Every January the IRS adjusts the numbers that decide your take-home pay, and every January pay stubs quietly shift. These are the 2026 federal numbers, from the IRS inflation adjustment in Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the Social Security Administration's annual update, the same figures our calculator runs on.
The standard deduction is $16,100 for singles
For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 if you file single, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly and $24,150 for heads of household. That is income federal tax never touches. Because it rises with inflation, a little more of your pay escapes tax each year even when your salary stays put.
Brackets moved up with inflation
Bracket lines rise each year too. For a single filer in 2026, the 10% rate covers the first $12,400 of taxable income and the 12% rate runs up to $50,400. Wider bands at the bottom mean a cost-of-living raise is less likely to push part of your pay into a higher rate. And remember how brackets work, a higher band only ever taxes the dollars inside it, never your whole income.
Social Security tax now runs to $184,500
The 6.2% Social Security tax stops once your pay for the year passes the wage cap, which is $184,500 for 2026. The cap climbs most years, so high earners pay the tax a little deeper into the year than before. Below the cap nothing changes, the rate itself has not moved. The extra Medicare tax threshold also stays at $200,000, and since that one is fixed by law rather than indexed, inflation pulls more people over it each year.
The child tax credit holds at $2,200 per child
The credit stays at $2,200 for each qualifying child under 17 in 2026. The law now indexes it to inflation, but the adjustment rounds down to the nearest $100, so this year the rounding left it exactly where it was. You and each child need Social Security numbers for it. Our calculator applies it in the Match your W-4 section.
Your state has its own list of changes
Everything above is federal. States adjust their own brackets, deductions and local rates on their own schedules, and each state page on this site carries its current-year numbers with sources. As a quick 2026 reference point, a single filer earning $60,000 in Florida, where there is no state income tax, keeps $50,390 for the year, an effective tax rate of 16.0%.
See your state's 2026 numbers →