Take-Home Paycheck Calculator
Your take‑home pay is your gross wage minus income tax and payroll deductions like Social Security, Medicare and any retirement or benefit contributions. Enter your salary to see your net pay per paycheck.
See your take-home pay for any pay schedule after federal tax withholding, Social Security, Medicare, state and city tax, and pre-tax deductions — using the 2026 tax brackets and the new One Big Beautiful Bill deductions. Enter your salary and press Calculate for a full gross-to-net breakdown per paycheck.
Enter your salary, choose your pay frequency and filing status, add any deductions, then press Calculate to see your take-home pay per paycheck and for the year.
Take-home pay by salary
Estimated take-home for a range of salaries at your current filing status and pay frequency — before any state or city tax, with no dependents or extra deductions. Change the settings above and press Calculate to refresh.
| Annual salary | Federal tax | FICA | Take-home / yr | Per paycheck |
|---|
Illustrative, using 2026 federal rules and your current status and frequency. Enter your own numbers above for a personal estimate.
How this paycheck calculator works
This paycheck calculator turns an annual salary into the amount that actually lands in your bank account each payday. It estimates your federal income tax withholding using the 2026 tax brackets and standard deduction, adds Social Security and Medicare (FICA), applies any flat state and city rate you enter, subtracts your pre-tax deductions, and then divides the result by your number of pay periods.
It reflects the One Big Beautiful Bill changes in effect for 2026 — the larger standard deduction, the $2,200 Child Tax Credit, the $6,000 senior deduction, and the new above-the-line write-offs for tips, overtime and car-loan interest — so the take-home figure is current, not based on old rules.
The formula
Federal taxable pay = salary − FICA − (standard or itemized deduction) − pre-tax & above-the-line deductions. Federal tax comes from the 2026 brackets, minus $2,200 per child and $500 per other dependent.
Take-home per paycheck = (salary − federal tax − Social Security − Medicare − state − city − pre-tax deductions) ÷ pay periods per year.
Worked example
A $70,000 single salary paid bi-weekly (26 paychecks), no dependents or extra deductions, gives a gross of $2,692.31 per paycheck. Federal withholding is about $214.52, Social Security $166.92 and Medicare $39.04, leaving a take-home of $2,271.83 each payday — about $59,068 a year, or 84% of the salary. For the full-year tax picture with credits and deductions, use the income tax calculator; to turn an hourly wage into an annual salary first, try the salary calculator.
2026 federal income tax brackets
Ordinary income is taxed in bands. These are the 2026 brackets this calculator uses:
| Rate | Single | Married filing jointly | Head of household |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – 12,400 | $0 – 24,800 | $0 – 17,700 |
| 12% | 12,400 – 50,400 | 24,800 – 100,800 | 17,700 – 67,450 |
| 22% | 50,400 – 105,700 | 100,800 – 211,400 | 67,450 – 105,700 |
| 24% | 105,700 – 201,775 | 211,400 – 403,550 | 105,700 – 201,775 |
| 32% | 201,775 – 256,225 | 403,550 – 512,450 | 201,775 – 256,200 |
| 35% | 256,225 – 640,600 | 512,450 – 768,700 | 256,200 – 640,600 |
| 37% | 640,600+ | 768,700+ | 640,600+ |
Standard deduction 2026: $16,100 single and married-separately, $32,200 married-jointly, $24,150 head of household, plus $6,000 more per person age 65 or older. Other years: use the Tax year selector at the top of the calculator to switch to 2017–2025 — the brackets, standard deduction, Social Security limit and credits all update automatically.
How to use it & key terms
Enter your gross pay, pay frequency, filing status and any pre-tax deductions, then press Calculate to estimate your take-home pay after federal tax and FICA.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Gross pay | Your pay before any tax or deductions. |
| Net / take-home pay | What actually reaches your bank after tax and deductions. |
| FICA | Social Security (6.2%) plus Medicare (1.45%) payroll taxes withheld from wages. |
| Federal withholding | Estimated federal income tax held back from each paycheck. |
| Pre-tax deduction | Money taken before tax (401(k), health premiums, HSA), which lowers your taxable pay. |
| Dependents / allowances | People you support, which reduce the tax withheld via your W-4. |
Sources & methodology
Take-home pay is estimated as gross pay for the period minus federal income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare, any state or city tax at the flat rate you enter, and your pre-tax deductions. Federal withholding is annualized using the 2026 brackets and standard deduction for your filing status, reduced by the Child Tax Credit ($2,200 per qualifying child) and the $500 credit for other dependents. Social Security is 6.2% up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500; Medicare is 1.45% on all wages plus 0.9% above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married-jointly); self-employed workers pay both halves (15.3%). Results are a close estimate — your employer uses the exact IRS wage-bracket tables and your specific W-4, so real withholding can differ by a few dollars.
Sources: IRS Publication 15-T — federal income tax withholding methods; Social Security Administration — contribution & benefit (wage) base; IRS — 2026 inflation adjustments & One Big Beautiful Bill provisions.
How to read your pay stub, line by line
A pay stub can look like a wall of abbreviations, but it tells a simple story from top to bottom. It starts with gross pay — your earnings for the period before anything is removed — and ends with net pay, the figure that actually reaches your bank. Everything in between is a deduction, and reading them in order shows exactly where each dollar of the difference went. Most stubs also carry two columns: the amount for this period and a running year-to-date total, which is the one that matters for annual limits and for checking the numbers add up.
