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№ 062 · Income & taxes cluster

Take-Home Pay Calculator

Your salary isn’t what lands in your account. Enter your pay and your W-4 to see what each paycheck keeps after 2026 federal income tax — withheld the way payroll software does it, by the IRS’s own tables — Social Security and Medicare, your 401(k) and health premiums, and state tax.

2026 IRS tables · W-4 · Social Security & Medicare

To see how your income is taxed bracket by bracket, use the Tax Bracket Calculator. Comparing offers? The Salary to Hourly Calculator puts pay on the same footing, and the Pay Raise Calculator shows what a raise adds before tax. Pre-tax saving lowers this year’s tax: see what it grows to with the 401(k) Calculator and the HSA Calculator.

Your pay01
$
Form W-402

Married filing separately? The W-4 has you check Single.

Step 3 credits: $0.00 a year — $2,200 a child, $500 for each other dependent.

Pre-tax deductions03
%
$

Health, dental and vision premiums, plus HSA or FSA money taken from your pay (Section 125), skip income tax and Social Security and Medicare. A traditional 401(k) skips income tax only.

State tax04
%

One flat rate on your wages after pre-tax deductions — an estimate, since states have their own brackets and some have no income tax. Add a local income tax rate if you pay one.

W-4 Step 4 · optional05
$
$

4(a) is income that isn’t from a job, like interest or dividends. 4(b) is deductions beyond the standard deduction — including the 2025–2028 deductions for tips, overtime, age 65+ and car-loan interest — from the W-4’s Deductions Worksheet.

$
Take-home pay · first biweekly paycheck

$2,450.12

from $3,000.00 gross · $549.88 in taxes

No state tax included
Take-home per year$63,703.12≈ $5,308.59 a month
Taxes per paycheck$549.88$14,296.88 a year
Effective tax rate18.33%all taxes ÷ gross pay
Federal bracket22%on $61,900 taxable
Where your paycheck goes
Where your first biweekly paycheck goes
Gross pay$3,000.00
  • Take-home pay$2,450.12
  • Federal income tax$320.38
  • Social Security & Medicare$229.50
Where your first biweekly paycheck goes
Take-home pay$2,450.12
Federal income tax$320.38
Social Security & Medicare$229.50
Your first biweekly paycheck of 2026 and the full year of 26 paychecks, from gross pay through pre-tax deductions and each tax to take-home pay.
ItemPaycheckFull year
Gross pay$3,000.00$78,000.00
401(k) / 403(b)$0.00$0.00
Pre-tax benefits$0.00$0.00
Federal income tax−$320.38−$8,329.88
Social Security−$186.00−$4,836.00
Medicare−$43.50−$1,131.00
State income tax$0.00$0.00
Take-home pay$2,450.12$63,703.12

Federal income tax here is what your employer withholds, by the IRS’s 2026 withholding tables (Publication 15-T) — an estimate, not your tax bill. Your actual tax is settled on your return, from the whole year’s income, deductions and credits, so you may get a refund or owe.

How it works · methodology

The math, in the open.

gross            = salary ÷ paychecks a year (52 · 26 · 24 · 12), to the cent
401(k)           = gross × your 401(k) %
income-tax wages = gross − 401(k) − pre-tax benefits
FICA wages       = gross − pre-tax benefits

federal          = IRS Pub 15-T, Worksheet 1A (annual percentage method):
  annual wage    = income-tax wages × paychecks + Step 4(a) − Step 4(b) − allowance
  tentative      = the annual table’s tax on that wage ÷ paychecks
  withheld       = max(0, tentative − Step 3 credits ÷ paychecks) + Step 4(c)

