Take-home pay calculator: what your paycheck is really worth

Gross salary is what you negotiate. Take-home pay is what arrives. Between the two sit pre-tax deductions, federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and whatever state and local income tax applies where you live, each computed on a slightly different base and in a specific order.

This page estimates that sequence using 2026 federal figures and a flat state rate you supply. It is an approximation of an annual return, not a replica of your employer's payroll engine, but it gets close enough to plan against and it makes the mechanics visible.

The most useful thing here is not the final number. It is seeing which deduction reduces which tax, because that is what determines whether an extra dollar of retirement contribution saves you 12 cents or 24.

#The formula

Take-home pay is gross pay minus four categories of subtraction, applied in order.

Formula: Take-home = gross - pre-tax deductions - federal income tax - Social Security - Medicare - state and local tax

The bases differ, and that is the whole point:

• Pre-tax retirement = gross x contribution rate. Reduces income tax, not FICA.
• Other pre-tax deductions (health premiums and similar cafeteria-plan items) = monthly amount x 12. Reduces income tax and FICA.
• Federal taxable income = gross - retirement - other pre-tax - standard deduction, floored at zero, then run through the bracket schedule.
• Social Security = 6.2% x min(FICA wages, $184,500) for 2026, where FICA wages are gross minus the cafeteria-plan deductions only.
• Medicare = 1.45% x FICA wages, plus an additional 0.9% on FICA wages above $200,000 single or $250,000 married filing jointly.
• State and local = flat rate x (gross - pre-tax deductions), a simplification.

#A worked example, step by step

A single filer on $72,000, contributing 6% pre-tax, with $200 a month of other pre-tax deductions and a 4.5% state and local rate, paid every two weeks.

1. Retirement: 72,000 x 0.06 = $4,320.
2. Other pre-tax: 200 x 12 = $2,400.
3. Wages after pre-tax deductions: 72,000 - 4,320 - 2,400 = $65,280.
4. Federal taxable income: 65,280 - 16,100 standard deduction = $49,180.
5. Federal tax, 10% on the first $12,400: 12,400 x 0.10 = $1,240.
6. Federal tax, 12% on the rest: (49,180 - 12,400) x 0.12 = 36,780 x 0.12 = $4,413.60. Federal total: $5,653.60.
7. FICA wages: 72,000 - 2,400 = $69,600 (the 401(k) does not reduce this).
8. Social Security: 69,600 x 0.062 = $4,315.20.
9. Medicare: 69,600 x 0.0145 = $1,009.20. No surtax, since $69,600 is below $200,000.
10. State and local: 65,280 x 0.045 = $2,937.60.
11. Take-home: 72,000 - 4,320 - 2,400 - 5,653.60 - 4,315.20 - 1,009.20 - 2,937.60 = $51,364.40.

Per paycheck: 51,364.40 / 26 = $1,975.55. Total tax is 5,653.60 + 4,315.20 + 1,009.20 + 2,937.60 = $13,915.60, an effective rate of 13,915.60 / 72,000 = 19.33%, while the top bracket touched is 12%.

#Why 401(k) money escapes income tax but not FICA

Elective deferrals to a traditional 401(k) are excluded from federal taxable wages but not from wages subject to Social Security and Medicare. Cafeteria-plan deductions such as qualifying health premiums are generally excluded from both.

In the example above, the $4,320 deferral cut federal tax by 6,482.00 - 5,653.60 = $828.40 and state tax by 3,132.00 - 2,937.60 = $194.40, a combined $1,022.80. FICA did not move by a cent. The deferral also lowered taxable income from $53,500 to $49,180, which dropped the top bracket touched from 22% to 12%.

The last column is the one worth reading: deferring 15% costs $8,708 of take-home but moves $10,800 into the account, because the tax saving covers the rest. There is a ceiling on this, though: $24,500 of salary may go into the plan in 2026, a cap that lifts by a further $8,000 from age 50 onward and by $11,250 instead during the narrow window from 60 to 63.

#Marginal versus effective rates

The marginal rate applies only to the next dollar. The effective rate is total tax divided by total income and is always lower, because the early dollars are taxed at 10% and 12% regardless of how much you earn.

Federal tax alone for a single filer taking the $16,100 standard deduction:

A single filer at $220,000 sits in the 32% bracket and pays a federal average of under 19%. Nobody pays their marginal rate on their whole income. The 2026 single brackets run 10% to $12,400, 12% to $50,400, 22% to $105,700, 24% to $201,775, 32% to $256,225, 35% to $640,600 and 37% above that; married filing jointly thresholds are wider.

