California Income Tax Rates and Brackets Explained

California taxes personal income at nine rates from 1% to 12.3%, and adds a 1% Behavioral Health Services Tax on taxable income above $1,000,000, for a top marginal rate of 13.3% — the highest state rate in the country. For tax year 2025 (returns filed in 2026), the 9.3% bracket that most middle-income Californians land in starts at $72,724 of taxable income for single filers and $145,448 for married couples filing jointly.

This guide gives you the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) brackets for 2025 and 2024, the deductions and credits that come off before and after the rate schedule, and three worked examples. To run your own numbers, use the California income tax calculator.

Which year's brackets should you use?

California indexes its brackets, standard deduction, and exemption credits to California inflation every year, so the dollar thresholds change annually while the nine rates stay the same.

• Tax year 2025 — the most recent schedule the FTB has published. You use it for the return due April 15, 2026, and the FTB's 2026 Form 540-ES worksheet also tells you to use the 2025 tax table to estimate 2026 tax.
• Tax year 2024 — the prior schedule, which you still need if you are amending a 2024 return or filing late. The site's California calculator currently applies this 2024 schedule.
• Tax year 2026 — not released as of October 2026. Expect thresholds a few percent above 2025.

2025 California tax brackets (latest published)

These thresholds come from the FTB's 2025 California Tax Rate Schedules. The amounts are taxable income (Form 540, line 19), meaning income after your standard or itemized deduction.

The FTB prints a base tax for each row so you do not have to add up every bracket. For a single filer, for example, tax on the first $72,724 is $3,201.97, and tax on the first $742,953 is $72,219.84. Each row's rate applies only to the dollars inside that row.

2024 California tax brackets (prior year)

From the FTB's 2024 California Tax Rate Schedules:

Notice that the joint thresholds are roughly double the single thresholds through the 11.3% bracket. That is why a married couple with one earner usually pays noticeably less California tax than a single person with the same income.

The 1% tax on income over $1 million

Proposition 63 (2004) added a 1% surcharge on taxable income above $1,000,000. Starting with tax year 2025 the FTB calls it the Behavioral Health Services Tax; it was previously the Mental Health Services Tax. It is computed separately on Form 540, line 62: taxable income minus $1,000,000, times 1%.

Two details trip people up:

• The $1,000,000 threshold is not indexed and is the same for every filing status, including married couples filing jointly.
• It is a tax on taxable income, not on wages only, so a one-time capital gain from selling a business or a block of stock can trigger it in a single year.

California standard deduction and exemption credits

California's deductions are small next to the federal ones, and its personal exemptions are credits (subtracted from tax) instead of deductions.

Sources: the FTB 2025 Form 540 2EZ booklet and 2024 Form 540 2EZ booklet, which state the deduction and credit amounts built into each year's tables.

For comparison, the federal standard deduction for 2026 is $16,100 for single filers and $32,200 for joint filers. You can see how the two systems interact with the standard deduction calculator.

Exemption credits phase out at high incomes

If your federal AGI (Form 540, line 13) is above the threshold for your filing status, each exemption credit shrinks by $6 for every $2,500 of AGI over the line ($1,250 if married filing separately). For 2025 the thresholds are $252,203 single or separate, $504,411 joint, and $378,310 head of household, per the 2025 Form 540 booklet. A single filer's $153 credit is gone once AGI passes about $317,000.

How to calculate California income tax step by step

1. Start with federal AGI, then make California adjustments on Schedule CA (540). Common add-backs: HSA contributions and earnings (California does not recognize HSAs), and interest from other states' municipal bonds. Common subtractions: Social Security benefits and U.S. Treasury interest.
2. Subtract the standard deduction or California itemized deductions, whichever is larger. The result is taxable income on line 19.
3. Find the tax. If taxable income is $100,000 or less, use the FTB tax table in the Form 540 booklet. Above $100,000, use the rate schedule.
4. Subtract exemption credits and any other credits (renter's credit, child and dependent care credit, and others).
5. Add the 1% Behavioral Health Services Tax if taxable income exceeds $1,000,000.

Worked example 1: single filer earning $80,000

A single Californian with $80,000 of wages and no adjustments, tax year 2025:

• Taxable income: $80,000 − $5,706 = $74,294
• Tax on the first $72,724 (from the schedule): $3,201.97
• Tax on the rest: ($74,294 − $72,724) × 9.3% = $1,570 × 9.3% = $146.01
• Tax before credits: $3,201.97 + $146.01 = $3,347.98
• Minus personal exemption credit: $3,347.98 − $153 = $3,194.98

Effective rate on gross income: $3,195 ÷ $80,000 = 4.0%. Marginal rate: 9.3%. Because taxable income is under $100,000, the official tax table amount can differ by about a dollar, since the table uses the midpoint of each $100 row.

