California taxes your income in nine bands, from 1% to 12.3%, plus 1% on taxable income above $1,000,000. Each rate only touches the slice of income inside its band, so a single filer on $100,000 pays 5.1% overall.
The calculator uses the Franchise Tax Board's (FTB) schedules. It shows your marginal rate, the rate on your next dollar. It also shows your effective rate: the tax as a share of your income.
Which tax year does it cover?
The figures are for tax year 2025. That's the return due on April 15, 2026, or on October 15, 2026, with the automatic extension.
Each year the FTB adjusts the bands, deduction and credits for California inflation, which it measured at 3.0% for 2025.
Already estimating 2026? The FTB's own 2026 estimated-tax worksheet tells you to figure the tax using the 2025 tax table. So these schedules are also the official basis for 2026 estimates.
What income should you enter?
Enter your California adjusted gross income (AGI). Form 540 starts from your federal AGI. Schedule CA then subtracts and adds the items where California's rules differ. Four change what you should enter:
- Social Security: leave it out. California excludes U.S. Social Security benefits and Tier 1 railroad retirement benefits.
- Unemployment pay: leave it out too. California excludes it.
- Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions: add them back. California doesn't allow the federal HSA deduction, and your employer's HSA contributions count as income.
- Capital gains: include them in full. California taxes long- and short-term gains as regular income, with no special rate for either.
The calculator always subtracts the standard deduction: $5,706 for single filers, $11,412 for joint and head-of-household filers. Form 540 lets you take your itemized deductions instead when they're larger, even if you took the federal standard deduction.
To model that, lower the income you enter by the difference. A single filer with $15,000 of itemized deductions would enter AGI minus $9,294 ($15,000 − $5,706).
What single filers pay, from $30,000 to $250,000
The calculator works in three steps:
Here's what a single filer pays at six incomes:
| Income | California tax | Marginal rate | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $222 | 2.0% | 0.7% |
| $50,000 | $1,040 | 6.0% | 2.1% |
| $75,000 | $2,775 | 8.0% | 3.7% |
| $100,000 | $5,055 | 9.3% | 5.1% |
| $150,000 | $9,705 | 9.3% | 6.5% |
| $250,000 | $19,005 | 9.3% | 7.6% |
The 9.3% band is wide, running from $72,724 to $371,479 of taxable income. Everyone in it shares one marginal rate, while the effective rate climbs from 5.1% at $100,000 to 7.6% at $250,000.
Does a raise push all your income into a higher band?
No. Only the dollars beyond a band's upper limit pay the next rate. A single filer on $78,430 has exactly $72,724 of taxable income, the top of the 8% band. Here's what $10,000 more does:
| Single filer | Income | California tax | Marginal rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top of the 8% band | $78,430 | $3,049 | 8.0% |
| After a $10,000 raise | $88,430 | $3,979 | 9.3% |
The tax rises by $930, which is 9.3% of the extra $10,000. The first $78,430 is taxed exactly as before.
How much does filing status change the bill?
The joint bands are exactly twice as wide as the single ones. The 1% band, for example, ends at $22,158 instead of $11,079. Joint filers also get double the standard deduction and a $306 exemption credit instead of $153.
Head of household gets the joint-sized deduction of $11,412 but the single credit of $153. Its 9.3% band starts at $98,990 of taxable income, between the single $72,724 and the joint $145,448. Here's $120,000 under each status:
| Filing status | California tax | Marginal rate | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single or married filing separately | $6,915 | 9.3% | 5.8% |
| Head of household | $4,356 | 9.3% | 3.6% |
| Married filing jointly | $3,279 | 6.0% | 2.7% |
On the same income, a joint return owes less than half the single figure. Married couples filing separately use the single schedule, so the calculator groups the two.
Credits you still need to subtract
The calculator only takes off the personal exemption credit. For 2025, subtract another $475 for each dependent you claim. A head of household with two children and $120,000 of income would owe $4,356 − $950 = $3,406.
Renters should also check the renter's credit. For 2025, your AGI must be $53,994 or less if single, or $107,988 or less if joint.
Two rules that kick in at high incomes
The exemption credit fades out
Above $252,203 of federal AGI, a single filer's $153 credit shrinks. The FTB cuts $6 for every $2,500 over that line, or part of it. The line is $504,411 for joint returns and $378,310 for heads of household.
Once AGI passes $314,703, or $62,500 over the line, the cut reaches 26 steps × $6 = $156. That wipes out a single filer's credit. The calculator keeps the full credit at every income, so add the cut to its result.
1% more above $1 million
Taxable income above $1,000,000 also pays the 1% Behavioral Health Services Tax, previously called the Mental Health Services Tax. The FTB worksheet subtracts the same $1,000,000 on joint returns, so couples get no higher threshold. That makes the top rate 13.3%.
The calculator adds this 1% to the tax, but its marginal-rate line shows the band rate alone. Add one point for income past the threshold. On $1,500,000 of taxable income, the extra tax is 1% of $500,000, or $5,000.
Paying it during the year
The FTB expects estimated payments if you'll owe $500 or more for 2026 after withholding and credits. The limit is $250 if you're married filing separately.
California front-loads them: 30% by April 15, 40% by June 15, nothing in September and 30% by January 15, 2027. On a $10,000 bill, that's $3,000, then $4,000, then $3,000.
For the federal bill, use the tax bracket calculator; for Social Security and Medicare, the FICA calculator. The salary calculator turns both into take-home pay.