Free Paycheck Calculator
Estimate your take-home pay after federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state tax and pre-tax deductions — and see exactly where each dollar goes.
Paycheck Calculator
Enter your salary details below to calculate your take-home pay.
$2,296.04
| Gross annual salary | $75,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Pre-tax deductions | $3,750.00 |
| Federal taxable income | $55,150.00 |
| Federal income tax | $6,845.00 |
| Social Security & Medicare | $5,737.50 |
| State income tax | $3,562.50 |
| Total deductions | $19,895.00 |
| Net annual take-home | $55,105.00 |
| Effective tax rate | 21.5% |
| Marginal tax bracket | 22% |
This is an estimate using the 2026 federal brackets and the standard deduction. Local taxes, tax credits and post-tax deductions are not included.
We don't store your inputs. No sign-up required.
Every figure on this page is calculated from the published 2026 federal brackets and FICA rates, and the guidance is checked against the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator, IRS Publication 15 (Employer's Tax Guide) and the Social Security Administration's contribution and benefit base. More about who we are.
Suzon Mahmud
Suzon Mahmud is a consumer-finance writer covering payroll deductions, taxes and household budgeting.
Estimates for information only, not tax advice. Payroll withholding depends on your W-4, your employer's payroll system and your state and city rules. Check your own pay stub and speak to a tax professional before acting on these numbers. See our full disclaimer.
Your Estimated Take-Home Pay
The result card above leads with the number that matters most: the net pay that reaches your bank account each payday. Underneath it, three rows show what was taken out first — federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, and state income tax — each as a dollar amount and as a share of your gross pay. The gross pay box below shows what you earned in the same period before any deduction. On the default figures, a $75,000 salary paid semi-monthly is $3,125 gross but about $2,296 net.
Open View Annual Breakdown for the full year, so the per-paycheck and annual figures sit side by side: gross annual salary, pre-tax deductions, federal taxable income, each tax separately, total deductions and net annual take-home. Two rows close the table — your effective tax rate and your marginal bracket. Those are very different numbers, and a section below explains why.
What Is a Paycheck Calculator?
A paycheck calculator estimates the pay that actually reaches your bank account after every deduction is taken from your gross salary. It accounts for federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, state income tax and pre-tax contributions such as a 401(k), then divides the result by your pay frequency.
It is built for employees paid a salary who want to budget on a real number, and for anyone checking a job offer, where the only fair comparison between two roles is take-home pay. It is equally useful when something changes: a move to another state, a new W-4, or a higher retirement contribution. Enter your details in the calculator at the top of this page to see your own figures.
How Is Your Take-Home Pay Calculated?
Payroll runs in a specific order, and that order is what confuses the arithmetic:
Gross pay − pre-tax deductions = taxable wages for income tax.
Income tax is then charged on what is left (after the standard deduction), while FICA is charged on your gross wages — before any pre-tax deduction is subtracted. That is why a 401(k) contribution lowers your income tax but not your Social Security and Medicare.
Six components drive the final number.
Gross Pay
Your total earnings before anything is removed — for a salaried employee, your annual salary divided by the number of pay periods: 52 weekly, 26 bi-weekly, 24 semi-monthly or 12 monthly. Bonuses, commission and overtime add to gross pay in the period they are paid, which is why one paycheck can look unusually heavily taxed even though your yearly tax has not changed.
Pre-Tax Deductions
Amounts taken out before income tax is calculated: traditional 401(k) or 403(b) contributions, health, dental and vision premiums, and HSA or FSA contributions. Each dollar here reduces taxable income, so it costs you less than a dollar of take-home pay. The calculator takes your 401(k) as a percentage and any other pre-tax amount as a dollar figure.
Federal Income Tax
Charged in progressive bands. Taxable income is your pay after pre-tax deductions, minus the standard deduction — $16,100 for a single filer in 2026. Only the slice inside each band is charged at that band's rate: the first portion at 10%, the next at 12%, then 22%, and so on. This is the biggest reason your effective rate is far lower than your bracket.
