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A tax bracket is a range of income taxed at a specific rate. Your total income can fall into multiple brackets, each taxed differently.
In Depth
In a progressive tax system, different portions of your taxable income are taxed at different rates. Each tax bracket represents a specific income range, and the tax rate applied to that income range is called the marginal tax rate. As your income increases, higher portions of it are taxed at higher rates, but only the income within that higher bracket is subject to the higher rate, not your entire income. This system aims to tax higher earners at a greater percentage.
Example
If the first $10,000 of income is taxed at 10% and the next $20,000 is taxed at 12%, these are two different tax brackets.