Most California income tax returns are AGI 47k or less[2], which we can round up to the top of that (6% marginal!) bracket: 48k. This next bracket, which probab

Most California income tax returns are AGI 47k or less[2], which we can round up to the top of that (6% marginal!) bracket: 48k. This next bracket, which probably starts at the 51 or 52%ile, is taxed by CA at "$1,672.87 plus 8% of the amount over $48,435."[1], which is about 3.45% actual state tax rate. The 9.3% marginal bracket stretches from 61k-313k. (260k is the 95%ile for CA tax returns, so minor-increase brackets above this one don't matter all that much) 10.3% is 313k-375k. 11.3% is 375k-625k. (99%ile is 680k) At 61k, at the end of the 8% bracket, the real tax rate is still just 4.40%. At 100k, 6.30% actual. At 150k, 7.30% actual. At 313k, 8.32% actual. At 375k, 8.67% actual. At 625k, still only 9.72% actual tax rate. We finally cross 10% actual at about $702k AGI. It's really, really important to keep in mind how much marginal rates mess with calculations, particularly when estimating. Also, Californians are statistically much poorer than people often expect, especially around here. [1]: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/california-state-tax https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/california-state-ta... [2]: https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-adjusted-gross-income-agi-percentile-data-by-state https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-adjusted-gross-...