Social Security
6.2% of your wages, up to the 2026 Social Security wage base of $184,500. Earnings above that base are not subject to it at all, which is why high earners see their FICA percentage fall late in the year. Your employer pays a matching 6.2% that never appears on your stub.
Medicare
1.45% of all your wages, with no upper limit. An additional 0.9% applies to wages above $200,000 for a single filer or $250,000 for a married couple filing jointly. Your employer matches the base 1.45% but not the additional 0.9%, which is the employee's alone.
State & Local Tax
This varies more than anything else on your stub. Nine states do not tax wage income at all; others charge a flat rate, and many use progressive brackets. Some cities add a local tax on top. Because the rules differ so widely, this calculator takes a single state rate that you supply and applies it to pay after pre-tax deductions; it does not model city or county taxes.
Take-Home Pay by Salary (2026)
A quick reference for a single filer claiming the standard deduction, with federal income tax and FICA only — no state tax, no 401(k). It answers the most common question about a salary: what actually lands in the bank?
| Annual salary | Federal tax | FICA | Take-home (year) | Take-home (month) | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $35,000 | about $2,020 | about $2,678 | about $30,302 | about $2,525 | about 13.4% |
| $40,000 | about $2,620 | about $3,060 | about $34,320 | about $2,860 | about 14.2% |
| $50,000 | about $3,820 | about $3,825 | about $42,355 | about $3,530 | about 15.3% |
| $60,000 | about $5,020 | about $4,590 | about $50,390 | about $4,199 | about 16.0% |
| $75,000 | about $7,670 | about $5,738 | about $61,592 | about $5,133 | about 17.9% |
| $100,000 | about $13,170 | about $7,650 | about $79,180 | about $6,598 | about 20.8% |
| $150,000 | about $24,734 | about $11,475 | about $113,791 | about $9,483 | about 24.1% |
| $200,000 | about $36,734 | about $14,339 | about $148,927 | about $12,411 | about 25.5% |
The tool's own result may differ from this table. These rows deliberately exclude state tax and pre-tax deductions so the federal picture is clear. If you enter a state rate, a 401(k) percentage or other pre-tax deductions above, your net pay will be lower and your taxable income different — which is what you want when budgeting your real paycheck.
Two patterns stand out. The effective rate climbs slowly — roughly doubling from 13.4% to 25.5% while the salary grows almost six-fold — because each new band applies only to the income above it. And FICA stops growing in a straight line at the top: at $200,000 the Social Security portion is capped at the $184,500 wage base, even as the extra 0.9% Medicare surtax begins to apply.
Marginal vs Effective Tax Rate
These two rates get confused constantly, and the confusion costs money — usually by convincing people a raise "is not worth it".
Your marginal rate is the rate on your next dollar of income — the band your taxable income lands in. Your effective rate is the tax you actually pay divided by your whole income. One is a rate on the margin; the other is an average.
Take a $75,000 salary, single filer, standard deduction. Taxable income is $58,900, which lands in the 22% band — so the marginal rate is 22%. But federal tax works out at about $7,670, which against the full salary is an effective federal rate of about 10.2%. Add FICA and the effective rate including FICA is about 17.9%.
You never pay your marginal rate on your whole income. On $75,000 the marginal rate is 22%, but the true federal share is about 10.2% — less than half. The standard deduction is taxed at 0%, the first band at 10%, the next at 12%, and only the remainder at 22%.
This matters practically. Deciding whether extra income is worthwhile? Use the marginal rate: a dollar of overtime at 22% leaves about 78 cents before FICA and state tax. Budgeting or comparing job offers? Use the effective rate, because it reflects what you keep across the year. Budgeting at your marginal rate will make you plan for far less than you will receive.