The same wages in 2024 produced more tax: $80,000 − $5,540 = $74,460 taxable; tax $3,467.14 − $149 credit = $3,318.14. Indexing alone lowered this person's bill by about $123.

Worked example 2: married couple earning $150,000 with two children

Joint filers, $150,000 of wages, two dependents, standard deduction, tax year 2025:

• Taxable income: $150,000 − $11,412 = $138,588
• Tax on the first $115,084: $3,974.82
• Tax on the rest: ($138,588 − $115,084) × 8% = $23,504 × 8% = $1,880.32
• Tax before credits: $5,855.14
• Credits: $306 personal + (2 × $475) dependents = $1,256
• California tax: $5,855.14 − $1,256 = $4,599.14

Effective rate: about 3.1% of gross income. This couple sits in the 8% bracket; the 9.3% bracket does not start until $145,448 of taxable income.

Worked example 3: single filer with $1.2 million of taxable income

• Tax on the first $742,953: $72,219.84
• Tax on the rest: ($1,200,000 − $742,953) × 12.3% = $457,047 × 12.3% = $56,216.78
• Behavioral Health Services Tax: ($1,200,000 − $1,000,000) × 1% = $2,000
• Exemption credit: $0 (fully phased out at this AGI)
• Total California tax: $72,219.84 + $56,216.78 + $2,000 = $130,436.62

That is an effective rate of about 10.9% of taxable income, with the next dollar taxed at 13.3%.

How California differs from the federal income tax

The capital gains point matters most for investors. Selling stock with a $100,000 long-term gain costs $9,300 of California tax for someone solidly in the 9.3% bracket and up to $13,300 for someone already above $1 million of taxable income, on top of federal tax; see short-term vs long-term capital gains tax rates for the federal side. The mortgage rule comes from the FTB's Form 540 booklet, which states California did not conform to the federal $750,000 limit.

Retirement income in California

California exempts Social Security benefits but taxes almost everything else retirees live on: private and government pensions, traditional IRA and 401(k) withdrawals, and annuity income are all ordinary income at the rates above. There is no age-based pension exclusion. Seniors 65 and older get an extra $153 exemption credit (2025) per qualifying spouse. If you are weighing a move in retirement, the California vs Nevada tax comparison and the Arizona vs California comparison work through retiree budgets.

Who must file a California return

For 2025 a single filer under 65 with no dependents must file if California gross income exceeds $22,941 or California AGI exceeds $18,353. For married couples filing jointly with both spouses under 65, the thresholds are $45,887 gross income and $36,711 AGI. The figures rise with age and dependents; the full chart is in the 2025 Form 540 2EZ booklet. If tax was withheld from your paycheck, file anyway to get it back.

Deadlines and estimated payments

The 2025 return is due April 15, 2026, with an automatic six-month extension to file (not to pay) until October 15, 2026. California front-loads estimated tax: the 2026 Form 540-ES instructions require 30% of the year's required payment by April 15, 2026, 40% by June 15, 2026, nothing in September, and the final 30% by January 15, 2027. If you paid quarterly in equal amounts for federal purposes, check that your June California payment is large enough.

Ways to lower your California tax

• Pre-tax 401(k) and 403(b) deferrals reduce California wages just as they do federal wages. At a 9.3% marginal rate, a $10,000 deferral saves $930 of state tax.
• Traditional IRA deductions follow federal rules and are allowed on the California return.
• HSAs do not help on the state return. Contributions are added back to California income, so budget for state tax on them; the HSA calculator shows the federal benefit.
• Time large capital gains. Because California has no capital gains rate, spreading a sale over two tax years can keep part of the gain out of the 10.3%–12.3% brackets and below the $1,000,000 surcharge line.
• Claim refundable credits. The CalEITC, Young Child Tax Credit, and Foster Youth Tax Credit are refundable and claimed on form FTB 3514.

Form 540 or Form 540 2EZ?

Full-year residents with only wages, interest, dividends, pensions, and mutual-fund capital gain distributions, no adjustments to income, and total income of $100,000 or less (single or head of household) or $200,000 or less (joint) can use the shorter Form 540 2EZ. The Form 540 2EZ guide covers the full eligibility list, and the 540 2EZ calculator estimates the table result. Everyone else files Form 540, or Form 540NR if they were a part-year resident or nonresident.

How California compares with no-income-tax neighbors

California's income tax is the main reason it ranks near the top for total state and local tax burden, but its property tax is relatively low because of Proposition 13. Whether moving saves money depends on your income, home value, and spending; the California vs Texas and Tennessee vs California comparisons run the numbers for several household types.