2025 Federal Tax Brackets

SPECIAL NOTE: Please consult a CPA or certified tax professional when filing taxes. I am not either of these. You absolutely can file taxes on your own, but this is to be used as a broad view scope to understand federal income tax brackets. This post is not intended to be used as personal tax planning advice.

Hot take: Paying taxes are a good thing! Government funding is what provides for a lot of the amenities we take for granted every day. National parks, homeland security, healthcare, public education, and disaster relief (just to name a few) are all vital towards a civilized society. In a sense, the more taxes you pay, the more you are investing in the future growth of your national and local community.

Be proud of paying taxes, but also be fearful of dodging them. Tax evasion is illegal; penalties can include fines up to 6 figures, imprisonment, or in many cases both. Just ask Al Capone what happens when income taxes aren’t taken seriously 🤪. Filing taxes on time is our civic duty to the nation of our citizenship, and we should all feel privileged for the opportunities they create.

…Is Uncle Sam still standing behind me? 👀

We’re clear? 👀

Alright, paying taxes suck. It’s painful to see those taxes coming out of each paycheck, especially when we are working so hard! The Savvy Solo is going to want to devise a plan for maximum tax efficiency (legally of course). Before we get to advanced tax planning strategies, let’s discuss some of the basics.

So, if Louisville beats Maryland, Villanova skates out a win over Baylor, and UNC shits the bed against Syracuse, we could really hit it big!

…Wrong bracket? Oh yea, it’s not even March yet. 🤪

The bracket above shows the 2025 federal income tax rates for the US. This does not include your local state/city income tax or any other type of tax you may be subject to. Please do your research, and plan accordingly.

You’ll see up top Single, Head of Household, and Married. Yea… we all get taxed differently. There’s also “married filing separately” which us solos don’t have to worry about 😜; but it’s essentially very similar to filing single. From a tax perspective, single means you have no dependents to claim, and nobody can claim you as a dependent. Head of household is meant for singles when nobody can claim you as a dependent, and you are claiming at least one dependent. There are certain qualifications needed to claim a dependent, but generally speaking this is the tax bracket for solos taking care of kids, elderly parents, etc. Married means, not only did you find another person to love you, but you also got the government to love you as well 😂.

One of the bigger misunderstandings here is that the vast majority of people do not pay a flat tax rate. Some will glance at the bracket, see that they’re at a 22% tax rate since they made $60k in taxable income and is filing single. This means they’ll owe $13,200 in federal income taxes, right? WRONG! The tax system in the US is progressive (not a flat rate), so you are taxed in the appropriate brackets as you earn.

For example, this person is filing single and has earned $60k in taxable income. They are taxed as follows:

• 10% on the first $11,925 = $1,192.50
• 12% on the next $36,549 = $4,385.88
• 22% on the remaining $11,524 = $2,535.28
• Total Federal: $8,113.66

Don’t forget state taxes! If you are lucky enough to live in one of the states that doesn’t levy these taxes, congratulations! Double check with your tax professional, but this generally means you’ll get to avoid this next part. Let’s say this person lives in New York, they will figure the following:

• 4% on the first $8,500 = $340
• 4.5% on the next $3,199 = $143.96
• 5.25% on the next $2,199 = $115.45
• 5.5% on the remaining $46,099 = $2535.45
• Total State: $3,134.86

This person may be subject to other taxes as well, but just using this as a basis point for getting a general idea, this person may owe a total of $11,248.52 in taxes.

Woof! That feels like a big chunk of change! In all honesty though, this isn’t all that bad. Most W-2 type jobs are going to hold it out of your paycheck so that you don’t get hit with a big bill at the end of the year anyway.

The best part of the progressive bracket tax system is that you don’t have to be overly concerned about making sure your taxable income is a certain dollar amount. If you happen to make $197,301 in taxable income, only one dollar is going to get taxed at 32%, and the rest will fall in line according to the bracket. Of course, you’ll want to be mindful on the larger money moves, but more on some of the advanced tax strategies in the future.

Generally speaking, the solo is going to have higher expenses than the married couple (per person) on the big three. Housing costs for the married couple can usually be cut in half. Savvy couples can usually figure out having one car, or possibly one reliable vehicle and one clunker. Not to mention, married couples are typically saving on their overall food fixed costs; especially the ones who tend to cook at home more often.

