Marginal vs. effective tax rate: How they differ and how to calculate each rate
Knowing the difference between your marginal and effective tax rate can help you manage your money better.
4 min read
Jun 10, 2025
Andrea Coombes, CFP®
Editor, Taxes
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25Years of experience
LICENSE
- CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
EXPERTISE
- Individual income taxes
- Tax planning and strategy
- U.S. tax policy
- Personal finance
- Investing
- Saving for retirement
EDUCATION
- University of California, Berkeley; B.A. in Sociology
- University of California, Berkeley; Master’s in Journalism
- University of California, Berkeley, Extension; Certificate in Personal Financial Planning
Andrea Coombes, a tax editor at Bankrate, translates complex personal finance topics into understandable language that helps people live their best financial lives. She’s a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and over the past 25 years has worked as a financial coach, personal finance writer and editor, and volunteer tax preparer.
Her work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, MarketWatch and many newspapers nationwide. She's been interviewed on local and national TV and radio, including NPR's All Things Considered, CBS News, NASDAQ and Marketplace.
Andrea has moderated panels on how to invest for retirement, how to use 529 college savings plans and more, and she's an experienced personal-finance speaker who has presented to groups on a variety of topics such as how to budget, improve credit, manage debt, and build savings. She's also worked as a personal financial coach and certified consumer credit counselor, helping people reach their goals. For two tax seasons, she worked a volunteer tax preparer.
Andrea beyond Bankrate
A lot of people are nervous about doing their taxes, and about managing their money in general. I'm here to say: It's not rocket science. There are small steps each of us can take to slowly start moving towards our long-term goals. We can do this, people.
— Andrea Coombes, CFP®
Andrea's latest articles
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What will happen to Social Security under Trump’s tax plan?
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These 9 states have no income tax — that doesn’t always mean you’ll save money
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Sales tax deduction: How it works, who is eligible and how to claim it
Here’s how the sales tax deduction works, what purchases are eligible and how to claim it.
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Lower taxes, higher tariffs: What Trump’s tax plans mean for you
Trump’s tax and tariff plans could mean lower taxes for some Americans and higher costs for others.
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Tax hikes or tax cuts? Here’s how Harris and Trump compare on taxes
If Congress does nothing next year, taxes could increase for millions of Americans.
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