#The Social Security wage base and the Medicare surtax

Social Security tax stops. For 2026 the employee rate is 6.2% and it applies only to the first $184,500 of wages, so the maximum employee contribution is 184,500 x 0.062 = $11,439. Earn more and the marginal FICA cost of the next dollar falls from 7.65% to 1.45%.

Medicare does not stop. It applies at 1.45% to all wages, and an additional 0.9% applies to wages above $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for married filing jointly. On $247,600 of FICA wages, a single filer pays 247,600 x 0.0145 = $3,590.20 plus (247,600 - 200,000) x 0.009 = $428.40, for $4,018.60.

Note: the surtax threshold is not indexed the way brackets are, and it is based on the individual's wages for withholding purposes even when the couple's combined return settles the final amount.

#Where each input comes from

Gross annual salary. Use the annual figure from your offer letter, or multiply your gross per paycheck by the number of periods. The hourly to salary calculator handles this if you are paid by the hour.

Filing status. This sets both the standard deduction and the bracket widths. Exactly two statuses are modeled: single, which takes the $16,100 standard deduction for 2026, and married filing jointly, which takes $32,200. Married filing separately and head of household are not implemented. Each of those has bracket thresholds of its own, and married filing separately also has a different threshold for the additional Medicare tax, so the numbers here would be wrong for either. The head-of-household standard deduction for 2026 is $24,150; if you file under either status, work from the IRS tables that apply to it.

Pre-tax retirement percentage. Read it off your pay stub as a percentage of gross. If your stub shows a dollar amount, divide by gross pay for the period.

Other pre-tax deductions. Health, dental and vision premiums, plus HSA or FSA contributions taken through payroll. The 2026 HSA limits are $4,400 self-only and $8,750 family.

State and local rate. Look up your state's schedule and use your approximate average rate, not the top bracket. Nine states levy no broad income tax; a few cities add their own.

Paychecks per year. This changes only how the annual total is sliced.

Sensitivity: gross salary and the state rate move the answer most in absolute dollars; the retirement percentage moves take-home down while moving total compensation up.

#How to read the result

The annual take-home figure is the money available for everything: rent, saving, debt payoff and the rest. The per-paycheck figure is the one to budget against.

The effective total tax rate is the honest summary of the burden. The top bracket you touch tells you what a raise or a bonus is worth at the margin, and what a deduction saves.

If the estimate is meaningfully higher than your real check, the usual causes are a state rate entered too low, deductions you forgot, or withholding set by a W-4 that does not match your situation.

#What this model leaves out

• Tax credits. Child, dependent care, education and earned income credits reduce tax after it is calculated. None are modeled.
• Itemized deductions. The model always uses the standard deduction.
• Other income. Interest, dividends, capital gains, self-employment income and a spouse's wages all change the picture.
• Real state rules. States use their own brackets, deductions and credits. A flat rate is a stand-in.
• Local taxes. City and county income taxes, transit levies and school district taxes vary and are not separately modeled.
• W-4 specifics. Employers withhold from each paycheck using the form you filed. Withholding is an estimate, and the difference shows up as a refund or a balance due.
• Supplemental wages. Bonuses and commissions are often withheld at a flat supplemental rate that has little to do with your eventual liability.
• Post-tax deductions. Roth contributions, garnishments, union dues, life insurance and parking come out after tax and are not in this model.
• Employer FICA. Your employer pays a matching 6.2% and 1.45%, which never appears on your stub.

#Common mistakes

Applying the marginal rate to all income. A 22% bracket does not mean 22% of your salary. In the table above, a $100,000 single filer pays 13.17% federal on average.

Assuming a 401(k) cuts payroll tax. It does not. Only cafeteria-plan deductions reduce Social Security and Medicare wages.

Confusing withholding with tax owed. The paycheck deduction is an estimate; the return settles it.

Forgetting the Social Security ceiling. Above $184,500 the next dollar is much cheaper in FICA terms, which is why late-year checks can rise.

Using the top state bracket as the flat rate. Most states have graduated schedules, so the average rate is lower than the top one.

Comparing an offer on gross alone. Two identical salaries in different states can differ by thousands after tax. Comparing the true value of the hours behind them is a separate exercise, handled by the real hourly wage calculator, and freelancers should start from the freelance hourly rate calculator instead, since self-employment tax replaces the employee half of FICA with both halves.

This page is general information, not tax advice. See the disclaimer for the limits of what these estimates can tell you.