Take-Home Pay Calculator
Work out what actually lands in your account each payday — after federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, insurance premiums, and retirement contributions — and see the annual picture alongside it.
What this calculator estimates
This tool turns a salary or hourly rate into the number that matters: what reaches your bank account on payday. It shows the per-period figure and the annual figure side by side, itemises every deduction between the two, and reports what percentage of your gross pay you actually keep.
How to use it
- Choose salary or hourly, then enter your gross pay and how often you are paid.
- Set your filing status — it determines your standard deduction and rate schedule.
- Enter your benefit deductions as annual amounts. If you know your per-paycheck figure, multiply it by the number of periods shown in the results.
- Add a state rate if you want state tax included. Nothing is assumed on your behalf.
How the calculation works
The important detail, and the one most paycheck estimators get wrong, is that pre-tax deductions do not all work the same way. There are two separate wage bases and they diverge.
- Traditional 401(k) and 403(b) deferrals come out before income tax, but Social Security and Medicare are still charged on the full amount. Deferring salary does not reduce your FICA bill by a cent.
- Health, dental, and vision premiums under a Section 125 cafeteria plan, and HSA contributions made through payroll, come out before both income tax and FICA. These are the only common deductions that reduce your Social Security and Medicare tax.
- Roth 401(k) contributions come out of after-tax pay and reduce neither base.
Once the two wage bases are established, Social Security is charged at 6.2% up to the annual wage base and Medicare at 1.45% with no cap. An extra 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies above the threshold for your filing status. Separately, your standard deduction is subtracted from your income-tax wages and the remainder runs through the 2026 rate schedule.
A worked example
Someone single earning $82,000, paid biweekly, contributing $6,560 to a traditional 401(k), paying $2,400 in health premiums and putting $2,000 into an HSA, in a state with roughly a 4.5% effective rate.
The premiums and HSA reduce FICA wages to $77,600, so Social Security is charged on that rather than the full salary. All three deductions reduce income-tax wages to $71,040, from which the $16,100 standard deduction leaves $54,940 of taxable income. Load the example to see every line.
Important limitations
- This is not withholding. It estimates your annual tax liability and divides it evenly across pay periods. Your employer instead uses the IRS percentage method and the Form W-4 you filed, which will produce a different per-paycheck figure — often a larger one, since W-4 defaults tend to over-withhold.
- Bonuses are spread evenly. In reality bonuses are usually withheld at a flat supplemental rate, so the paycheck containing one looks very different.
- Hourly pay assumes 52 paid weeks with no unpaid leave.
- No state rates are built in. State tax appears only if you supply a rate.
- Credits are not applied. Child tax credit and similar credits reduce your annual tax but are not reflected here; use the federal income tax calculator for that.
Frequently asked questions
Does contributing to a 401(k) reduce my Social Security tax?
No. This surprises a lot of people. Traditional 401(k) deferrals reduce the wages your income tax is calculated on, but Social Security and Medicare are charged on your full salary regardless. Health premiums and payroll HSA contributions are the ones that reduce FICA.
Why is my real paycheck smaller than this estimate?
Most likely because your W-4 causes more to be withheld than your actual liability — which is why so many people receive refunds. This calculator estimates what you will ultimately owe; your employer withholds according to a separate set of tables.
Biweekly or semimonthly — what is the difference?
Biweekly is every two weeks, giving 26 paychecks a year. Semimonthly is twice a month, giving 24. Your annual pay is identical; biweekly paychecks are slightly smaller, and twice a year you get a third paycheck in a month.
Why is my state tax showing as zero?
Because you have not entered a state rate. This site deliberately ships without 2026 state rate schedules — they had not been confirmed against each state's revenue department, and an unverified rate presented as fact is worse than no rate at all.
What happens when I hit the Social Security wage base?
Social Security tax stops for the rest of the calendar year, so your paychecks get noticeably larger. Medicare continues with no cap. This calculator shows the annual average rather than modelling the mid-year jump.
Official sources
- IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 — 2026 rate schedules and standard deductions.
- SSA contribution and benefit base — the Social Security wage base.
- IRS Publication 15-T — the withholding methods employers actually use.
Related calculators
This calculator is provided for general educational and estimation purposes only. It does not constitute tax, legal, accounting, or financial advice. Tax laws and individual circumstances vary, and your actual tax liability may differ. Review official IRS guidance or consult a qualified tax professional before making tax-related decisions. Ledgerwise is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the Internal Revenue Service or any government agency.