California Take-Home Pay Calculator

How California taxes a paycheck

California takes two things out of a paycheck that the federal calculation does not: state income tax and State Disability Insurance (SDI). This page adds both to the federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare that the federal take-home pay calculator explains, for wages paid in 2026:

take-home = W − pre-tax − federal − FICA − California income tax − SDI

• California income tax starts from California adjusted gross income. California, like the IRS, leaves 401(k) deferrals and cafeteria-plan health premiums out of income tax wages. From that the calculator subtracts the standard deduction, $5,900 for a single filer or married filing separately and $11,800 for a joint return, a surviving spouse or a head of household, then applies the 2026 tax rate schedule for your filing status: nine brackets from 1% to 12.3%.
• The exemption credit comes off the tax, not off income: $158.00 for a single filer, married filing separately or head of household, $316.00 for a joint return or surviving spouse. Because it is a credit, it is worth the same number of dollars in every bracket.
• Behavioral Health Services Tax, which the Franchise Tax Board used to call the Mental Health Services Tax, adds 1% on taxable income above $1,000,000, so the top rate on very high incomes is 13.3%.
• SDI is 1.3% of wages for 2026 and pays for both disability and Paid Family Leave benefits. Since January 1, 2024 there is no wage limit, so unlike Social Security it never stops during the year. A 401(k) deferral is still SDI wages; cafeteria-plan premiums generally are not.

For a single filer the 2026 schedule starts each bracket at these lines of taxable income, and each figure after the plus sign is the base amount printed in the Franchise Tax Board's 2026 schedules:

• Over $11,456: $114.56 plus 2% of the amount over $11,456
• Over $27,157: $428.58 plus 4% of the amount over $27,157
• Over $42,861: $1,056.74 plus 6% of the amount over $42,861
• Over $59,498: $2,054.96 plus 8% of the amount over $59,498
• Over $75,197: $3,310.88 plus 9.3% of the amount over $75,197
• Over $384,109: $32,039.70 plus 10.3% of the amount over $384,109
• Over $460,927: $39,951.95 plus 11.3% of the amount over $460,927
• Over $768,213: $74,675.27 plus 12.3% of the amount over $768,213

The joint schedule's lines are about twice as far apart, and head of household sits in between. For lower taxable incomes Form 540 uses a tax table that works in bands of income, so a return figured from the table can differ from this page by a few dollars. Exemption credits are limited once federal AGI passes a threshold for your filing status, but the Franchise Tax Board has said the complete 2026 amounts will be published in late December; until then the calculator applies the full credit, which can understate California tax by at most $158.00 ($316.00 on a joint return) at those incomes.

Like the federal take-home calculator, this page figures tax for one earner with one job. Married filing jointly here assumes your spouse has no wages, so the $32,200 federal joint standard deduction and the joint brackets all go to one salary, and for a couple who both work federal income tax is underestimated: at $85,000 each, the page shows $5,840.00 of federal tax on one salary, against $9,870.00 as that salary's half of the couple's joint tax. California's joint schedule is built the same way, so the California income tax line is low too: $1,296.60 shown, against $3,515.86 as each salary's half of the joint California tax. SDI is figured per person and is not affected. The Additional Medicare Tax threshold for a joint return also counts the couple's combined wages, which are not added up here.

The calculator 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 from age 50, or $11,250 instead in a year you turn 60 to 63. Whatever you enter in the 401(k) field is treated as a pre-tax deferral, so an amount above the limit makes federal income tax look lower than it will be. California follows the same limit, so the California income tax line is understated in the same way; the SDI line is not, because SDI applies to 401(k) money either way.

Worked example: $85,000 in California, paid biweekly

1. California taxable income: $85,000 − $5,900 standard deduction = $79,100.00.
2. Tax from the schedule: $3,310.88 plus 9.3% of the amount over $75,197 = $3,673.86; minus the $158.00 exemption credit = $3,515.86 of California income tax.
3. SDI: 1.3% × $85,000 = $1,105.00.
4. Federal income tax $9,870.00, Social Security $5,270.00 and Medicare $1,232.50, the same as in any state.
5. Take-home pay: $85,000 − $20,993.36 = $64,006.64 a year, or $2,461.79 on each of 26 paychecks.

California income tax and SDI together take 5.4% of this salary. The marginal California rate on the next dollar is 9.3%, but most of the income is taxed in the lower brackets, and the exemption credit takes another $158.00 off.

What is different about a California paycheck

A 401(k) contribution lowers income tax, not SDI

Putting $6,000 into a traditional 401(k) lowers California income tax by $530.74, to $2,985.12. SDI stays at $1,105.00, because the Employment Development Department counts 401(k) deferrals as SDI wages, just as the IRS counts them for Social Security and Medicare.

SDI has no wage limit

On $260,000 paid monthly, Social Security stops after paycheck 9 because year-to-date wages pass the federal wage base. SDI does not stop: the last paycheck of the year still has $281.67 taken out for it, and SDI for the year is $3,380.00.

Joint brackets on one salary

The same $85,000 filed jointly, with a spouse who has no wages, pays $1,296.60 of California income tax instead of $3,515.86: the $11,800 standard deduction, the wider brackets and the $316.00 credit all apply to one salary.

Taxable income above $1,000,000

A single filer earning $1,250,000 has $1,244,100.00 of California taxable income. The schedule gives $133,209.37, and the Behavioral Health Services Tax adds $2,441.00 on the part above $1,000,000, for $135,492.37 after the exemption credit.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Franchise Tax Board, Tax News (October 2026): 2026 indexing and tax rate schedules
• Franchise Tax Board, 2026 Instructions for Form 540-ES: Behavioral Health Services Tax
• Franchise Tax Board, 2025 Form 540 booklet: tax table and the limit on exemption credits at high incomes
• Employment Development Department, 2026 California Employer’s Guide (DE 44): SDI rate
• Employment Development Department, Types of Payments (DE 231TP): 401(k), cafeteria plan and HSA
• IRS, Revenue Procedure 2025-32: 2026 federal tax rate tables and standard deduction
• IRS, Publication 15 (2026): Social Security and Medicare rates and 401(k) deferrals
• IRS, Publication 15-B (2026), Table 2-1: cafeteria plan benefits
• Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base
• IRS, Questions and answers for the Additional Medicare Tax
• IRS, Notice 2025-67: 2026 limits for 401(k) deferrals and catch-up contributions
• IRS, Retirement topics: Catch-up contributions