher rate; it only affects the slice above the threshold.

Does this include Social Security and Medicare taxes?
No. Payroll (FICA) taxes are excluded — at 7.65% on wages up to the Social Security wage base, they are often the second-largest tax workers pay. The calculator covers income tax only.

Which states have no income tax in 2026?
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming levy no tax on wage income. New Hampshire’s repeal of its interest-and-dividends tax took effect in 2025.

Why does my result differ from last year’s tax software?
Brackets and deductions adjust for inflation yearly. The 2026 single standard deduction is $16,100 and every bracket threshold shifted; running the same income through last year’s tables gives a different — and wrong — answer.

Should I itemize instead of taking the standard deduction?
Itemizing beats the standard deduction only if your deductible expenses — mortgage interest, state and local taxes (capped at $10,000), charitable gifts — exceed $16,100 single / $32,200 joint. For most filers, the standard deduction wins, which is why this calculator uses it.

This calculator is for education only and is not tax advice. Tax law is detailed and situation-specific; for decisions with real money behind them — a move, a job change, estimated payments — work with a qualified tax professional.