Paycheck Calculator

A paycheck calculator turns gross pay into take-home pay by subtracting 2026 federal income tax, Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%). Example: a single filer earning $65,000 with no state tax takes home about $54,408 a year, roughly $2,093 per biweekly paycheck or 83.7% of gross.

Four sister tools cover the neighboring questions: the Salary Calculator converts hourly, weekly and annual pay, the Payroll Calculator is the employer-side view with payroll costs, the Tax Withholding Calculator checks whether your W-4 withholding is on track, and the Income Tax Calculator estimates your full-year federal tax bill. This page answers one thing: what lands in your account each payday.

Here is the full math. Say you earn $2,500 every two weeks (biweekly) as a single filer with no 401(k). That annualizes to $65,000. After the 2026 standard deduction of $16,100, your federal taxable income is $48,900. Running that through the 2026 single brackets gives $5,620 in federal income tax (10% of $12,400 plus 12% of $36,500). FICA on the full $65,000 is Social Security ($65,000 × 6.2% = $4,030) plus Medicare ($65,000 × 1.45% = $942.50). Federal tax plus FICA is about $10,593, leaving about $54,408 a year, or about $2,093 per biweekly paycheck. This paycheck calculator shows that full gross-to-net path, line by line.

The 2026 federal income tax brackets

Federal income tax is progressive: each band of income is taxed at its own rate. For a single filer in 2026 (the year your current paychecks are withheld for, filed in 2027), the brackets are:

The standard deduction comes off first: Taxable income = wages − 401(k) − standard deduction. Married filing jointly (10% up to $24,800, 12% up to $100,800) and head of household use wider bands and larger deductions, which the calculator applies automatically.

FICA: Social Security and Medicare

On top of income tax, employees pay FICA. Social Security is 6.2% on wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500; earnings above that stop the Social Security portion. Medicare is 1.45% on all wages with no cap, and employers withhold an extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on wages over $200,000 in the year, regardless of filing status (your final amount on the tax return uses $200,000 single or $250,000 married filing jointly). Crucially, FICA is charged on your gross wages: a traditional 401(k) contribution does not reduce it.

Pre-tax 401(k) and state tax

A traditional 401(k) deferral lowers your federal taxable income (and, in most states, state taxable income), so it cuts those taxes but not FICA. The 2026 employee limit is $24,500 ($32,500 with the age-50 catch-up). State income tax varies by state, and nine states do not tax wages, so we keep it as an optional flat rate you can enter to match your situation. All figures here are for 2026 paychecks. If you want the full-year picture rather than a single check, run the same income through the Income Tax Calculator.

How much does a 401(k) contribution shrink my paycheck?

Less than the sticker percentage, because every pre-tax dollar also cuts federal income tax. The table shows an $80,000 single filer (2026 federal tax + FICA only, no state tax): at 6%, $4,800 goes into the 401(k) but the biweekly check only drops by $144, from $2,504 to $2,360.

Every dollar deferred at this income costs only 78 cents of take-home, because the other 22 cents would have gone to federal tax anyway. FICA is unchanged in every row: it is always charged on the full $80,000 gross.

Pay frequency matters

Your annual taxes are the same regardless of how often you are paid, but the per-check amount changes: 52 weekly checks, 26 biweekly, 24 semimonthly or 12 monthly. The calculator converts your entered gross to annual, computes annual tax, then divides back to your chosen frequency. Semimonthly (24 checks) and biweekly (26 checks) are not the same: biweekly pay produces two extra checks a year, so each biweekly check is slightly smaller than a semimonthly one for the same salary.

Hourly paycheck: how to enter your pay

If you are paid by the hour, choose Hourly and enter your rate and usual weekly hours. The calculator multiplies rate × hours × 52 weeks and divides by your number of paychecks: $25 an hour for 40 hours, paid biweekly, is $2,000 gross per check ($52,000 a year), which leaves about $1,691 after 2026 federal tax and FICA for a single filer. Overtime is paid at 1.5 times your rate under the Fair Labor Standards Act, so if a check includes overtime hours, add them as extra hours at the higher rate or enter that check's gross pay directly.

