Every autumn the IRS publishes the inflation adjustments for the coming tax year, and every January paychecks shift by a few dollars without anyone quite knowing why. For 2026 the adjustments came in Revenue Procedure 2025-32, the Social Security Administration set the new wage base, and IRS Notice 2025-67 raised the retirement plan limits. This guide lists what moved and, using the same engine that powers every audit on this site, what each move is worth on four common salaries.
The standard deduction: $15,000 → $16,100
The single-filer standard deduction rose by $1,100. Because it is subtracted before the brackets apply, the saving is the deduction increase multiplied by your marginal rate: $132 for someone in the 12% bracket, $242 in the 22% bracket, $264 in the 24% bracket. It is the single largest source of the “my paycheck went up a little” effect for most people.
The brackets: every threshold up about 2.7%
The seven federal rates are unchanged — 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35 and 37 percent — but each threshold moved up. For a single filer in 2026 the 12% bracket now starts at $12,400 of taxable income (was $11,925), the 22% bracket at $50,400 (was $48,475), the 24% bracket at $105,700 (was $103,350), the 32% bracket at $201,775 (was $197,300), the 35% bracket at $256,225 (was $250,525) and the 37% bracket at $640,600 (was $626,350). Because more income is taxed at each lower rate, the bill on an unchanged salary falls slightly.
The combined federal effect
| Salary | 2025 federal tax | 2026 federal tax | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 | $5,162 | $5,020 | $142 |
| $100,000 | $13,614 | $13,170 | $444 |
| $150,000 | $25,247 | $24,734 | $513 |
| $200,000 | $37,247 | $36,734 | $513 |
The saving flattens at $513 above about $150,000 because both the deduction increase and the bracket shifts have been fully absorbed by then; the top of the 24% bracket moving up $2,350 is worth 8 cents on the dollar (32% minus 24%), which is already counted.
The Social Security wage base: $176,100 → $184,500
This one moves the other way for higher earners. Social Security’s 6.2% applies to wages up to the wage base; in 2026 that ceiling rose by $8,400, so anyone earning above $176,100 pays up to $521 more in Social Security tax than they did on the same salary in 2025. At $200,000 that almost exactly cancels the federal income tax saving: net pay is $8 lower than it would have been under 2025 rules. Below $176,100 the wage base is irrelevant and the FICA bill is unchanged.
Medicare is unchanged at 1.45% with no cap, and the 0.9% Additional Medicare tax still starts at $200,000 for a single filer — that threshold is set in statute and does not index.
The 401(k) elective deferral limit: $23,500 → $24,500
You can now put $1,000 more into a traditional or Roth 401(k). For a traditional plan, the extra $1,000 deferred saves $220 of federal tax in the 22% bracket and $240 in the 24% bracket, plus state tax in every state except Pennsylvania. The catch-up contribution for those aged 50 and over is $8,000. The HSA self-only limit is $4,400.
What did not change
The rates. The Additional Medicare threshold. The rule that 401(k) deferrals are still subject to FICA. The basic structure of a single filer’s return. State tax schedules move on their own calendars — several states index in the spring — and are covered on each state’s audit page under Sources.
What to do with this
Nothing, in most cases: employers update withholding tables automatically. Two exceptions. If you set a flat additional withholding amount on your W-4 in a previous year, revisit it — the 2026 bill is lower and you may be over-withholding. And if you were contributing the 401(k) maximum as a fixed dollar amount, raise it to $24,500, or you will leave $1,000 of tax-advantaged room unused.
Audits cited in this guide
Open the full paycheck breakdowns
About the figures in this guide
Every dollar amount above is produced by the same deterministic tax engine that generates the audit pages, using the published 2026 federal brackets and standard deduction, the 2026 Social Security wage base, each state's published schedule and each city's local tax rules. Assumptions: single filer, standard deduction, no dependents, no itemized deductions. Rent figures are median 1-bedroom asking rents refreshed quarterly. Read the methodology, or send a correction with a primary source.