Texas Paycheck Calculator (2026)
Estimate your federal taxes and take-home pay for a Texas paycheck — per pay period and per year, with every step shown.
💵 Your Paycheck
📘 How paycheck taxes work in Texas
Three federal taxes can be withheld from a Texas paycheck. Texas itself withholds nothing — it is one of the states with no individual income tax.
- Federal income tax — based on your taxable income (wages minus pre-tax deductions minus the standard deduction), run through marginal brackets of 10% to 37%. Only the slice of income inside each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate.
- Social Security tax — 6.2% of wages up to $184,500 in 2026 (the SSA wage base). Wages above that are not subject to Social Security tax. Your employer matches this amount.
- Medicare tax — 1.45% of all wages, with no cap. An additional 0.9% applies to wages over $200,000 (single / head of household) or $250,000 (married filing jointly).
This calculator annualizes your pay, subtracts pre-tax deductions and the 2026 standard deduction, applies the brackets, then divides everything back into per-paycheck amounts.
🔢 2026 figures this calculator uses
Verified against IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (IR-2025-103) and the SSA October 2025 announcement. If you use this tool for a different tax year, recheck the figures — brackets, deductions, and the wage base change yearly.
| 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) |
| Texas state income tax | None — $0 |
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, $75,000 annual salary, paid biweekly, no deductions — 2026 tax year.
- Taxable income = $75,000 − $16,100 (standard deduction) = $58,900.
- Federal tax: 10% × $12,400 = $1,240, plus 12% × $38,000 = $4,560, plus 22% × $8,500 = $1,870 → $7,670.
- Social Security: 6.2% × $75,000 = $4,650 (under the $184,500 wage base).
- Medicare: 1.45% × $75,000 = $1,087.50 (no additional tax — under $200,000).
- Total tax = $7,670 + $4,650 + $1,087.50 = $13,407.50; take-home = $75,000 − $13,407.50 = $61,592.50/year, or $2,368.94 per biweekly paycheck (gross $2,884.62).
Try it in the calculator above — you should get the same numbers.
⚠️ Common mistakes
- Confusing marginal and effective rates. Being "in the 22% bracket" does not mean 22% of your pay goes to income tax — only the income above $50,400 (single) is taxed at 22%.
- Forgetting pre-tax deductions. 401(k) contributions and health premiums shrink both your taxable income and your FICA wages — leaving them out overstates the tax.
- Treating the Social Security cap as a Medicare cap. Social Security stops at $184,500 of wages; Medicare's 1.45% never stops.
- Assuming Texas has no taxes at all. Texas has no income tax, but federal taxes still apply in full — and Texas property and sales taxes are among the higher ones nationally.
- 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
- Federal withholding in real payroll uses IRS Publication 15-T tables and your Form W-4 settings — this tool estimates the underlying annual tax, which is what the withholding is meant to approximate.
- 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.
- Local taxes are not modeled (most Texas localities have no local income tax).
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
A: Annualize your gross pay, subtract pre-tax deductions (401(k), health premiums) and the 2026 standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 joint, $24,150 head of household) to get federal taxable income, then apply the marginal brackets from 10% to 37%. Add 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). Texas adds no state tax.
A: No. Texas has no individual income tax, so employers do not withhold any state income tax from Texas paychecks. The only taxes withheld are federal: income tax, Social Security, and Medicare.
A: It depends on your wages, filing status, and pre-tax deductions. As a rough guide for 2026, a single filer earning $75,000 with no deductions owes about $7,670 in federal income tax for the year — roughly $295 per biweekly paycheck — plus $4,650 Social Security and $1,087.50 Medicare. Enter your own numbers above for an exact estimate.
A: FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) tax is Social Security plus Medicare: 6.2% + 1.45% = 7.65% of wages up to the $184,500 Social Security wage base in 2026, then 1.45% on wages above it. Your employer pays a matching 6.2% + 1.45% separately.
A: Pre-tax deductions are subtracted before taxes are figured, so a $200 per-paycheck 401(k) contribution lowers both your federal taxable income and your Social Security/Medicare wages by $200. At a 22% marginal rate that saves about $44 of income tax plus about $15.30 of FICA per paycheck, while the full $200 still goes into your retirement account.