What Is the Average Amount of Taxes a Person Pays?
What Is the Average Amount of Taxes a Person Pays?
The short answer is that there is no single number that describes what a typical person pays, because the average is pulled up by high earners. The best official data comes from the Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income program, known as SOI, for tax year 2023, the latest complete year available when this article was written. The Tax Foundation summarized that IRS data in April 2026, and this article uses its figures, with the tax year and source stated each time.
For tax year 2023, the IRS counted 160.6 million individual income tax returns, reporting $15.29 trillion of adjusted gross income and $2.15 trillion of total federal individual income tax. Divide the tax by the returns and you get about $13,388 of federal income tax per return. But only 111.6 million returns, or 69.5 percent, owed any federal income tax at all. Among the returns that did owe tax, the average bill was $19,251. And the average tax rate across all returns was 14.1 percent of adjusted gross income. All three numbers are correct, and they describe different things, which is why this question needs a careful answer.
What Does Average Tax Actually Mean?
An average can mean at least three different things, and people mix them up. First, the average tax bill is the total tax collected divided by the number of returns. That is the $13,388 figure above. Second, the average tax rate is the total tax divided by total income. That is the 14.1 percent figure. Third, the average bill among people who actually owe tax is $19,251, because the 49.0 million returns that owed nothing are left out of that calculation.
Average Federal Income Tax by Income Group, Tax Year 2023
The table below shows the Tax Foundation summary of IRS SOI data for tax year 2023. The average tax rate is total income tax divided by adjusted gross income for that group.
| Income group | Average tax rate | Share of all federal income tax |
|---|---|---|
| Top 1 percent, AGI of $675,602 or more | 26.3% | 38.4% |
| Top 5 percent | 23.0% | 59.3% |
| Top 10 percent | 20.9% | 70.5% |
| Bottom 50 percent, AGI under $53,801 | 3.7% | 3.3% |
| All returns | 14.1% | 100% |
Read the table from the bottom up and the pattern is clear. The bottom half of filers, earning under $53,801, paid an average rate of 3.7 percent and contributed only 3.3 percent of all federal income tax. The top 1 percent paid an average rate of 26.3 percent, about seven times the bottom half rate, and contributed 38.4 percent of all federal income tax, even though they earned 20.6 percent of all adjusted gross income.
Why High Earners Pay a Larger Share
Three features of the tax system push the average up at the top. First, the marginal rate structure taxes each layer of income at a higher rate. A filer in the 37 percent bracket still pays 10 percent on the first layer of taxable income, 12 percent on the next, and so on, but a much larger share of their income sits in the higher layers. Their effective rate is still below 37 percent, but it is far above the rate paid by a middle income filer.
None of this means the average person pays 26.3 percent, or 14.1 percent. The average blends very different groups, so look at the group closest to your income, not at the overall average.
Worked Example: A Single Filer Earning $75,000
Let us work through one complete example with real math, using the official 2026 tax brackets from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32. Meet Alex, a single filer who earns $75,000 in wages in 2026. Alex takes the standard deduction and has no other income, deductions, or credits in this example. A real return with credits or other income would look different.
Step 1: Start with gross income. Alex earns $75,000.
Step 2: Subtract the 2026 standard deduction for a single filer, which is $16,100. So $75,000 minus $16,100 equals $58,900. That is taxable income.
Step 3: Apply the 2026 brackets, one layer at a time. First layer: 10 percent on the first $12,400. That is $12,400 times 0.10, which equals $1,240. Second layer: 12 percent on the income from $12,400 to $50,400. That range is $38,000 wide. So $38,000 times 0.12 equals $4,560. Third layer: 22 percent on the income from $50,400 to $58,900. That range is $8,500 wide. So $8,500 times 0.22 equals $1,870.
Step 4: Add the layers together. $1,240 plus $4,560 plus $1,870 equals $7,670. That is Alex’s federal income tax before any credits.
Step 5: Compare Alex with the averages. Alex’s effective rate is $7,670 divided by $75,000, or about 10.2 percent of salary. That is below the 14.1 percent overall average rate for tax year 2023, and below the $13,388 average tax per return, and well below the $19,251 average among returns that owed tax. Alex is in the 22 percent bracket, yet pays 10.2 percent of salary in federal income tax. The gap comes from the standard deduction and the lower brackets, which do most of the work before the 22 percent layer starts.
Why Averages Mislead: Four Reasons
First, the mean is pulled up by a small number of very large tax bills. The top 1 percent includes about 1.53 million returns, and their tax bills run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The median tax bill, the bill paid by the filer in the exact middle, would be far lower than the $13,388 mean.
Second, almost a third of returns owe no federal income tax at all. In tax year 2023, 49.0 million returns owed nothing, and 70 percent of those were filed by people with incomes up to $50,000. The standard deduction and refundable credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, wipe out the tax bill for many low income households. Some of those households even receive a refund larger than the tax they paid in, because of refundable credits. If you include those zero bills in the average, the average falls. If you exclude them, it rises to $19,251. Both numbers are honest, but they answer different questions.
