Transparent by design
Verified inputs, visible limits
Federal values come from the IRS and SSA. State rates are kept in a separate reviewable dataset with official authority links and notes about what the estimate excludes.
Review every data source2026 paycheck planning
See where your paycheck goes—without the mystery.
Estimate federal tax, state income tax, Social Security, Medicare, deductions, and take-home pay from salary or hourly income. Every displayed tax year and source is visible.
Tax year 2026IRS & SSA sourcedNo signup50 states
Paycheck calculator
Estimate your take-home pay
Start with annual, monthly, weekly, or hourly pay. Open advanced inputs only when you need them.
Estimated result
Your take-home breakdown
Take-home by frequency
Estimated marginal rates:
Calculation assumptions
Planning estimate only. Your employer’s payroll result can differ because Form W-4 elections, pay-period rounding, credits, local taxes, benefits, and payroll-system rules are not fully modeled.
Useful, not bloated
Focused salary tools
Convert hourly pay, compare states, estimate overtime, model a raise, or see how a 401(k) contribution changes cash flow.
Browse 12 calculatorsCorrect a result
Something look wrong?
Send the inputs, expected result, and official source. Reports go directly to the site owner—there is no invented “review team.”
Report a calculation issueReading a paycheck estimate
Gross pay, taxable wages, withholding, and take-home are different numbers
Gross pay is compensation before taxes and deductions. Taxable wages can be lower when an eligible deduction is excluded from a particular tax base. A traditional 401(k) contribution commonly reduces federal income-taxable wages while remaining subject to Social Security and Medicare; eligible cafeteria-plan health deductions can receive different treatment. The calculator therefore applies each entered deduction according to the documented model rather than subtracting everything at the end.
Federal income tax is progressive. The standard deduction is applied before successive portions of taxable income enter higher brackets, so a marginal rate is not the rate paid on all salary. Social Security uses the NaN% employee rate up to the $184,500 2026 wage base. Medicare generally uses the NaN% employee rate, with Additional Medicare Tax modeled when the applicable filing-status threshold is crossed.
Withholding is what an employer sends to a tax authority during the year. This website instead estimates annual liability and spreads the planning result across pay frequencies. Form W-4 entries, multiple jobs, credits, year-to-date wages, state certificates, local rules, and payroll rounding explain why a real check can differ. The breakdown is useful for budgeting and comparing scenarios, but it should be reconciled with an actual pay statement before an important decision.
Before you rely on an estimate
What this calculator does—and does not do
Is this the same as payroll withholding?
No. It estimates annual income-tax liability and spreads the result across pay periods. An employer generally uses IRS Publication 15-T, your Form W-4, state withholding forms, and payroll-specific rounding.
Does it include local tax?
Not automatically. Local rules vary by city, county, residency, and work location. You can enter a known local wage-tax rate in advanced inputs.
Why might my pay stub differ?
Common reasons include W-4 credits or other income, multiple jobs, pretax benefit treatment, local taxes, state exemptions, payroll rounding, and year-to-date Social Security wages.