Social Security  = 6.2% × FICA wages, until the year’s FICA wages reach $184,500
Medicare         = 1.45% × FICA wages, + 0.9% on the year’s wages over $200,000
state tax        = state rate × income-tax wages
take-home        = gross − 401(k) − pre-tax benefits
                   − federal − Social Security − Medicare − state tax
Payroll software runs this same worksheet, so with the same W-4 the federal figure should match your pay stub within a few cents. The worksheet’s allowance and the table’s 0% row build in the standard deduction — $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household — or half of it when Step 2 is checked, so with a plain W-4 a year of withholding is the tax on your wages less that deduction. The bracket shown is the rate on your last dollar of taxable income: wages after pre-tax deductions, plus Step 4(a), less the standard deduction and Step 4(b).
salary
Gross annual pay from this job
paychecks
Paydays a year: weekly 52, biweekly 26, semi-monthly 24, monthly 12
401(k) %
Traditional (pre-tax) 401(k) or 403(b) deferral, as a percent of gross pay
pre-tax benefits
Section 125 deductions per paycheck: health, dental and vision premiums, HSA, FSA
Step 3 credits
Children under 17 × $2,200 + other dependents × $500, for the year
Step 4(a) · 4(b)
Other income and extra deductions for the year, from your W-4
Step 4(c)
Extra federal withholding per paycheck
state rate
Your flat estimate of state (and local) income tax

Assumptions & limits

  • 2026 federal figures: brackets and standard deductions from the IRS’s annual Revenue Procedure, withholding from Publication 15-T (2026), Social Security at 6.2% up to the $184,500 wage base, Medicare at 1.45%, and the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax withheld on wages over $200,000.
  • The headline is the first paycheck of the year. The full-year figures add up every paycheck, so they include Social Security stopping at the wage base and Additional Medicare starting past $200,000.
  • A Form W-4 from 2020 or later. Older forms with withholding allowances use different tables and aren’t modeled.
  • A steady salary only: no bonuses or other supplemental pay, no 27th biweekly payday, and no mid-year raise or job change.
  • State income tax is one flat rate on the wages federal income tax applies to; real state brackets, deductions and credits differ. Local income taxes (unless you add their rate) and state payroll taxes such as disability or paid-leave insurance aren’t included.
  • Gross pay per paycheck is the salary ÷ paychecks, rounded to the cent, so a year of paychecks can differ from the salary by a few cents; 401(k) dollars are rounded to the cent each paycheck.
  • Roth 401(k) contributions and other after-tax deductions aren’t modeled — subtract them from the take-home pay shown.
  • Withholding is an estimate of what comes out of each paycheck, not your tax bill: the refund or balance due is settled on your return.