2026 take-home pay by salary: $40,000 to $150,000

The table below shows what common salaries leave after tax in 2026. It assumes a single filer taking the $16,100 standard deduction, federal income tax + FICA only, with no state or local tax and no 401(k) or other pre-tax deductions. Add your state's rate in the calculator for a local figure.

Notice how the total tax bite climbs from about 14.2% at $40,000 to about 24.1% at $150,000. That is the progressive bracket system at work, layered on top of flat FICA.

How much is my biweekly paycheck after tax?

If you think in per-check terms ("what is $1,500 or $2,000 biweekly after tax?"), this table annualizes each biweekly gross check (×26) and applies the same 2026 single-filer, federal-plus-FICA-only assumptions as above.

So a $1,680 biweekly check is about $1,434 after tax, and a $45,760 salary ($22/hour full-time) nets about $38,948 under these assumptions. Lower checks keep a larger share because the standard deduction and the 10% and 12% brackets cover more of the income.

State income tax: why your take-home depends on where you live

Two people earning the same gross salary can end up with very different take-home pay simply because of where they work. Nine states do not tax wages at all (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming), so a $70,000 salary in Texas keeps more per check than the same salary in a high-tax state. Other states use a flat rate applied to all taxable income, while many use progressive brackets much like the federal system, with rates that can top 10% at the highest income levels. Because the rules differ so widely, this paycheck calculator treats state tax as an optional flat percentage you enter yourself: set it to 0% for a federal-only estimate, or enter your state's approximate effective rate to see a closer net figure. Some cities and counties add a local income tax on top of the state rate, which a single flat rate cannot fully capture. For budgeting a move or comparing two job offers in different states, adjusting only the state-rate field is the fastest way to see how location alone changes your bottom line.

How to use this paycheck calculator

You only need a few numbers to get a realistic take-home estimate. Work through the fields in order:

1. How you are paid: enter the gross amount of one paycheck, or choose Hourly and enter your rate and weekly hours.
2. Pay frequency: pick weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly or annual so the tool can annualize correctly and divide the result back.
3. Filing status: choose single, married filing jointly, head of household or married filing separately. This sets your standard deduction and which bracket table applies.
4. 401(k) contribution: enter your pre-tax deferral as a percentage. This lowers federal (and usually state) taxable income but not FICA.
5. State tax rate: optional. Add an approximate flat rate to include state income tax, or leave it at 0% for a federal-only view.

The result updates instantly. Read your net pay per paycheck at the top, then check the breakdown to see exactly how much goes to federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state tax.

A second worked example: married with a 401(k)

Suppose you and your spouse file jointly and you earn $120,000 a year, paid semimonthly ($5,000 per check), and you contribute 6% to a traditional 401(k). That 6% deferral is $7,200, which comes off your federal taxable income. After the 2026 married-filing-jointly standard deduction of $32,200, your federal taxable income is $80,600 ($120,000 − $7,200 − $32,200). Running that through the 2026 joint brackets gives about $9,176 in federal income tax. FICA is charged on the full $120,000 gross, not the reduced amount: Social Security is $120,000 × 6.2% = $7,440 and Medicare is $120,000 × 1.45% = $1,740. Take-home is about $94,444 a year, or $3,935 per semimonthly check, and you have moved $7,200 into retirement savings. Notice that the 401(k) shrank only the income-tax line, not the $9,180 of FICA.