The above brackets show that the married filer is getting double the income limits on tax rate over the single filer. In simple terms, it might make sense. Two people, two incomes, double the limit right? Not only do married couples already have lower expenses, but now they have the option to total both incomes (for example, one high income and one low income) to see if they’ll be able to put themselves in a better tax bracket. NEWS FLASH, most of them are.

I asked a number of people I know about this disparity. Does it really make sense to give these benefits to two people who got the government stamp of approval on their love life? Many my age or younger didn’t have much of an opinion on this topic. Most boomers I spoke to were pretty adamant that marriage leads to family, and family leads to a more progressive productive society. Fair enough, I guess?

Yes, it’s true that solos are less likely to have children. Let’s go ahead and dismiss the fact that this actually gives the solo more time for community involvement and focus on the kids. We still can’t ignore the fact that many solos out there have children. This article states that over 18.5 million children in the US lived with a single parent (pulled from the US Census Bureau, 2020). So, I guess the idea is that society would have been better off with these kids having married parents? Let’s go ahead and give these single parents the “Head of Household” bracket to help them out. Don’t look now, but the married couple is still winning!

Let’s also look at the other spectrum of dependents, aging parents. This article, by Bella DePaulo in Psychology Today, explains how solos are more likely to be the ones to care for their elderly parents over their married siblings. Honestly, it makes sense. The responsibility of parental care in most families would, most likely, fall on the adult child with more free time and less responsibility.

Let’s run a quick simulation on how things might play out in a particular family. This is a fictional scenario, but we’ll use real numbers incorporated into the federal tax brackets. For this example, we’ll use round numbers to keep the math a bit easier.

Ralph and Ray are twins; Ralph decided to live the solo life, Ray decided to live the married life and had a couple of kids. Both of them are making 65K per year, and Ray’s wife works part time making 30K per year. Suddenly their parents run into financial trouble, along with some physical ailments that will require some level of live-in assistance. It’s decided that Ralph will move in with the parents and assume the household responsibilities. For now, it’s a feasible enough plan for Ralph; he’ll get to utilize the parents’ 20K annual retirement benefits, and both Ralph and Ray will save money on trying to get live-in care for the parents.

After a number of months, a few of the housing and medical expenses start to add up on Ralph. It’s decided that the parent’s don’t necessarily need someone around as much as children do, so Ralph takes some initiative and picks up a side gig bringing in another 10k annually. Ralph is working his butt off, but now both Ralph and Ray’s households are bringing in 95K each. Here’s how they get taxed:

Ralph (Head of Household):

• 10% on the first $17,000 = $1,700
• 12% on the next $47,849 = $5,741.88
• 22% on the final $30,149 = $6,632.78
• Total: $14,074.66

Ray (Married, Filing Jointly):

• 10% on the first $23,850 = $2,385
• 12% on the final $71,149 = $8,537.88
• Total: $10,922.88

😶

Ralph and Ray both have two dependents, and their households are both bringing in the exact same income. Yet somehow it makes sense that Ralph is paying $3,151.78 more annually in taxes, and we didn’t even get into the child credits that Ray will get for his kids. Not to mention, Ralph is working harder than Ray just to keep the same level of income. Heaven forbid they live in a place where we have to add state income tax, the disparity would be even greater! 😡

Look, I’m not a CPA or a certified tax professional. There’s a chance I’m missing some type of benefit that Ralph would get for caring for his parents. Let’s take that out of the equation and say that Ralph decided to have two kids as a solo and makes the same amount as Ray; he’d face the same tax burden.

Why are we taxing solos more than they’re married counterparts? Someone please explain this one to me! 🤬

There’s an old trope in the world of personal finance, “never let the tax tail wag the dog.” Basically, in the case of income taxes, don’t let the fear of taxes deter you from earning more money. With the progressive tax bracket system in place, only the higher income portions get taxed at the higher rate. Limiting yourself to a certain income because of taxes is only limiting your capabilities to grow as a person.

This ideology could be used on major life decisions as well. If you are an aging solo who always wanted kids, but haven’t found the right partner, go ahead and have kids! Don’t let these tax shenanigans stop you from the things that bring you the most value! It might take a little extra planning and income, but so what? After careful evaluation of your value structure, stop at nothing to bring more joy into your life.

Stay classy Solos! ✌️