Paycheck Calculator
Estimate your take-home pay after federal tax, state tax, and FICA from your salary or hourly wage, pay frequency, filing status, and state.
How to use the paycheck calculator
- 1
Enter your salary or hourly rate and hours per week.
- 2
Choose your pay frequency, filing status, and state.
- 3
Add any pre-tax deductions (401k, health insurance) you contribute annually.
- 4
Your estimated take-home pay per paycheck, plus the federal tax, state tax, and FICA breakdown, update instantly.
How take-home pay is calculated
Worked example: a single filer in California earning $70,000/year, paid biweekly, contributing $2,400/year to a 401(k):
- Taxable income for federal tax = $70,000 − $2,400 (401k) − $15,000 (2025 single standard deduction) = $52,600
- Federal tax (applying each bracket to its portion of income) = $6,486
- FICA = 6.2% Social Security ($4,340, under the wage base) + 1.45% Medicare ($1,015) = $5,355
- Estimated California state tax (flat approximate rate) on $67,600 = $4,056
- Net annual pay = $70,000 − $2,400 − $6,486 − $4,056 − $5,355 = $51,703
Divided across 26 biweekly paychecks, that's a gross pay of $2,692.31 per paycheck and an estimated net take-home pay of $1,988.58 per paycheck — an effective combined tax rate of about 22%.
Federal tax brackets and standard deduction
| Rate | Single | Married filing jointly |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $0 – $11,925 | $0 – $23,850 |
| 12% | $11,925 – $48,475 | $23,850 – $96,950 |
| 22% | $48,475 – $103,350 | $96,950 – $206,700 |
| 24% | $103,350 – $197,300 | $206,700 – $394,600 |
| 32%+ | above $197,300 | above $394,600 |
The standard deduction is $15,000 (single), $30,000 (married filing jointly), or $22,500 (head of household). These figures use the most recently published federal tables as an approximation; exact future-year figures adjust annually for inflation.
Why this is an estimate, not a paystub
This calculator is built to give a realistic, fast estimate of your take-home pay — not to replicate your employer's exact payroll system. A few things it deliberately simplifies:
- State tax uses one flat approximate rate per state rather than that state's real (often progressive) bracket structure, and ignores state-specific standard deductions or credits.
- Local and city taxes (like those in New York City or parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania) aren't included at all.
- W-4 withholding is not modeled — your actual paycheck withholding depends on your specific W-4 elections and IRS withholding tables, which can differ from your true annual tax liability estimated here.
- Overtime, bonuses, and irregular pay aren't factored into the hourly calculation, which assumes the same hours every week of the year.
Use this tool to sanity-check an offer, compare take-home pay across states, or estimate the effect of a raise or a change in 401(k) contributions — but treat your actual pay stub, W-2, or a tax professional as the authoritative source for real tax filing decisions.
Deciding whether to increase your 401(k) contribution or start investing? Try the Compound Interest Calculator →
Frequently asked questions
Related guides
The exact order taxes come out of a paycheck — pre-tax deductions, federal tax, FICA, and state tax — with a full worked example from gross to net.
Read the guide →How to convert an hourly wage to an annual figure for tax purposes, and a worked example comparing hourly and salaried take-home pay.
Read the guide →Why increasing your 401(k) contribution costs you less take-home pay than the dollar amount you contribute, with a worked before-and-after example.
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