Marginal rate vs. effective rate

Your marginal rate is the rate on your next dollar of taxable income, the top bracket you reach. Your effective rate is your total federal income tax divided by your gross pay, and it is almost always lower because the standard deduction and the 10% bracket cover your first dollars. In the first example above, a single filer on $65,000 sits in the 12% marginal bracket in 2026 and pays an effective federal income-tax rate of about 8.6%. When people say a raise "pushed them into a higher bracket", only the income inside that higher band is taxed at the higher rate; the rest is unchanged, so a raise always leaves you with more money after tax.

Gross pay vs. net pay vs. taxable income

Three numbers often get confused, and the calculator keeps them separate:

• Gross pay is your total earnings before anything is taken out. FICA is calculated on this figure.
• Taxable income is gross pay minus pre-tax items (here, the 401(k) deferral) and the standard deduction. Federal income tax brackets apply to this number, not to gross.
• Net pay (take-home) is what actually lands in your account after federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and any state tax are subtracted from gross.

Because FICA uses gross while income tax uses taxable income, the same gross paycheck can have very different income-tax and FICA lines depending on your deductions.

Who this calculator is for

This tool turns a salary, an hourly rate or a paycheck figure into the number that actually reaches your bank account. It is useful for:

• Job seekers comparing two offers, where a higher gross does not always mean a higher take-home after taxes and benefits.
• New employees trying to predict their first paycheck before payroll runs.
• Anyone changing their 401(k) percentage who wants to see the real effect on take-home before updating their election.
• Hourly and salaried workers budgeting around a specific per-check amount rather than an annual figure. To convert pay between hourly, weekly and yearly figures, use the Salary Calculator.
• Freelancers checking a W-2 offer against contract income (self-employment tax differs and is modeled in the Self-Employment Tax Calculator, not here).

Tips to increase your take-home pay

A few legitimate levers can change the bottom line:

• Use pre-tax accounts: traditional 401(k), HSA and FSA contributions lower taxable income; HSA and FSA contributions made through a cafeteria plan also reduce FICA, which the 401(k) does not.
• Check your W-4: claiming dependents ($2,200 per child under 17 on the 2026 form) or the new deductions for tips, overtime and seniors in Step 4(b) reduces withholding, so more money arrives each check instead of as a refund later.
• Avoid a large refund: a big refund means you over-withheld and gave the government an interest-free loan. Tuning your W-4 spreads that money across the year.
• Mind your state: nine states do not tax wages, so the same salary takes home more there. Local city taxes can work the other way.
• Consider Roth vs. traditional: Roth 401(k) contributions do not lower today's taxable income but produce tax-free withdrawals later, a take-home tradeoff worth weighing.

Limitations and assumptions

This is a planning estimate, not exact payroll withholding. Keep these assumptions in mind:

• It applies the standard deduction for your filing status and does not model itemized deductions, Schedule 1-A deductions (tips, overtime, car loan interest, seniors) or adjustments beyond the 401(k).
• It does not include health insurance, HSA or FSA pre-tax deductions, which would lower both income tax and FICA on a real check.
• It does not apply the Child Tax Credit, other tax credits or W-4 extra withholding, all of which change your actual paycheck.
• State tax is modeled as a single flat rate; real state systems may be progressive, have their own deductions, or add local taxes.
• It assumes ordinary W-2 wages. Self-employment, bonuses taxed as supplemental wages (22% flat withholding), equity compensation and tipped income are handled differently by payroll.
• All figures use 2026 brackets, deductions and the $184,500 Social Security wage base.

How it compares to related calculators

This page answers "what is my take-home pay per paycheck?" If you have a different question, a sister tool fits better:

• To estimate your total federal tax bill for the year, use the Income Tax Calculator.
• To convert between hourly, weekly and annual figures, use the Salary Calculator.
• To see whether you will owe or get money back, use the Tax Refund Calculator.
• To find the bracket your next dollar falls into, use the Tax Bracket Calculator.
• To see your overall rate across all income, use the Effective Tax Rate Calculator.
• If you are self-employed, the Self-Employment Tax Calculator models the 15.3% SE tax that W-2 FICA does not cover.