Head of household is the filing status people qualify for most often and understand least. It sits between single and married filing jointly: wider brackets than single, a bigger standard deduction, and a qualification test that trips up plenty of filers. Here are the 2026 head of household tax brackets, then one income worked all the way through so you can see what the table actually costs.
What are the 2026 tax brackets for head of household?
The seven rates are the same for everyone, 10% through 37%. What changes by filing status is where each rate starts and stops. For tax year 2026, the head of household thresholds, applied to taxable income, are:
| Rate | Head of household taxable income |
|---|---|
| 10% | $0 to $17,700 |
| 12% | $17,701 to $67,450 |
| 22% | $67,451 to $105,700 |
| 24% | $105,701 to $201,750 |
| 32% | $201,751 to $256,200 |
| 35% | $256,201 to $640,600 |
| 37% | Over $640,600 |
Two comparisons worth making against single. The 10% bracket runs to $17,700 for heads of household versus $12,400 for single filers, and the 12% bracket runs to $67,450 versus $50,400. That $17,050 of extra room in the 12% band is worth $1,705 to anyone whose income reaches into the 22% bracket, because those dollars are taxed at 12% instead of 22%.
What $95,000 of income actually pays
Take a head of household filer with $95,000 of gross income, no adjustments, taking the 2026 standard deduction of $24,150. Taxable income is $70,850. Now run it through the table, one bracket at a time:
Head of household, $95,000 gross, 2026
So the answer is $8,488. The marginal rate, the rate on the next dollar earned, is 22%. The effective rate is 8.9% of gross income, or 12.0% of taxable income. This is the distinction the table exists to teach: your tax bracket is not your tax rate. Only $3,400 of this filer's income ever sees the 22% rate; everything below it is taxed at 12% or 10% or, thanks to the standard deduction, zero.
Who qualifies as head of household
The status has three tests, and all three have to pass. You must be unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year, you must have paid more than half the cost of keeping up the home, and a qualifying person must have lived with you for more than half the year. The cost test counts rent or mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs, and food eaten at home. It does not count clothing, education, medical bills, life insurance, vacations, or transportation. If a roommate chips in on rent, their share reduces what you can claim, which matters when you are close to the 50% line.
The most common way people fail the test is the first one: married filers who assume head of household is available because they are the breadwinner. If you are married and living with your spouse at year end, you are not eligible, with a narrow exception for spouses who lived apart for the last six months of the year and otherwise meet the tests. The bracket figures above come from the IRS inflation adjustments for 2026, Revenue Procedure 2025-32, the same release that set the $24,150 standard deduction.
The decision rule: if you are unmarried, supporting a household, and a qualifying child or relative lives with you, run your return both as single and as head of household. The wider brackets and the $24,150 standard deduction, versus $16,100 for single, make head of household the better answer in nearly every case where you qualify. The cases where it loses are the cases where you do not actually qualify.
One thread I have not fully worked through: how the temporary $6,000 senior deduction for 2025 through 2028 interacts with head of household filers over 65 near the phaseout. That is a planning question for next year's return, not this article.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the 2026 head of household tax brackets?
- 10% to $17,700; 12% to $67,450; 22% to $105,700; 24% to $201,750; 32% to $256,200; 35% to $640,600; 37% above that. These apply to taxable income for income earned in 2026.
- What is the 2026 standard deduction for head of household?
- $24,150, versus $16,100 for single filers. Taxpayers 65 or older or blind add $2,050 per condition.
- How much tax does a head of household filer pay on $95,000?
- With the $24,150 standard deduction and no adjustments: $70,850 taxable, $8,488 in federal income tax. The marginal rate is 22%; the effective rate is 8.9% of gross income.
- Who qualifies for head of household status?
- You must be unmarried or considered unmarried at year end, have paid more than half the cost of keeping up the home, and have a qualifying person living with you for more than half the year.