Sources

By the MintNumber Editorial Team·Reviewed
Frequently asked

Questions about take-home pay

Why isn’t my take-home pay just my salary divided by 26?
Dividing gives your gross pay — $3,000.00 a paycheck on a $78,000 salary paid every two weeks — and taxes come out before you see any of it. As a single filer with a standard W-4, $320.38 of federal income tax is withheld, $186.00 goes to Social Security (6.2%) and $43.50 to Medicare (1.45%), leaving $2,450.12 — about 82% of gross — before any state tax, 401(k) contribution or insurance premium. Federal withholding isn’t a flat cut, either: the IRS tables annualize your pay, build in the standard deduction, and tax each slice at its own bracket rate, so the share withheld grows as pay rises.
What is FICA, and when does Social Security stop?
FICA is the Social Security and Medicare tax. You pay 6.2% of your wages to Social Security, but only up to the year’s wage base — $184,500 in 2026 — and 1.45% to Medicare on every dollar, with no cap; your employer pays a matching share. Once your wages for the year pass $200,000, your employer also withholds the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on the rest, whatever your filing status; on your return it applies above $200,000 for single and head-of-household filers, $250,000 married filing jointly, and $125,000 married filing separately. A $260,000 salary paid every two weeks reaches the wage base in paycheck 19, so the later paychecks have no Social Security taken out, and Additional Medicare starts with paycheck 21. If two employers together withhold Social Security on more than the wage base, you get the excess back as a credit on your return.
How do the W-4 steps change my withholding?
Step 1(c), your filing status, picks the withholding table: married filing jointly has wider brackets and a bigger standard deduction built in, and married filing separately uses the single table. Check Step 2(c) on both W-4s when you hold two jobs or your spouse works — it splits the standard deduction and brackets between the jobs, so each withholds more ($320.38 → $503.35 a paycheck in the $78,000 example). Step 3 subtracts credits — $2,200 for each child under 17 and $500 for each other dependent — spread across the year’s paychecks: in the same example, two children cut withholding by $169.23 a paycheck. (The W-4 has you fill in Step 3 only if your income is $200,000 or less, or $400,000 married filing jointly, because the credits shrink above that.) Step 4(a) adds other income such as interest or dividends, 4(b) subtracts deductions beyond the standard deduction, and 4(c) withholds a flat extra amount from every paycheck. This follows the 2020-and-later W-4; older forms with withholding allowances are figured differently.
Why do a 401(k) and health premiums cut taxes differently?
A traditional 401(k) or 403(b) contribution skips federal income tax (and income tax in most states), but it still counts as wages for Social Security and Medicare. Health, dental and vision premiums, and HSA or FSA contributions taken through your employer’s cafeteria (Section 125) plan, skip both. That is why pre-tax money costs less than it looks: in the $78,000 example, putting 6% ($180.00) into a 401(k) and paying a $100.00 premium pre-tax lowers take-home by only $210.75 a paycheck — the tax saved covers the rest. Roth 401(k) contributions come out after tax, so subtract them from the take-home shown. The IRS caps employee 401(k) deferrals each year — $24,500 for 2026, plus an $8,000 catch-up at 50 or older ($11,250 at ages 60 to 63) — so check the current limit before you raise your percentage.
Where do the new deductions for tips, overtime, seniors and car-loan interest go?
The 2025 tax law (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) added four deductions for 2025 through 2028: up to $25,000 of qualified tips; up to $12,500 of qualified overtime pay — the extra half in time-and-a-half — or $25,000 on a joint return; an extra $6,000 for each person 65 or older; and up to $10,000 of interest on a loan for a new vehicle assembled in the U.S. Each phases out at higher incomes. They don’t change your paycheck on their own: tips and overtime are still subject to withholding, Social Security and Medicare, and you claim the deductions on your tax return. To have less withheld along the way, estimate them on the Deductions Worksheet that comes with Form W-4 and enter the total in Step 4(b) — the Step 4(b) field here. For example, $12,500 of overtime in Step 4(b) cuts a single filer’s federal withholding on a $5,000 semi-monthly paycheck from $732.08 to $617.50.
Does this include state income tax?
Only if you enter a rate — leave it at 0 and the result is federal tax only. States set their own brackets, deductions and credits, and nine don’t tax wages at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. This calculator applies one flat rate to the same wages as federal income tax, after 401(k) and pre-tax benefits. In a flat-tax state, such as Illinois at 4.95% or Pennsylvania at 3.07%, enter that rate (Pennsylvania also taxes 401(k) contributions, which this doesn’t model); in a state with brackets, your effective rate — last year’s state tax divided by your wages — is a close estimate. Local income taxes, like New York City’s or Philadelphia’s, are left out unless you add their rate, and state payroll taxes for disability or paid leave aren’t modeled.
Why might my refund or tax bill differ from this?
Withholding is a prepayment, not your tax. Your tax is figured once a year on your return, from the whole year’s income — every job, a spouse’s pay, interest, side income — and your deductions and credits; what was withheld is then subtracted, and the difference comes back as a refund or is due as a balance. The W-4 tables assume each paycheck is like this one and that you take the standard deduction unless you say otherwise, so a second job or working spouse not covered by Step 2, bonuses (often withheld at a flat 22%), a raise partway through the year, or deductions and credits you left off the W-4 all make the year end differently. The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator can fine-tune your W-4, and the Tax Bracket Calculator shows how your income is taxed bracket by bracket.