How a 401(k) Contribution Changes Your Take-Home Pay
A traditional 401(k) contribution is the clearest example of pre-tax money at work, because part of the cost comes straight back as lower tax. The arithmetic on a $75,000 salary contributing 5%, single filer, standard deduction, no state tax:
- The contribution: 5% of $75,000 = about $3,750 a year into your retirement account.
- Taxable income falls from $58,900 to $55,150, since the contribution comes out before income tax.
- Federal tax falls from about $7,670 to about $6,845 — a saving of about $825.
- Take-home pay falls by about $2,925 a year, not by the full $3,750, because the $825 tax saving stays in your pocket.
About $3,750 goes into your retirement account, but your take-home pay drops by only about $2,925. The difference — about $825 — is federal income tax you no longer owe. Before any employer match, you are moving roughly four dollars of savings for every three dollars of spending money you give up.
Two limits are important. Traditional 401(k) contributions reduce income tax, not FICA: Social Security and Medicare are charged on gross wages, so the $3,750 is still subject to the full 7.65% — which is also why contributing does not dent your future Social Security record. And a Roth 401(k) is after-tax: it gives no deduction now, so take-home pay falls by the full amount, but qualified withdrawals in retirement are not taxed. The calculator models the traditional, pre-tax type.
An employer match improves the arithmetic further, since it is money that never came out of your pay. To see the effect on your own salary, change the 401(k) Contribution percentage in the tool and watch both the net pay and the federal tax row move.
What Is FICA?
FICA stands for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act — on your pay stub, the combined Social Security and Medicare tax withheld from your wages. It often appears as two lines, sometimes labelled "OASDI" and "Med", and together comes to 7.65% of your pay:
- Social Security: 6.2% of wages, but only up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500. Earnings above that are not subject to it.
- Medicare: 1.45% of wages with no cap — every dollar you earn is charged.
- Additional Medicare: 0.9% on wages above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married filing jointly).
- Your employer pays a matching amount — another 6.2% and 1.45% that never shows on your stub.
Counting the employer's share, 15.3% of your wages goes to Social Security and Medicare — worth knowing if you are ever self-employed, because then you pay both halves yourself.
FICA is also why low earners are surprised by their stub. It has no standard deduction and no progressive bands, so it applies from the first dollar at the full 7.65%. In the table above, the $35,000 salary pays about $2,678 in FICA against about $2,020 in federal income tax — more FICA than income tax. That is why "I am in the 12% bracket" understates what actually leaves a paycheck.
At the other end, the wage base is a quiet break for high earners: once year-to-date wages pass $184,500 the 6.2% line stops and net pay rises for the rest of the year, though nothing about the salary changed. The figures are published each year on the Social Security Administration's contribution and benefit base page.
State Income Taxes
State income tax is the widest variable in take-home pay. Rates run from 0% to over 10%, and the structure differs as much as the rate: some states use progressive brackets like the federal system, some charge a flat rate, and some do not tax wage income at all. Because of that variety, this calculator asks for one state rate that you supply and applies it to your pay after pre-tax deductions.
Nine states do not tax wage income:
- Alaska
- Florida
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Washington
- Wyoming
If you live in one of these, set the State Tax Rate field to 0. Note that "no tax on wage income" is not "no tax at all" — several of these states tax interest, dividends or capital gains, and most raise revenue through sales or property taxes instead, which never appear on a pay stub but still affect your budget.
Elsewhere the picture is more varied than one rate suggests. Some states charge no tax below an income threshold; others apply a flat rate to every dollar, which models perfectly here. Where a state uses progressive brackets, a single rate is an approximation — use your state's effective rate at your income level, not its top marginal rate.
Two things this tool does not model: city and county income taxes, which can add a meaningful amount; and the rules when you live in one state and work in another, where taxing rights depend on any reciprocity agreement. In both cases your pay stub is the authority.
Weekly, Bi-Weekly or Monthly?
