Texas Paycheck Calculator

Texas has no personal income tax and no local income tax, so the only mandatory deductions from a Texas paycheck are federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare. A 2019 constitutional amendment now requires a statewide referendum before an income tax could ever be imposed.

Tax year 2026 · Updated 2026-08-29 · Federal withholding follows IRS Publication 15-T · Texas tax authority

How Texas taxes your paycheck

Your federal income tax withholding is calculated from your W-4 using the IRS percentage method: your pay is annualized, adjusted for Step 4 entries and the standard deduction built into the tables, run through the federal brackets, then reduced by the dependent credits you claimed in Step 3. On top of that, Social Security takes 6.2% until your year-to-date wages reach $184,500 and Medicare takes 1.45% on everything, with an additional 0.9% once wages pass $200,000.

Every Texas paycheck starts with the same two federal layers. Federal income tax is calculated with the IRS percentage method from Publication 15-T: your pay is annualized, adjusted for the entries on your Form W-4, run through the withholding schedule for your filing status, then divided back down to a per-paycheck figure. On top of that, Social Security and Medicare take a combined 7.65% — 6.2% for Social Security on wages up to $184,500 in 2026, and 1.45% for Medicare with no ceiling at all. Only after those two layers does anything state-specific apply.

Texas income tax rates for 2026

Texas has no state income tax, so there is no rate table to read and nothing on your stub between Medicare and your benefit deductions. That does not mean the calculator above is trivial — your federal withholding still depends on your filing status, your W-4 Step 2 entry if you hold more than one job, and any pre-tax benefits you elect, and those move a Texas paycheck by hundreds of dollars a month.

Local income taxes in Texas

No Texas city, county or school district levies an income tax on wages. Whatever your stub shows beyond federal tax, FICA and your own benefit elections, it is not a local income tax — which makes Texas simpler to model than neighbouring states that stack city taxes on top of the state rate. If you commute into another state for work, though, that state's local taxes can still reach you; our guide to working in two states covers how that works.

Texas take-home pay at different salaries

The table below runs the full 2026 calculation — federal withholding under Publication 15-T, Social Security, Medicare — at ten common salary levels. It assumes a single filer, standard withholding with no Step 2 checkbox, no dependents and no pre-tax benefits, so treat it as a baseline rather than a personal figure.

A single filer earning $75,000 in Texas keeps about $61,592 a year, or $2,368.94 on a bi-weekly schedule — an effective total tax rate of 17.9% once federal tax, FICA are counted. Married filers generally keep more at the same gross because the federal joint schedule is wider; you can model that by switching the filing status in the calculator, or compare states side by side with the state paycheck comparison tool.

What actually changes your Texas paycheck

Because there is no state tax, the federal W-4 is the only dial that changes your Texas withholding. Two-earner households in particular should use Step 2 — either the checkbox or the multiple jobs worksheet — because the default tables assume a single job and will under-withhold badly otherwise. Texas's trade-off is property tax, among the highest effective rates in the country, which is where the missing income tax reappears.

Three federal levers matter everywhere, and they are usually worth more than any state-specific trick. The first is Step 2 of your Form W-4: if you hold two jobs or your spouse works, leaving it blank tells the tables to assume your job is the household's only income, which under-withholds badly. Our W-4 walkthrough walks through it line by line. The second is pre-tax benefits — health premiums, an FSA or an HSA come out before Social Security and Medicare as well as income tax, so they are worth more per dollar than a 401(k) deferral. The third is the 401(k) paycheck calculator, which shows exactly how much take-home you give up for each percentage point you defer.

Texas minimum wage and hourly pay

The Texas minimum wage for 2026 is $7.25 an hour. Texas adopts the federal rate by reference and preempts local minimum wage ordinances.

If you are paid by the hour rather than on salary, the Texas hourly paycheck calculator handles overtime, multiple rates and unpaid breaks. Here is what a full-time schedule of 40 hours a week looks like across a range of hourly rates in Texas.

Working across state lines from Texas

Because Texas levies no income tax, there is nothing to reciprocate. The situation that catches people out runs the other way: a Texas resident who works remotely for an employer in a state with a convenience-of-the-employer rule — New York most notably — can owe that state's income tax on wages earned entirely from a Texas desk.

Our guide to multi-state withholding covers the mechanics — resident credits, part-year returns, and what to do when you move mid-year.

Frequently asked questions

Related calculators

If you are paid hourly, start with the Texas hourly calculator instead. To see what a raise or a bonus does, the bonus tax calculator applies the 22% supplemental rate the IRS allows employers to use, and the gross-up calculator solves the problem in reverse when you need a specific amount to land in someone's account.