The tax lines fall into two families. Income tax withholding — federal, and often state or city — is an estimate of your eventual bill, set by the details you gave on your W-4. Beside it sit the payroll taxes, which a stub may label FICA or break out as Social Security and Medicare; these fund those specific programmes and are charged at flat rates rather than through brackets. Because Social Security stops once your earnings for the year pass a set wage base, your final paychecks of the year can be a little larger than the earlier ones.
The remaining deductions divide by when they are taken. Pre-tax items — a traditional retirement contribution, health-plan premiums, an HSA — come out before income tax is worked out, so they shrink both your taxable pay and the tax on it. Post-tax items — a Roth contribution, union dues, a wage garnishment — come out afterwards and lower only your take-home. It is also why raising your contribution rate can shrink your paycheck by less than the amount you save. Two people on identical salaries can bank very different amounts simply because one routes more pay through pre-tax benefits.
Read the stub this way and a confusing slip becomes a budgeting tool: gross at the top, taxes and pre-tax benefits in the middle, net at the bottom, and year-to-date figures tracking the whole year. Keeping a couple of stubs also makes it easy to spot the moment a mid-year change took effect. If a line looks wrong, your payroll team can explain it — and treat the take-home shown here as a close estimate to check against your own stub.
Frequently asked questions
How much of my paycheck is taken out for taxes?
For a typical worker, federal income tax withholding plus Social Security and Medicare (7.65%) usually takes 15–30% of gross pay, before any state or city tax and pre-tax benefits. Enter your salary above to see the exact split.
How is federal withholding calculated here?
The calculator annualizes your pay, subtracts the standard (or itemized) deduction and any pre-tax and above-the-line deductions, applies the 2026 brackets for your filing status, subtracts the Child Tax Credit and other-dependent credit, then divides by your pay periods.
What are the 2026 federal income tax brackets?
For single filers: 10% up to $12,400, 12% to $50,400, 22% to $105,700, 24% to $201,775, 32% to $256,225, 35% to $640,600 and 37% above. The married-jointly bands are double the lower thresholds. See the table above for all three statuses.
How much is Social Security and Medicare on my paycheck?
Social Security is 6.2% of pay up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500; Medicare is 1.45% of all pay, plus an extra 0.9% above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married-jointly). Together that base is 7.65%, or 15.3% if you are self-employed.
What pre-tax deductions lower my take-home pay?
Traditional 401(k) contributions, health-insurance premiums, and HSA or FSA contributions are withheld before income tax — they cut both your taxable pay and your paycheck. Enter them in the pre-tax deductions field.
Does it include the new tips, overtime and car-loan deductions?
Yes. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill you can deduct qualified tips (up to $25,000), qualified overtime pay, car-loan interest and a small charitable amount for 2025–2028. Enter them and they lower the income your federal withholding is based on.
How do I calculate bi-weekly or semi-monthly take-home pay?
Divide your annual take-home by the pay periods: 26 for bi-weekly, 24 for semi-monthly, 52 weekly or 12 monthly. The calculator shows both the per-paycheck and the annual amount side by side.
Does this work for self-employed or 1099 workers?
Yes — choose the self-employed option and it applies 15.3% self-employment tax (both halves of Social Security and Medicare) instead of 7.65%, since you cover both the employer and employee shares.
Why might my real paycheck differ by a few dollars?
This is a close estimate using the 2026 federal rules and a flat state/city rate you enter. Employers use the exact IRS wage-bracket tables and your individual W-4, and states have their own brackets, so small differences are normal.
Can I calculate take-home pay for a past year (2017–2025)?
Yes. Use the Tax year selector at the top of the calculator to pick any year from 2017 to 2026. The federal brackets, standard deduction, Social Security wage base and credits all switch to that year. The tips, overtime and car-loan deductions only appear for 2025 and 2026, since those started under the One Big Beautiful Bill.
How do I figure out my paycheck after taxes?
Enter your salary, choose your pay frequency and filing status, then add any 401(k) or other deductions and press Calculate. The tool shows how much you get paid after tax for each paycheck and for the year, with federal tax, Social Security, Medicare and any state or city tax broken out line by line.
Does this paycheck calculator work for my state?
Yes. Enter your state income tax rate in the field provided and the calculator applies it to your take-home pay — so it works for any US state. Nine states have no state income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming, so residents there can leave the state rate at 0%. For other states, use your state's flat rate, or your top marginal rate as a close estimate.
Is this paycheck calculator accurate?
It's built on the official 2026 IRS tax brackets, standard deduction and Social Security limits (and the correct figures back to 2017), and every year has been checked against hand-worked examples. It's a close estimate: your employer withholds using the exact IRS wage-bracket tables and your specific W-4, and each state sets its own rates, so your real paycheck can differ by a few dollars.
Can I use this for an hourly wage?
This calculator starts from an annual salary. If you are paid hourly, first convert your hourly wage to a yearly figure with our salary calculator, then enter that here to see your take-home pay per paycheck after tax.
How much is $70,000 a year after taxes?
It depends on your state and filing status. As a rough guide, a single filer earning $70,000 keeps about $54,000–$58,000 after federal tax, Social Security and Medicare — roughly $4,500–$4,850 a month — before state income tax. Enter your salary, filing status and state rate above for your exact take-home pay per paycheck.