2025 Tax Brackets: IRS Bumps Up Income Cutoffs and Standard Deduction

The Internal Revenue Service announced new tax brackets for 2025 on Tuesday. The increases are smaller than they've been the past few years because inflation has cooled.

The average change across tax brackets is 2.8%, meaning the income thresholds that determine how much you pay in tax will rise slightly. In other words, when the new tax brackets take effect in January, millions of workers may notice small bumps in their paychecks because more of their income will be taxed in lower brackets at lower rates.

In our graduated-rate income tax system, your marginal tax rate, or what you'd pay for an additional dollar of earnings, is determined by your tax bracket.

For the 2025 tax year — the taxes most people will pay in early 2026 — most single filers will take a standard deduction of $15,000, meaning they'll pay no tax on that first chunk of income.

After that, there are seven tax rates ranging from 10% to 37% that correspond to income thresholds.

For example, the 12% rate applies to taxable income — after deductions — between $11,925 and $48,475. This bracket has been adjusted from the 2024 range of $11,600 to $47,150. Even if you earn more than that amount, you'll pay a 12% rate on your taxable income in this range.

Only a tiny fraction of Americans have to worry about the highest tax bracket, which comes with a 37% tax rate. In 2025, that rate will apply to taxable income of $626,350 and up for single filers, an increase from $609,350 the prior year.

IRS announces new tax brackets, standard deduction for 2025

The IRS adjusts tax brackets annually in the fall, while also changing other tax provisions and standard deductions. In total, the IRS is making changes to over 60 tax provisions for 2025.

The tax bracket changes are essentially inflation adjustments meant to ensure that Americans' effective (or average) tax rates don't increase simply because their wages go up as prices rise.

According to the latest consumer price index report for September, inflation has cooled to an annual rate of 2.4%. The tax bracket adjustments are slightly higher, however, because they're based on inflation calculations over an earlier period using a different inflation index.

Your effective tax rate will be different than your top tax rate, since your first several thousand dollars of income is taxed at 10%, then 12% and so on. Here are the full 2025 tax brackets for single filers:

• 10%: $0 to $11,925
• 12%: $11,925 to $48,475
• 22%: $48,475 to $103,350
• 24%: $103,350 to $197,300
• 32%: $197,300 to $250,525
• 35%: $250,525 to $626,350
• 37%: $626,350 and up

How much is the standard deduction going up in 2025?

For single filers, the standard deduction is set to increase to $15,000, up $400 from the current amount of $14,600.

The standard deduction for married couples filing jointly is double the amount for single filers: $30,000. That's an $800 increase from the prior year. The standard deduction for heads of households will be $22,500, up $600.

Not everyone takes the standard deduction. Depending on your finances, you may choose to itemize your deductions to potentially save more than the standard deduction, but that's become fairly uncommon after the standard deductions were increased several years ago.

For more information on the latest inflation adjustments, go to the IRS website.

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