Taxes

Take-Home Pay Calculator

Your salary is not your paycheck. This calculator turns gross pay into what actually hits your bank account — subtracting 2026 federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, your 401(k) and health premiums, and an estimate of state tax — shown per paycheck and per year.

Formula shown below · Checked against published figures for 2026How we verify

Gross annual salary

Filing status

Pay frequency

401(k) contribution

Traditional (pre-tax). Reduces income tax but not FICA.

Health insurance (monthly)

Employer-plan premiums are typically pre-tax for both income tax and FICA.

State income tax rate

Flat estimate. Nine states have no income tax — set 0. Progressive states vary; use your effective rate.

Take-home pay (biweekly)

$2,287.45

Take-home pay (yearly): $59,474
Federal income tax (yearly): $8,220
Social Security & Medicare: $6,319
State tax estimate: $3,488
Pre-tax deductions (401k + health): $7,500
Total tax rate (on gross): 21.21%

Take-home pay$59,47470%

Federal income tax$8,22010%

Social Security & Medicare$6,3197%

State tax$3,4884%

Pre-tax (401k + health)$7,5009%

Paycheck breakdown

Line item	Yearly	Per paycheck
Gross pay	$85,000	$3,269.23
401(k) contribution	$5,100	$196.15
Health premiums	$2,400	$92.31
Federal income tax	$8,220	$316.15
Social Security	$5,121	$196.97
Medicare	$1,198	$46.07
State tax (est.)	$3,488	$134.13
Take-home pay	$59,474	$2,287.45

Compare scenariosTry three values of one input

Vary

Take-Home Pay Calculator results for three values of Gross annual salary
Gross annual salary
Take-home pay (biweekly)	$2,098.40	$2,287.45+$189.05	$2,500.12+$401.72
Take-home pay (yearly)	$54,558	$59,474+$4,915	$65,003+$10,445
Federal income tax (yearly)	$6,566	$8,220+$1,654	$10,081+$3,516
Social Security & Medicare	$5,707	$6,319+$612	$7,007+$1,301
State tax estimate	$3,149	$3,488+$338	$3,868+$719
Pre-tax deductions (401k + health)	$7,020	$7,500+$480	$8,040+$1,020

Every other input stays at the value you set above — currently $85,000 for gross annual salary. Differences are measured against the first column.

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State income tax rates by state →

How this calculator works

Federal tax uses the official 2026 brackets and standard deduction (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32). FICA uses the 2026 Social Security wage base of $184,500 (SSA) plus Medicare with the 0.9% additional tax above the statutory thresholds. 401(k) contributions are exempt from income tax but not FICA; health premiums are treated as exempt from both (typical Section 125 plan).

State tax is a flat-rate estimate on income after pre-tax deductions — real state systems have their own brackets, deductions, and local add-ons. Credits and other income sources are out of scope; treat results as a close planning estimate, not a payroll run.

Formula

Net  = G − P − FIT − FICA
T    = max(0, G − P − D)
FIT  = Σᵢ (min(T, uᵢ) − uᵢ₋₁) × rᵢ
FICA = 0.062 × min(G, W) + 0.0145 × G + 0.009 × max(0, G − A)

G: Gross annual pay, before any deduction
P: Pre-tax deductions — 401(k), HSA, health premiums
D: Standard deduction for your filing status
T: Taxable income, the figure the brackets apply to
uᵢ, rᵢ: Upper bound and marginal rate of bracket i
W: Social Security wage base — earnings above it are exempt
A: Additional Medicare threshold for your filing status

FICA is charged on gross wages, so pre-tax contributions reduce income tax but not payroll tax. State income tax is applied separately and varies by state.

What this assumes

State income tax is modelled as one flat rate. Nine states levy none; progressive states vary by bracket, so enter your effective rate rather than your top one.
No local or city income tax, which some jurisdictions add on top.
The standard deduction for your filing status. Itemizing changes the federal figure.
Pre-tax deductions reduce income tax but not FICA, which is charged on gross wages.

What changes this number

Filing status: Changes both the standard deduction and the bracket thresholds, so it moves the federal figure before any other input does.
State of residence: The single largest swing between two identical salaries. Zero to over 10% at the top.
Pre-tax contributions: A dollar into a traditional 401(k) or HSA costs less than a dollar of take-home, because it is deducted before income tax.

A worked example

Take the single, $70k, biweekly, no state tax scenario. These figures are produced by the calculator above, not written alongside it, so they always match what the tool returns.

What you enter

Gross annual salary: $70,000
Filing status: Single
State income tax rate: 0%

What it returns

Take-home pay (biweekly): $2,030.79
Take-home pay (yearly): $52,801
Federal income tax (yearly): $5,428
Social Security & Medicare: $5,171
State tax estimate: $0

Sources

IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (tax year 2026 inflation adjustments)
Published October 2025 · Figures last verified July 2, 2026
SSA 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment Fact Sheet (wage base)
Published October 24, 2025 · Figures last verified July 2, 2026

Calculator last reviewed August 8, 2026. How we verify

Try an example

Single, $70k, biweekly, no state tax Married, $140k, 10% to 401(k)High earner: single, $250k in California (~9%)

Frequently asked questions

Why is my take-home pay so much less than my salary?

Four forces shrink a paycheck: federal income tax (10–37% marginal), FICA (7.65% for most workers — 6.2% Social Security plus 1.45% Medicare), state income tax in most states, and your own pre-tax benefits like a 401(k) and health premiums. A typical single earner keeps roughly 70–78% of gross pay.

Do 401(k) contributions reduce all my taxes?

Traditional 401(k) contributions reduce federal (and usually state) income tax, but not Social Security or Medicare tax — FICA is charged on your pay before the 401(k) comes out. Employer-sponsored health premiums usually escape both, which is why they're the most tax-efficient deduction on the stub.

How accurate is the state tax estimate?

It's a flat-rate approximation you control. Nine states (including Texas, Florida, and Washington) have no wage income tax — enter 0. Others range from about 3% to over 13% (California's top rate). For a progressive state, enter your effective rate rather than your top bracket.

What is the extra Medicare tax on high earners?

Wages above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married filing jointly) incur an Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9% on the excess. This calculator applies it automatically. Social Security tax, by contrast, stops entirely on 2026 wages above $184,500.

Why does my real paycheck differ slightly from this estimate?

Employers withhold using your W-4 elections, which spread your expected annual tax across paychecks — bonuses, mid-year raises, and extra withholding all shift the per-check number. This tool shows the underlying annual math; your actual refund or bill settles the difference at filing time.

What is the take-home pay on a $100,000 salary?

For a single filer in 2026 with no state income tax and no pre-tax deductions, about $72,812 a year — roughly $2,800.45 per biweekly paycheck. Federal income tax takes $11,322 and FICA $7,466. A state income tax reduces it further.

How much do I actually keep from a $60,000 salary?

A single filer in a state with a 5% income tax keeps about $42,594 a year, or $1,638.22 biweekly — around 71% of gross. Federal tax is $4,300, FICA $4,406 and state tax $2,700.

This calculator helps answer

What will I actually take home?

Turn a salary offer into the number that reaches your account, then check what a raise, a contribution change or self-employment does to it.