Federal Income Tax Brackets for 2024 Filing

How much you pay in income taxes depends on your tax filing status, and how much you earned in the tax year. And every year, the IRS slightly tweaks its tax brackets to adjust for inflation.

How do tax brackets work?

Contrary to popular belief, being in a tax bracket doesn’t mean you pay a flat percentage of your total income. The federal government breaks your income into chunks, and you pay a marginal tax rate for each chunk.

In a nutshell, different parts of your income get taxed at a different rate.

For example, if you’re a single tax filer who made $60,000 in 2024, you’ll pay a 10% tax on the first $11,600 you made. Then, you’re taxed 12% of the amount ranging from $11,601 to $47,151, and the remaining above $47,151 is taxed at 22%.

Federal tax brackets based on filing status

In 2025, we’re filing our taxes for the 2024 calendar year. Directly from the IRS, here are the 2024 federal income tax brackets based on if you’re filing single, head of household, married filing jointly or married filing separately.

2024 tax brackets for single filings

If you’re unmarried, divorced or legally separated, you’ll be filing as single.

2024 tax brackets for head of household

Typically, filing as head of household puts you in a better tax bracket compared to filing as single. However, to file as head of household, you typically must claim a qualifying child or qualifying relative as a dependent.

2024 tax brackets for married filing jointly

Most married couples file jointly, since that could make you eligible for more tax credits and/or deductions.

2024 married filing separately

While it’s common for married couples to file jointly, you could also file separately, which might be preferred if you’re considering divorce, there’s a large income discrepancy, or one of you has tax liabilities.

Learn how tax brackets work in under four minutes

Can I lower my income tax rate?

Yes, you can lower your tax rate! Reducing your taxable income is called a deduction.

A standard deduction is a dollar amount that reduces the amount of taxable income. There are also itemized deductions, which are typically used in two scenarios: your itemized deductions total is greater than if you went with a standard deduction, or you must itemize deductions because you aren’t entitled to use the standard deduction.

You can also look into tax credits. Put simply, tax credit reduce how much you owe in taxes, while tax deductions simply reduce the amount of taxable income.

Common items you can write off on your taxes include:

• Charitable contributions
• Medical expenses
• Mortgage interest
• Property taxes
• States and local income taxes
• Business expenses

For help in locating tax deductions and tax credits talk to a tax professional, or try a tax software that searches for these helpful nuggets.

Bottom line

The way our current federal tax system is set up, the more income you earn, the more you pay in taxes. But just because you’re in one tax bracket doesn’t mean all your income is taxed at that rate. Instead, your income is broken up into chunks, and you pay a different rate for each one.

Regardless of which bracket you fall in, there are proven ways you can lower your tax bill each year thanks to deductions and credits.

Written by

Bethany Hickey

Editor, Banking

Bethany Hickey is the banking editor and personal finance expert at Finder, specializing in banking, lending, insurance, and crypto. Bethany’s expertise in personal finance has garnered recognition from esteemed media outlets, such as Nasdaq, MSN, Yahoo Finance, GOBankingRates, SuperMoney, AOL and Newsweek. Her articles offer practical financial strategies to Americans, empowering them to make decisions that meet their financial goals. Her past work includes articles on generational spending and saving habits, lending, budgeting and managing debt. Before joining Finder, she was a content manager where she wrote hundreds of articles and news pieces on auto financing and credit repair for CarsDirect, Auto Credit Express and The Car Connection, among others. Bethany holds a BA in English from the University of Michigan-Flint, and was poetry editor for the university’s Qua Literary and Fine Arts Magazine. See full bio

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Bethany has written 427 Finder guides across topics including:

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