Pay frequency changes the size of each paycheck, not the total you earn or the tax you owe. Your salary is simply divided into more or fewer slices. A $75,000 salary on the two most common schedules, federal tax and FICA only:
- Bi-weekly (26 paychecks): about $2,884 gross and about $2,369 net per paycheck.
- Monthly (12 paychecks): about $6,250 gross and about $5,133 net per paycheck.
The monthly figure is more than twice the bi-weekly one because a month is longer than two weeks. Over a full year both come to the same about $61,592 of take-home pay.
One quirk is worth planning for. A bi-weekly schedule pays every 14 days — 364 days across 26 paychecks, slightly less than a calendar year. Those spare days accumulate, so some years contain 27 bi-weekly paychecks instead of 26. That is part of why a monthly view can look higher than a bi-weekly one converted by hand, and it gives most years two "three-paycheck months". Budgeting on two paychecks a month and treating the third as a bonus toward savings turns the quirk into an advantage.
Semi-monthly pay (24 paychecks on fixed dates) avoids the quirk but gives less even gaps between paydays. Whichever you are on, select it in the Pay Frequency dropdown so the figures match what you receive.
How to Increase Your Take-Home Pay
Some of these raise the cash in your account today; others move money somewhere better rather than creating more of it. Both are useful — be clear which is which.
- Increase pre-tax contributions. This lowers taxable income and your tax bill. Take-home pay falls, but by less than you contribute — as shown above, $3,750 of saving costs about $2,925 of spending money.
- Claim the right withholding on your W-4. A large refund every April means you lent the government money interest-free all year. Matching withholding to your actual liability raises every paycheck without changing what you owe. Check it with the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator.
- Use an FSA or HSA for eligible costs. Paying medical, dental or dependent-care expenses with pre-tax dollars means spending money you would otherwise be taxed on. An HSA requires a qualifying high-deductible health plan.
- Check for credits you are entitled to. Credits cut tax owed dollar for dollar, and some are refundable. They usually arrive when you file rather than in each paycheck.
- Earn more. Honestly, this is the largest lever most people have. Progressive bands mean a raise is never taxed away entirely — at a 22% marginal rate you keep about 78 cents of each extra dollar before FICA and state tax.
What will not help is deliberately under-withholding. It raises each paycheck now, but the tax is still owed, and a shortfall can bring an underpayment penalty on top of the bill.
How to Save Money on Taxes
Reducing the tax on a salary is mostly about using the accounts and allowances that already exist, consistently — not finding anything exotic.
- Max out tax-advantaged accounts. Workplace plans have annual IRS contribution limits; contributing more, up to that limit, lowers taxable income in a traditional plan. Capture the full employer match first — that is free money.
- Use pre-tax benefits. Health, dental and vision premiums, HSA and FSA contributions, commuter benefits and dependent-care accounts usually come out before income tax.
- Keep receipts for deductible costs. Most employees do better with the standard deduction, but you cannot know without records. Charitable donations, large medical bills, mortgage interest and state taxes paid are worth totalling.
- Review your W-4 annually and after any life event — marriage, a child, a second job, a spouse's change in income. Stale withholding is the most common cause of a surprise bill.
- Consider an IRA. A traditional IRA may give a deduction depending on your income and workplace plan; a Roth gives none now but tax-free qualified withdrawals later.
For a fuller walk-through — which accounts to prioritise, and how deductions differ from credits — read our guide on how to save money on taxes. You can model the federal side of any change with our Tax Calculator.
Tax-Saving Strategies Explained
Learn which pre-tax accounts lower your taxable income, how deductions and credits differ, and the simple steps that keep more of each paycheck in your pocket.
Read Full GuideHow to Use This Paycheck Calculator
Six steps, and the results update as you type:
- Enter your annual gross salary — the figure on your offer letter, before deductions.
- Choose your pay frequency so the per-paycheck figures match your actual paydays.
- Pick your filing status. This sets both your standard deduction and your bracket boundaries.
