What comes out of a US paycheck
Take-home pay is what is left of your salary after pre-tax deductions and the taxes your employer takes out. For a wage earner there are three kinds of tax, and the calculator works each one out for the whole of 2026 before splitting it across your paychecks:
take-home = W − pre-tax − federal income tax − FICA − state income tax
- Federal income tax is figured on
Wminus pre-tax deductions minus the standard deduction, using the 2026 brackets for your filing status (the federal income tax calculator explains the brackets step by step). - Social Security is 6.2% of your wages, up to the $184,500 wage base for 2026. Wages above the base are not taxed for Social Security, so the most anyone pays from one job is $11,439.00, the same figure the Social Security Administration publishes.
- Medicare is 1.45% of all wages, with no wage base. On wages above $200,000 for a single filer, head of household or qualifying surviving spouse, $250,000 for a married couple filing jointly or $125,000 for married filing separately, an Additional Medicare Tax of 0.9% is added.
- State income tax depends on where you live and work. The state menu lists only the states whose taxes this calculator computes, California, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, plus No state income tax for wages that only owe federal tax; choosing a state adds its own lines, such as California SDI, New York City tax for city residents, a Pennsylvania local earned income tax rate or the New Jersey unemployment, disability and family leave contributions. If your state taxes wages and is not on the menu, the result here leaves that tax out. Each of these states has a page explaining its own rules: California Take-Home Pay Calculator, New York Take-Home Pay Calculator, Pennsylvania Take-Home Pay Calculator, New Jersey Take-Home Pay Calculator, Illinois Take-Home Pay Calculator.
Together Social Security and Medicare are called FICA, after the Federal Insurance Contributions Act; your employer pays a matching 7.65% on top of your salary, which does not come out of your pay.
Pre-tax deductions do not all work the same way. A traditional 401(k) contribution comes out before federal income tax but still counts as wages for Social Security and Medicare. Health insurance premiums paid through a cafeteria plan (section 125) come out before both. The calculator has one field for each, so it can apply the right rule. It does not check the yearly limit the IRS sets on 401(k) contributions, which for 2026 is $24,500, plus $8,000 of catch-up if you are 50 or older at the end of the year, or $11,250 instead in a year you turn 60 to 63. Publication 15 notes that the exclusion is subject to the section 402(g) limit, so an amount above the limit is not pre-tax, but the calculator treats everything you enter in that field as pre-tax. Entering more than the limit therefore makes federal income tax look lower, and take-home pay higher, than it will be.
The calculator figures tax for one earner with one job. If you choose married filing jointly, it assumes your spouse has no wages, so the joint brackets and the $32,200 joint standard deduction all go to your salary alone. For a couple who both work, federal income tax is underestimated: if each of you earns $85,000, this page shows $5,840.00 of federal income tax for your salary, but the couple's joint tax on $170,000 is $19,740.00, or $9,870.00 for each salary, $4,030.00 more than shown. The Additional Medicare Tax threshold for a joint return also applies to the couple's combined wages, which this calculator does not add up.
The paycheck table spreads the year's income taxes evenly over your paychecks. Social Security and Medicare follow the wages paid so far in the year, as an employer withholds them, so once your year-to-date wages pass the wage base the Social Security column drops to zero and your paychecks get larger.
Worked example: $85,000 a year, paid biweekly
- Federal income tax: $85,000 − $16,100 standard deduction = $68,900.00 of taxable income, which gives $9,870.00 for a single filer.
- Social Security: 6.2% × $85,000 = $5,270.00.
- Medicare: 1.45% × $85,000 = $1,232.50; no Additional Medicare Tax below $200,000.
- State income tax: $0.00 with No state income tax.
- Take-home pay: $85,000 − $16,372.50 = $68,627.50 a year, or $2,639.52 on each of 26 paychecks.
Taxes take 19.3% of this salary. FICA alone is 7.7%, a flat share at this income level, while the federal income tax share is 11.6% because the first $16,100 is not taxed and the rest is taxed in brackets.
What changes your take-home pay
A 401(k) contribution or cafeteria-plan premiums
Putting $6,000 a year into a traditional 401(k) lowers federal income tax to $8,550.00, but Social Security and Medicare stay at $6,502.50. Take-home pay falls by less than the contribution, to $63,947.50 a year. The same $6,000 paid as health premiums through a cafeteria plan also lowers FICA, to $6,043.50, so take-home pay is $64,406.50. The 401(k) money is still yours, in your account; the premiums pay for coverage.
