Effective Tax Rate Calculator
See your effective (average) federal tax rate versus your top marginal bracket.
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Your effective rate is always lower than your marginal rate — only income within each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate.
Worth Knowing
The gap between your marginal and effective rates is one of the most misunderstood ideas in personal finance. Your marginal rate is the bracket your last dollar falls into, but because the US system is progressive, only that top slice is taxed at that rate — everything below is taxed less. Your effective rate, the total tax divided by total income, is therefore always lower than your bracket, which is why 'moving into a higher bracket' never reduces your take-home pay.
How to Use
- Enter Filing status into the first field of the Effective Tax Rate Calculator.
- Fill in the rest: Taxable income.
- Your result appears instantly as you type — there's no submit button or page reload.
- Your effective rate is always lower than your marginal rate — only income within each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate.