US Standard Deduction 2026: What Single Filers Need to Know

How the brackets then apply

After the deduction, what is left is taxed in slices. Each slice is taxed only at its own bracket's rate, so moving into a higher bracket never taxes your whole income at the higher rate. Here are the 2026 brackets for a single filer:

A worked example

Take a single filer earning $80,000. The standard deduction leaves taxable income of $63,900. The first $12,400 is taxed at 10% ($1,240), the next $38,000 at 12% ($4,560) and the remaining $13,500 at 22% ($2,970), for a federal income tax of $8,770.

For a married couple filing jointly with $150,000 of income the deduction is $32,200, taxable income is $117,800, and federal income tax is $15,340 using the joint brackets. The joint brackets are roughly twice as wide as the single ones, which is why couples often pay less than two single filers would on the same combined income.

When itemizing beats the standard deduction

If your itemizable expenses — mortgage interest, state and local taxes, and charitable donations — add up to more than $16,100, itemizing on Schedule A will lower your taxable income further than the standard deduction would. The deduction for state and local taxes is capped: $40,400 for most filers in 2026, shrinking back toward $10,000 at very high incomes.

• You take the larger of the standard deduction or your itemized total, never both.
• Renters with few other itemizable costs rarely beat the standard deduction.
• Homeowners in high-tax states are the most likely to benefit from itemizing.
• Charitable gifts can tip the balance in a year when you give more than usual.

Above-the-line deductions still count

Contributions to a Traditional 401(k) (up to $24,500), a Traditional IRA (up to $7,500), or an HSA (up to $4,400 for self-only coverage) reduce your taxable income on top of the standard deduction — these aren't part of the itemize-vs-standard decision at all.

Common questions

Some questions come up every filing season:

• Can I take the standard deduction and itemize? No. You choose one or the other.
• Is there still a personal exemption? Not at the federal level: the personal exemption has been set to $0 and the standard deduction does the work it used to.
• Do older or blind taxpayers get more? Yes, there are additional standard deduction amounts for taxpayers who are 65 or older or blind, and someone who can be claimed as another person's dependent has a smaller standard deduction. Taxolase does not apply these.
• Does the standard deduction change every year? It is adjusted for inflation, so check the current figure each year. The amounts here are for 2026.

How your state treats it

The federal standard deduction is separate from your state's. Some states, such as Colorado, follow the federal amount, while others set their own: California's is $5,706 for a single filer and several states offer a personal exemption instead. The result is that the same salary can produce a very different state taxable income depending on where you live, which is why the state pages on this site list each state's own deduction.

How Taxolase handles it

The calculator applies the standard deduction automatically for your filing status. If you enter charitable donations, it uses whichever is larger, the standard deduction or your donations, never both. Other itemized deductions such as mortgage interest and state and local taxes are not modeled, so if you itemize heavily, treat the result as an estimate.