A salary above the wage base
On $260,000 paid monthly, year-to-date wages pass $184,500 during the year, so Social Security stops after paycheck 9. The first paycheck brings home $15,467.17 and the last $16,615.50. Social Security for the year is $11,439.00, and the Additional Medicare Tax on the wages above $200,000 adds $540.00.
Married filing jointly near the Medicare threshold
Employers start withholding the Additional Medicare Tax once they pay you more than $200,000 in the year, whatever your filing status. A married earner filing jointly with $225,000 of wages (and a spouse with none) has $225.00 withheld for it, but owes none, because the joint threshold is $250,000. This calculator shows the tax owed, so it shows $0.00; the amount withheld is credited when you file your return.
How often you are paid
Pay frequency changes the size of each paycheck, not the year. Paid weekly, the same $85,000 salary brings home $1,319.76 on each of 52 paychecks, and still $68,627.50 for the year.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my actual paycheck different?
Your employer withholds federal income tax using the Form W-4 you filed and the methods in IRS Publication 15-T, which estimate the year one paycheck at a time. This calculator works out the tax for the whole year and spreads it evenly, so the federal line can differ from your pay stub by a little each paycheck. The difference is settled when you file your return.
Does a 401(k) contribution lower my Social Security tax?
No. Elective deferrals to a 401(k) are generally exempt from federal income tax withholding but are still wages for Social Security and Medicare. That is why the calculator subtracts them before federal income tax only.
Why did my paychecks get bigger late in the year?
If you earn more than $184,500, your employer stops withholding Social Security once your wages for the year reach that amount. Medicare has no such limit. With two or more employers in the year, each one withholds up to the wage base; if the total withheld is more than $11,439.00, you may be able to claim the excess as a credit on your income tax return.
Are local taxes and state disability insurance included?
Only those of the states on the menu: California SDI when you choose California, New York City or Yonkers tax when you choose New York and say you live there, and a local earned income tax when you choose Pennsylvania and enter its rates, and the UI/WF/SWF, DI and FLI worker contributions, each up to its wage base, when you choose New Jersey. Other city or county income taxes, other state payroll programs and anything your employer deducts after tax are not included; subtract them from the result if they appear on your pay stub.
We are married, file jointly and both work. Is the result right for us?
Not for federal income tax. The calculator treats your salary as the couple's only wages, so it applies the whole joint standard deduction and the low joint brackets to it. With $85,000 each, the federal income tax shown for one salary is $5,840.00, while each salary's share of the couple's real joint tax is $9,870.00. Social Security and Medicare are figured per person and are not affected, except for the Additional Medicare Tax at high combined wages.
Which year do these figures apply to?
Wages paid in 2026: the 2026 federal brackets and standard deduction, the 2026 Social Security wage base, the Medicare rates in effect for 2026 and the 2026 figures of the states on the menu. Each figure links to the official page it was read from.
Sources
- IRS, Publication 15 (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide: Social Security and Medicare rates, and section 15 on 401(k) deferrals
- IRS, Publication 15-B (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits, Table 2-1
- Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base
- IRS, Questions and answers for the Additional Medicare Tax
- IRS, Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates
- IRS, Topic no. 608, Excess Social Security and RRTA tax withheld
- IRS, Revenue Procedure 2025-32: 2026 tax rate tables and standard deduction
- IRS, Publication 15-T (2026), Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods
- IRS, Notice 2025-67: 2026 limits for 401(k) deferrals and catch-up contributions
- IRS, Retirement topics: Catch-up contributions
- California Franchise Tax Board, Tax News (October 2026): 2026 tax rate schedules
- California Franchise Tax Board, 2026 Instructions for Form 540-ES
- California Employment Development Department, 2026 Employer’s Guide (DE 44): SDI
- New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Instructions for Form IT-2105 (2026)
- Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, Personal Income Tax Rates
- New Jersey Division of Taxation, 2026 Form NJ-1040-ES: tax rate tables and exemptions
- New Jersey Division of Taxation, Gross Income Tax Overview: the no-tax threshold
- New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, 2026 worker rates and wage bases
- Illinois Department of Revenue, 2026 Booklet IL-700-T: rate and exemption allowance
- Illinois Department of Revenue, Informational Bulletin FY 2026-15: exemption income limits