Income Tax Calculator (US & Canada, 2026)

• Your marginal rate applies only to your next dollar; your average rate is what you actually pay, and it is always lower.
• The US subtracts a standard deduction before any bracket applies; Canada instead shelters the first slice of income with a credit at the lowest rate.
• Payroll deductions are not income tax — they follow their own caps, and they are why take-home pay falls short of income minus tax.
• Region choice moves the total by thousands: pick yours for the full bracket table and a region-specific worked example.

How the income tax calculator works

This tool estimates your 2026 income tax and take-home pay for any Canadian province or territory and any US state. It applies that region’s own marginal brackets on top of the federal brackets, along with the basic personal amount (Canada) or the standard deduction (US), so higher earnings are taxed progressively rather than all at one rate.

The math

Both countries tax progressively: income is sliced into bands and each band is taxed at its own rate, so a raise is taxed at your top rate while everything below it is unaffected. The calculator applies the federal schedule first, then the region’s own schedule on top, and reduces the result by the deduction or credit that shelters the first slice of income — the US standard deduction, subtracted from income before any bracket is touched, or Canada’s basic personal amount, applied instead as a credit at the lowest rate. That structural difference is why two regions with similar headline rates can produce different take-home pay.

Payroll deductions are then applied separately, because they are not income tax and do not follow the same brackets: Social Security and Medicare in the US, the first capped at an annual wage base and the second uncapped; Canada Pension Plan or Quebec Pension Plan contributions and Employment Insurance premiums in Canada, each with its own annual maximum.

What is left out: most credits beyond the standard deduction or personal amount, local and city income taxes, provincial surtaxes, and anything you have not entered under Advanced options. It is a close estimate of a straightforward return, not a substitute for filing one.

Worked example

On $85,000 of wages in California filing single, the calculator returns $9,870 of federal tax and $3,932 of state tax — $13,802 in total, an average rate of 16.2% — plus $6,503 of Social Security and Medicare. Take-home pay is $64,695, and the next dollar earned is taxed at 31.3%.

The same $85,000 in Ontario produces $11,545 of federal tax and $4,912 of provincial tax — $16,457, an average of 19.4% — plus $5,769 of Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance, for take-home pay of $62,774. The headline income tax is higher and the payroll deduction is lower, which is the pattern across most of the comparison and the reason a single cross-border rate quote is never useful.

Key terms

Marginal rate

The rate on your next dollar earned — your top bracket. It is what matters for a raise, a bonus or a deduction, and never what you pay on the whole income.

Average (effective) rate

Total tax divided by total income. Always lower than the marginal rate, because the earlier slices of income were taxed in lower brackets.

Standard deduction / basic personal amount

The slice of income that escapes tax. The US subtracts a fixed amount from income before brackets apply; Canada instead grants a non-refundable credit at the lowest rate.

Payroll deductions

Contributions taken off pay that are not income tax — Social Security and Medicare in the US, Canada Pension Plan or Quebec Pension Plan and Employment Insurance in Canada. Each has its own rate and annual cap.