Enter what you earn and see what actually reaches your bank account, with every deduction itemised the way a pay stub does it.
| Gross pay | — |
| Federal income tax | — |
| Social Security6.2% up to $184,500 | — |
| Medicare1.45%, no cap | — |
| State income tax | — |
| 401(k) contribution | — |
| Health and HSA | — |
Useful if you are comparing a job that pays monthly against one that pays every two weeks, or working out what a raise is worth per paycheck.
| Pay schedule | Gross | Take-home |
|---|
Four separate taxes come out of a typical American paycheck, and they work in completely different ways. Understanding which is which is the difference between guessing at your net pay and knowing it.
These two are collectively called FICA and they are flat taxes, not bracketed. Social Security takes 6.2% of your wages but stops once you have earned $184,500 in 2026 — so the maximum anyone pays is $11,439. Medicare takes 1.45% with no ceiling at all, plus an extra 0.9% on wages above $200,000 for single filers and $250,000 for couples filing jointly. Your employer quietly matches the first two on your behalf.
This one is bracketed, and the most common misunderstanding in personal finance is thinking a raise that pushes you into a higher bracket taxes all of your income at the new rate. It does not. Each rate applies only to the dollars sitting inside that band. In 2026 the seven rates run from 10% to 37%, and before any of them apply you subtract the standard deduction — $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household.
Nine states take nothing from wage income: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. The rest fall into two camps. Flat-rate states charge everyone the same percentage. Progressive states use brackets like the federal system does, and at the top end a high earner in California or New York can hand over more than 10% of income to the state alone.
Money you put into a traditional 401(k) comes out before income tax is calculated, which is why contributing lowers your tax bill. But it does not come out before Social Security and Medicare — you pay FICA on the full amount regardless. Health insurance premiums and HSA contributions routed through a Section 125 cafeteria plan behave differently: they escape income tax and FICA. On a $10,000 contribution that gap is worth about $765 a year, and it is the reason maxing your health plan before your 401(k) is sometimes the better first move.
This calculator works out your full-year tax bill and divides it evenly across your pay periods. Your employer does something different — it uses the IRS percentage method tables together with whatever you put on your W-4. The two approaches converge over a year but can differ period to period, especially if you filed a W-4 with extra withholding, receive bonuses, changed jobs mid-year, or live somewhere with a local city tax on top of state tax.
Yes, the terms are interchangeable. Both mean gross pay minus taxes and minus anything else your employer deducts before the money reaches you — retirement contributions, insurance premiums, union dues, garnishments.
Not yet. Several cities levy their own income tax on top of federal and state — New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit and many municipalities in Ohio among them. If you work in one of those, subtract that additional rate from the figure shown here.
Your full salary or hourly earnings before anything is taken out, including overtime, commissions and bonuses. It is the bigger number on your offer letter, not the one that lands in your account.