- Enter a state tax rate if you have one, or 0 if your state does not tax wage income.
- Add a 401(k) percentage and any other pre-tax deductions such as health premiums or HSA contributions.
- Read the annual and per-paycheck net figures. Open View Annual Breakdown for the full-year view, total deductions, your effective rate and your marginal bracket.
Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere, so you can try scenarios freely — comparing two job offers, or testing what a higher contribution rate really costs you each payday.
Frequently Asked Questions
Several deductions come out before you are paid. Federal income tax is usually the largest, followed by FICA at a combined 7.65% for Social Security and Medicare, then any state income tax, and finally pre-tax items such as a 401(k) contribution or health insurance premium. On a $75,000 salary, federal tax and FICA alone take about $13,408 a year, leaving about $61,592.
FICA is the combination of Social Security and Medicare tax, withheld from your wages at 7.65% in total. Social Security takes 6.2% of wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500, and Medicare takes 1.45% with no upper limit. An extra 0.9% Medicare surtax applies to wages above $200,000 for a single filer or $250,000 for a joint filer. Your employer pays a matching amount separately.
No, it lowers your take-home pay, but by less than the amount you contribute. A traditional 401(k) contribution comes out before federal income tax is calculated, so each dollar you save also cuts your tax bill. Contributing 5% of a $75,000 salary, about $3,750, reduces federal tax by about $825 and take-home pay by about $2,925. Contributions do not reduce Social Security or Medicare tax.
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming do not tax wage income. If you live in one of them, set the state tax rate to 0%. Other states range from roughly 2% to over 10%, and some use progressive brackets or a single flat rate rather than the one rate this calculator takes.
It uses the 2026 federal brackets, the standard deduction and 2026 FICA rates, so it is a close guide for a straightforward salary. It does not model city or local taxes, progressive state brackets, itemised deductions, tax credits, bonuses, overtime or post-tax deductions such as Roth contributions. Always check your actual pay stub.
For a single filer claiming the standard deduction with no state tax and no 401(k), federal income tax is about $7,670 and FICA about $5,738. That leaves take-home pay of about $61,592 a year, or about $5,133 a month, an effective rate of about 17.9%. Adding a state tax rate or pre-tax deductions changes the result.
Your marginal rate is the rate charged on your next dollar of income; your effective rate is the tax you actually pay divided by your whole income. On a $75,000 salary the marginal rate is 22%, but the effective federal rate is only about 10.2% because the earlier bands are taxed at 10% and 12% and the standard deduction is untaxed. Including FICA, the effective rate is about 17.9%.
No. Overtime pay is ordinary income taxed in exactly the same bands as the rest of your wages. It can look more heavily taxed because payroll systems often withhold on a single large paycheck as though you earned that amount every period, which pushes it into higher bands. Any over-withholding comes back as a refund when you file.
Our Methodology
Take-home pay is calculated in the order payroll uses: gross pay minus pre-tax deductions, then the 2026 federal income tax brackets applied progressively to what remains after the standard deduction — $16,100 for a single filer, with the corresponding amounts for married filing jointly and head of household. Only the slice inside each band is charged at that band's rate.
FICA is charged on gross wages, not on pay after pre-tax deductions: Social Security at 6.2% up to the $184,500 wage base, Medicare at 1.45% with no cap, plus the additional 0.9% above $200,000 for a single filer. That is why a 401(k) contribution lowers income tax but not FICA in our results.
State tax and deductions are user-supplied estimates. We apply the single rate you enter to pay after pre-tax deductions; we do not look up your state, and state and local taxes vary considerably in rate and structure. City and county taxes, progressive state brackets and interstate reciprocity are not modelled.
Also out of scope: tax credits, itemised deductions, post-tax deductions such as Roth contributions, bonus and overtime withholding, self-employment tax and capital gains. Table figures are rounded to the nearest dollar. For exact withholding use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator or the tables in IRS Publication 15, and check your pay stub.
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