Know exactly what you owe in 2026

Every number here comes from the IRS Revenue Procedure, cited line by line. The calculation runs in your browser — your income never reaches our servers.

An isometric dashboard card showing a bar chart beside a dotted outline map of the United States

3,143: counties covered
51: states and D.C.
0: accounts required

Tax year 2026Jurisdiction Federal + CARuns in your browser

Annual gross income

Filing status

State

10 state brackets, up to 13.30%.

Total tax · federal + CA

$20,032

You keep $64,968 of $85,000

Marginal rate

22.00%

On your next dollar

Effective rate

23.57%

Everything, federal + state

Where the money goes
Federal income tax	$9,870
Social Security	$5,270
Medicare	$1,233
California state tax	$3,660
Total	$20,032

Where your income falls · federal brackets

Tax by bracket
Rate	Income in bracket	Tax
10%	$12,400	$1,240
12%	$38,000	$4,560
22%	$18,500	$4,070
Federal income tax		$9,870

Taxable income $68,900, after the standard deduction of $16,100.

The 13.30% top bracket includes the 1% Proposition 63 surcharge on income above $1 million. California has not published its 2026 bracket thresholds yet — the FTB tells taxpayers to use the 2025 table to estimate 2026, which is what this does.

What this does not cover: local (county and city) income tax, the AMT, capital gains, self-employment income and credits beyond the standard deduction. This is an estimate for planning, not tax advice.

Federal brackets and deduction from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, § 3.01, Tables 1-4. Verified 2026-08-31. State figures: California Department of Revenue.

California vs the other 50

State income tax on $85,000. Ranked cheapest to most expensive.

California rank

38 of 51

State tax here

$3,660

Cheapest states

9 states

charge nothing

Most you could save by moving

$3,660

State income tax on $85,000 in every state, ranked
Rank	State	State tax
33	Oklahoma	$3,280
34	Michigan	$3,362
35	Montana	$3,442
36	Georgia	$3,643
37	Idaho	$3,652
38	California	$3,660
39	Maryland	$3,672
40	Kansas	$3,943
41	Alabama	$3,985
42	New York	$3,993
43	Massachusetts	$4,030

State income tax only, on $85,000 of income filing as single. Excludes local income tax, property tax and sales tax — the states at the cheap end of this table usually collect it another way, and often more of it. Oregon is the most expensive at $6,604.

Income tax in your state

All 51, with their brackets →

Each page carries that state’s own brackets, deduction, credits and retirement rules, read off its department of revenue — and, in the eleven states that allow it, the city tax on top. Of 37 states checked, 12 carried a wrong figure in the compiled sources everyone else uses.

Property tax, county by county

All 3,143 →

The other half of what a place costs, and the half a salary calculator cannot tell you. Rates within a single state routinely vary by a factor of two, so the county is the unit that decides the bill — not the state. No parcel number needed.

A house sitting on a grid of county squares shaded at different depths, with a price tag

The cases a salary calculator misses

All calculators →

Tax refund estimatorWhat you get back, and the credits that pay out anyway.Paycheck calculatorTake-home per payday, by pay frequency and state.Tax withholding estimatorWhether your W-4 is on track, and the Step 4(c) figure.Self-employment taxThe 15.3%, the QBI deduction and quarterly payments.Retirement tax401(k), IRA, pension and the Social Security rule.Rental income taxDepreciation, passive losses and recapture on sale.Capital gains taxShort vs long, stacked properly on your income.Small business & S-corpWhether the election beats a sole proprietorship.Quarterly estimated taxThe safe harbour and the four due dates.

A data table with a verification badge, a magnifying glass over one row and a dated stamp

Why we publish our sources

When we checked the calculators ranking for “income tax calculator 2026”, several were still serving the 2025 brackets under a 2026 label — while linking to the correct IRS page from the same screen. Ours come from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, § 3.01, Tables 1-4, and every figure carries the date we last verified it.

We also model the layer almost nobody does: 3,672 local income tax jurisdictions across 7 states, where a city can take more from a modest salary than the state does.

Every figure and its source →What we got wrong →

Guides

All guides →

How income tax is calculatedThe five steps in order, worked through on a real salary.Marginal vs effective rateTwo rates, and only one of them is what you pay.The W-4, line by lineExact entries for five common situations.How to file your returnDocuments, deadlines, routes, extensions and amending.What changed in 2026What rose, what moved mid-year, what never moves.Are tax estimators accurate?What we found auditing the category, our errors included.