SHIP'S INSTRUMENTS

US take-home pay calculator

Enter your salary, filing status, state, and pre-tax deductions to estimate your paycheck after federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. The tables are the 2026 IRS and state figures the app ships with, and the math runs entirely on this page.

US take-home pay

Federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax for tax year 2026. An estimate: credits, itemized deductions, and local taxes are not modeled.

Data: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the SSA 2026 wage base, via the Tax Foundation's 2026 state tables. Married-joint doubles single-filer state thresholds; married-separate and head-of-household reuse the single table. Same tables as the app.

How it's calculated

  1. A traditional 401(k) contribution lowers the income that federal and state tax apply to, but not Social Security and Medicare wages. HSA contributions and health premiums through payroll (a Section 125 plan) lower both.
  2. Federal tax applies the standard deduction, then the marginal brackets for your filing status. Social Security is 6.2% up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500; Medicare is 1.45%, plus 0.9% above $200,000 ($250,000 married filing jointly).
  3. State tax uses each state's flat rate or brackets and its standard deduction. Married-joint doubles the single-filer thresholds; married-separate and head-of-household use the single table. Local and city taxes, credits, and itemized deductions are not modeled, and the note under the result says so for the states where that matters most.

Worked example

A single filer earning $75,000 with 6% into a 401(k) and no state income tax takes home about $58,083 a year, or $2,234 every two weeks - an effective rate of 16.6% while the top federal bracket touched is 22%.

Frequently asked

Why doesn't this match my paycheck exactly?

Employers withhold based on your W-4, which can over- or under-collect relative to your real annual tax; this page estimates the real annual amount. It also leaves out local taxes, tax credits, itemized deductions, state disability or family-leave contributions, and other payroll deductions like dental or life insurance.

Which states have no income tax on wages?

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Choose one of them, or leave the state blank, to see federal and FICA only.

Where does the tax data come from and how current is it?

Federal brackets and standard deductions are from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 for tax year 2026, the Social Security wage base from the SSA, and state tables from the Tax Foundation's 2026 survey. The app refreshes them each tax year and this page is generated from the same file.

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