Third, averages hide the effect of credits. Two households with the same income can owe very different amounts of tax if one of them claims the Child Tax Credit and the other does not. For 2026, the maximum Earned Income Tax Credit is $8,231 for qualifying taxpayers with three or more qualifying children, according to IRS news release IR-2025-103.
Fourth, federal income tax is only part of the total. Payroll taxes apply from the first dollar of wages, with no standard deduction, so a low income worker who owes no federal income tax still pays payroll tax on every paycheck. A clear primer on your total FICA contribution explains how those payroll taxes add up.
What Would Someone at Your Income Pay?
The most useful question is not what the average person pays, but what someone at your income pays. The table below uses the 2026 brackets and the $16,100 single standard deduction, with no credits, to show federal income tax at four salary levels. These are estimates for a single filer with wage income only.
| Salary, single filer | Taxable income | Federal income tax | Effective rate on salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $33,900 | $3,820 | 7.6% |
| $75,000 | $58,900 | $7,670 | 10.2% |
| $100,000 | $83,900 | $13,170 | 13.2% |
| $150,000 | $133,900 | $24,734 | 16.5% |
Notice how the effective rate climbs steadily, from 7.6 percent to 16.5 percent, while the marginal rate moves from 12 percent to 24 percent. Even at $150,000, the effective rate is well below the top rate, because the lower layers still shelter a large part of the income. A married couple filing jointly would pay less at the same combined income, because their standard deduction is $32,200 and their brackets are wider.
What the Average Does Not Include
The $13,388 average and the 14.1 percent average rate cover federal individual income tax only. They leave out several taxes that most people pay every year. State income tax is the biggest one for many households, and it varies widely. Some states have no income tax. Others charge a flat rate, and others have their own brackets. Your state tax agency publishes those figures, and they are not part of the IRS data in this article.
How to Estimate Your Own Tax in Five Steps
Step 1: Add up your income for the year, including wages, self employment income, interest, and other income. Step 2: Subtract adjustments, such as traditional retirement contributions and student loan interest, to reach adjusted gross income. Step 3: Subtract the standard deduction for your filing status, or your itemized deductions if they are larger. For 2026, the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household. Step 4: Apply the 2026 brackets layer by layer to your taxable income, as in the worked example, to get your federal income tax before credits. Step 5: Subtract any credits you qualify for, such as the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit, to reach your final tax.
Once you have your estimate, compare it with the group closest to your income, not with the overall average, then use that number in your budget. Our guide on how to create a monthly budget shows a simple method for sorting income, bills, and savings around your after tax pay, and learning how do I review my budget at the end of the month will help you spot the gap between your estimate and your real spending. Learning what is discretionary income will help you tell flexible money apart from money you must spend.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average federal income tax a person pays?
For tax year 2023, the latest complete IRS Statistics of Income data, the average was about $13,388 of federal income tax per return, based on $2.15 trillion of tax across 160.6 million returns. Among the 111.6 million returns that owed tax, the average bill was $19,251. The average tax rate was 14.1 percent of adjusted gross income. These figures cover federal individual income tax only, not payroll, state, or sales tax.
What is the average tax rate for a middle income person?
The middle 40 percent of filers, with adjusted gross income from $53,801 to $187,608 in tax year 2023, paid an average federal income tax rate of about 9.2 percent, derived from the IRS percentile tables. A single filer earning $75,000 in 2026 would pay about 10.2 percent of salary in federal income tax, before credits, using the 2026 brackets and standard deduction. Your own rate depends on your filing status, deductions, and credits.
Why is the average tax rate 14.1 percent when most people pay less?
Because the average blends all income groups, and high earners pull it up. The top 1 percent paid an average rate of 26.3 percent, while the bottom half paid 3.7 percent. The median filer pays less than the average filer, which is normal whenever a small group has very large values.
Do most Americans pay federal income tax?
In tax year 2023, 111.6 million returns, or 69.5 percent, owed federal income tax, and 49.0 million returns owed none. Most of the returns that owed nothing belonged to people with incomes up to $50,000. Almost all workers still pay payroll taxes, even when they owe no federal income tax.
Where can I check the official figures myself?
The source data is published by the IRS Statistics of Income program, on the IRS Tax Stats pages at SOI tax stats: What’s new. The Tax Foundation summary of the tax year 2023 data, which this article uses for the group figures, is at Who Pays Federal Income Taxes?. The 2026 brackets and standard deduction used in the worked example are in IRS news release IR-2025-103, at IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026.
Conclusion
So what is the average amount of taxes a person pays? The honest answer is that it depends on which average you mean. The average federal income tax per return in tax year 2023 was about $13,388. The average among returns that owed tax was $19,251. The average rate was 14.1 percent of adjusted gross income. But the bottom half of filers paid 3.7 percent, the middle 40 percent paid about 9.2 percent, and the top 1 percent paid 26.3 percent. No single number describes a typical person, because the typical person is not the average of a billionaire and a part time worker.
Use the group closest to your income, run your own numbers with the five steps above, and remember that federal income tax is only part of your total tax. Once you know your own number, you can budget with it, instead of guessing from a national average that was never meant to describe you.
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
