Paycheck Calculator
Find out exactly what lands in your bank account. This calculator applies the 2026 IRS Publication 15-T withholding schedules, Social Security and Medicare, and the current income tax rules for whichever state — and city — you work in, then shows every line separately so you can see where the money went.
Tax year 2026 · Updated 2026-08-29 · Salary and hourly · All 50 states, DC and local income taxes · Free, no sign-up
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What this calculator does that most do not
Three things. It uses the actual percentage method from Publication 15-T rather than a rough bracket estimate, including the Step 2(c) checkbox schedules that apply when you hold two jobs. It models the local income taxes that reach roughly one in six American workers — New York City, Philadelphia, the six hundred Ohio municipalities, every Maryland county, Indiana's ninety-two counties — instead of pretending state tax is the end of the story. And it separates the employee-paid social insurance premiums, such as California's uncapped disability deduction and Washington's long-term care premium, that no-income-tax comparisons usually leave out.
It is also written for the person receiving the paycheck rather than the company issuing it. There is no payroll product being sold here, no lead form, and no advisor matching widget between you and the number you came for.
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Paycheck calculators by state
State income tax is the single largest source of variation between two identical salaries. Nine states take nothing at all; California's top rate reaches 13.3%; Oregon starts at 4.75% on the first dollar because there is no sales tax to lean on. Each state page carries that state's 2026 brackets, its local taxes, its minimum wage and a take-home table computed at ten salary levels.
How your paycheck is calculated
Every US paycheck is built in the same order, and understanding that order explains most of the surprises. First your employer subtracts pre-tax benefit deductions — health premiums, an FSA, an HSA through payroll — because those come out before any tax applies. Next comes Social Security at 6.2% on wages up to $184,500 in 2026 and Medicare at 1.45% with no ceiling; together they are called FICA and they are charged on your pay before retirement deferrals, which is why a 401(k) contribution does not reduce them.
Federal income tax comes third. The IRS percentage method annualizes your pay for the period, adds any other income you reported on Step 4(a) of your W-4, subtracts your Step 4(b) deductions and a fixed standard-deduction offset, looks the result up in the schedule for your filing status, subtracts the dependent credits from Step 3, and divides back down to one paycheck. Our federal withholding guide takes that sequence apart line by line. State income tax, local income tax and any state disability or paid-leave premium follow, each with its own base and its own rules.
What changed for 2026
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created three new deductions that first applied to 2025 and run through 2028: up to $25,000 for qualified tips, up to $12,500 of qualified overtime premium pay ($25,000 filing jointly), and $6,000 for taxpayers 65 and older. The important and widely misunderstood part is that the 2026 withholding tables do not build them in. If you want the benefit in each paycheck rather than as a refund, you have to claim it on the redesigned Deductions Worksheet of a new Form W-4 and carry the total to Step 4(b). The tips and overtime calculator models what that is worth.
The Social Security wage base rose to $184,500, the standard deduction to $16,100 single and $32,200 joint, and the 401(k) elective deferral limit to $24,500 with an $8,000 catch-up. Several states changed too: Kentucky cut its flat rate to 3.5%, Georgia to 4.99% retroactive to January, Minnesota launched a new paid-leave premium on 1 January, and Washington raised its paid-leave contribution by nearly a quarter.
Paycheck calculator questions
How do I calculate my paycheck?
Take your gross pay for the period, subtract pre-tax deductions such as health premiums and 401(k) contributions, then subtract federal income tax calculated from your Form W-4, 6.2% for Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base, 1.45% for Medicare, and any state and local income tax. What remains is your net or take-home pay. The calculator at the top of this page performs each step and shows the individual amounts.
How much is taken out of my paycheck?
For a typical single filer earning $75,000 with no state income tax, roughly $13,408 a year — about $7,670 in federal income tax and $5,738 in Social Security and Medicare — leaving $61,592 of take-home pay. Add a state income tax and the total rises by anywhere from 2% to 10% of gross depending on the state.
Why is my paycheck smaller than I expected?
The most common causes are a Form W-4 that does not account for a second job or a working spouse, a new benefit election that started this pay period, a bonus that pushed a single check into a higher annualized bracket, or the January restart of Social Security withholding after you hit the wage base last year. Our paycheck troubleshooting guide walks through each symptom in turn.
Is the 22% bonus tax rate real?
It is a withholding rate, not a tax rate. Employers may treat supplemental wages such as bonuses as a separate payment and withhold a flat 22%. Your bonus is ultimately taxed at your ordinary marginal rate, so if that rate is 12% you get the difference back at filing, and if it is 32% you may owe more.
Does this calculator work for hourly and salaried workers?
Both. Switch between salary and hourly at the top of the calculator. In hourly mode you can enter regular hours, overtime hours at time and a half or double time, and your pay frequency, and the calculator annualizes correctly for withholding purposes.
Which states have no income tax?
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming levy no tax on wage income. Washington and Alaska still withhold employee social-insurance premiums, so a paycheck there is not purely federal.