Take-Home Pay Calculator (2026)
Estimate your net pay from an annual salary or hourly wage — federal taxes, FICA, and take-home per year, month, and paycheck, with every step shown.
💵 Your Pay
📘 Gross pay vs. take-home pay
Gross pay is the full number on your offer letter — your salary before anything is removed. Take-home (net) pay is what actually lands in your bank account after taxes and deductions. For most US earners the gap is roughly a fifth to a third of gross pay, which is why a $95,000 salary rarely feels like $95,000.
Three federal items shrink every US paycheck, in every state:
- Federal income tax — marginal brackets from 10% to 37% applied to taxable income (salary minus pre-tax deductions minus the standard deduction). Only the slice of income inside each bracket is taxed at that rate.
- Social Security tax — 6.2% of wages up to $184,500 in 2026. Earnings above that are not subject to it.
- Medicare tax — 1.45% of all wages, no cap, plus 0.9% on wages over $200,000 (single / head of household) or $250,000 (married filing jointly).
Then comes the part this calculator leaves out on purpose: state income tax. Nine states — including Texas, Florida, and Washington — have no individual income tax at all. Others range from flat rates under 3% to graduated systems topping out above 13%. Two people with identical $95,000 salaries can take home thousands of dollars apart purely because of the state line between them. If you live in Texas, our Texas Paycheck Calculator is the precise tool for you; everyone else should treat the number below as a before-state-tax estimate.
🔢 2026 figures this calculator uses
Verified against IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (IR-2025-103) and the SSA October 2025 announcement. Brackets, deductions, and the wage base change yearly — recheck them if you use this tool for a different tax year.
| Filing status | 2026 standard deduction |
|---|---|
| Single | $16,100 |
| Married filing jointly | $32,200 |
| Head of household | $24,150 |
| Payroll tax | 2026 rate / limit |
|---|---|
| Social Security (employee) | 6.2% on first $184,500 of wages |
| Medicare (employee) | 1.45% on all wages (no cap) |
| Additional Medicare tax | 0.9% on wages over $200,000 (single/HoH) or $250,000 (MFJ) |
| State income tax | Not included — varies by state |
Federal income tax uses the seven 2026 marginal brackets (10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, 37%) with thresholds set per filing status — for example, the 10% bracket covers the first $12,400 of taxable income for single filers, $24,800 for joint filers, and $17,700 for heads of household.
🧮 Worked example (hand-checked)
Single filer, $95,000 annual salary, $6,000 pre-tax 401(k), no post-tax deductions — 2026 tax year, federal only.
- Taxable income = $95,000 − $6,000 − $16,100 (standard deduction) = $72,900.
- Federal tax: 10% × $12,400 = $1,240, plus 12% × $38,000 = $4,560, plus 22% × $22,500 = $4,950 → $10,750.
- FICA wages = $95,000 − $6,000 = $89,000. Social Security: 6.2% × $89,000 = $5,518 (under the $184,500 wage base). Medicare: 1.45% × $89,000 = $1,290.50 (no additional tax — under $200,000).
- Total federal tax = $10,750 + $5,518 + $1,290.50 = $17,558.50; take-home = $95,000 − $6,000 − $17,558.50 = $71,441.50/year, or $5,953.46/month.
Try it in the calculator above — you should get the same numbers. Then remember: in a state with an income tax, the real take-home would be lower.
⚠️ Common mistakes
- Forgetting state tax exists. The biggest error with national estimators: a $95,000 salary keeps noticeably less in California or New York than in Texas or Florida. Always subtract your state separately.
- Confusing marginal and effective rates. Being "in the 22% bracket" does not mean 22% of your salary goes to income tax — only the income above $50,400 (single, 2026) is taxed at 22%.
- Mixing up pre-tax and post-tax deductions. A traditional 401(k) shrinks your taxable income and FICA wages; a Roth 401(k) shrinks only your take-home. Entering one as the other skews both the tax and the net.
- Annualizing hourly pay wrong. $35/hour is $72,800 a year at 2,080 hours — but only if you actually work full-time year-round. Part-time or unpaid leave changes the number.
- Using last year's figures. Brackets, the standard deduction, and the wage base move every year; a 2025 calculation will be slightly off for 2026.
🔍 Limitations
- State and local income taxes are not modeled — this is the main reason your real paycheck will differ. Nine states have no income tax; the rest take varying amounts.
- It estimates the underlying annual tax; real withholding follows IRS Publication 15-T tables and your Form W-4 settings, so individual paychecks can differ slightly.
- It does not model tax credits (e.g., child tax credit), additional W-4 withholding, multiple jobs, tip income, or itemized deductions.
- Pre-tax deductions are treated as reducing both income-tax and FICA wages, which is true for 401(k) and cafeteria-plan health premiums but not for every deduction type.
- Hourly conversion assumes 2,080 hours/year and no overtime premium.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
A: Subtract pre-tax deductions and the 2026 standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 joint, $24,150 head of household) from your salary to get federal taxable income, apply the marginal brackets from 10% to 37%, then subtract Social Security (6.2% to $184,500 of wages) and Medicare (1.45% on all wages, plus 0.9% over $200,000 single / $250,000 joint) and any post-tax deductions. What remains is take-home — before state income tax, which this calculator does not include.
A: Gross pay is your full salary before anything is removed; net (take-home) pay is what is left after federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state taxes where they apply, and deductions. For most earners the gap is roughly a fifth to a third of gross pay.
A: For federal taxes in 2026, expect 7.65% of wages to go to Social Security and Medicare combined (up to the $184,500 Social Security wage base), plus federal income tax that depends on your filing status and deductions — a single filer near $95,000 with a $6,000 401(k) owes about $10,750 a year, or roughly 11% of gross. State income tax takes more on top where it exists.
A: No — deliberately. State income tax rates range from 0% in the nine states with no income tax to over 13% at the top end elsewhere, so no single number would be honest for everyone. Your actual take-home will be lower if your state has an income tax. Texas residents can use our Texas Paycheck Calculator instead.
A: Traditional 401(k) contributions are pre-tax: a $6,000 annual contribution at a 22% marginal rate saves about $1,320 of federal income tax and about $459 of Social Security/Medicare per year, while the full $6,000 still goes into your retirement account — so take-home falls by far less than $6,000. Roth 401(k) contributions are post-tax and reduce take-home dollar for dollar.