Paycheck calculator
An estimate using the 2026 federal tables, the standard deduction and a flat state rate. It does not model state brackets, local tax, credits, dependants or a W-4 with extra withholding, so a real payslip will differ.
Take-home pay is gross pay less pre-tax deductions, federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, and any state tax. Federal tax is charged in bands on income above the standard deduction, which for 2026 is $16,100 single and $32,200 filing jointly. Social Security takes 6.2% up to $184,500 of wages; Medicare takes 1.45% of everything.
How to use this calculator
Notice the difference between the effective rate and the marginal rate. The marginal rate is what the next dollar is taxed at and it is the number people quote; the effective rate is what you actually pay across the whole salary, and it is always lower because the early bands are taxed at 10% and 12%. On $85,000 single with the 6% deferral above, the marginal rate is 22% and the effective rate, Social Security and Medicare included, is 17.94%. Turn the deferral off and it rises to 19.26%, because a smaller taxable income was the only reason it was lower.
What a raise is actually worth
Take the same salary to $86,000 and take-home rises by $656.70 a year, not by $1,000. Sixty dollars goes into the plan at 6%, federal tax takes 22% of the $940 that remains taxable, and Social Security and Medicare take 7.65% of the whole thousand. Nothing about crossing into a higher band ever reduces take-home: only the slice above the boundary is taxed at the higher rate, and every dollar below it keeps the rate it already had.
The state line is the weakest number on this page
The state field is a flat rate applied to the federal taxable income, which is the salary less pre-tax deductions and less the federal standard deduction. Very few states work that way. Pennsylvania is the clearest counter-example: its own revenue department states that the personal income tax "does not provide for a standard deduction or personal exemption" and levies a flat 3.07%, so the base it uses is $16,100 wider than the base used here. Entering 3.07 above produces $1,958.66 of state tax where the state would be working from at least $2,452.93. States with their own brackets, their own deductions, or local wage taxes on top will diverge further. Use the state row to size the effect, not to file anything.
The federal side has a similar limit worth stating plainly. Employers do not withhold using the tables on this page; they withhold using the method in IRS Publication 15-T against the Form W-4 on file, which can carry a multiple-jobs checkbox, a dependants credit, other income, extra deductions and a flat extra amount per period. Any one of those moves the withheld figure away from the tax actually owed, and the difference is settled at filing rather than in the paycheck.
What people use it for
- Turning a job offer’s annual figure into what lands in the account
- Seeing what raising the 401(k) percentage costs per pay period
- Checking a payslip against the 2026 federal tables and FICA rates
- Comparing fortnightly pay with twice-monthly on the same salary
- Estimating the difference a move to a state with no income tax makes
- Working out what a raise adds after tax rather than before it
- Comparing filing statuses on an unchanged salary
Questions
Employers withhold using the method in IRS Publication 15-T against the Form W-4 you filed, which can carry extra withholding, dependants or a second-job adjustment. This calculator applies the standard deduction and nothing else.
$2,486.52 a fortnight, or $64,649.50 for the year, on an $85,000 salary with 6% going into the plan. Total tax is $15,250.50 and $5,100 goes into the 401(k) rather than the bank.
17.94% with the 6% deferral, 19.26% without it, both including Social Security and Medicare. The marginal rate is 22% either way.
$656.70 of take-home on these settings. Sixty dollars follows the deferral percentage into the plan, federal tax takes $206.80 and Social Security and Medicare take $76.50.
Not through the income tax bands. Only the slice of income above a boundary is taxed at the higher rate. Benefit cliffs and eligibility thresholds elsewhere can bite, but the bracket table cannot.
A 401(k) deferral reduces income tax but not Social Security or Medicare, which are charged on the full wage. Some health premiums under a Section 125 plan do reduce all three.
Going from 6% to 7% on $85,000 puts $850 more into the plan and takes $663 out of take-home, because $187 of tax is deferred with it.
Yes, and this page does not enforce it. Your own elective deferrals cap at $24,500 for 2026, which on an $85,000 salary is 28.8%. Anything above that in the field will produce a figure no plan would accept.
Social Security stops at $184,500 of wages for 2026, a maximum of $11,439.00, so pay above that is 6.2% cheaper. Medicare carries on, and adds 0.9% above $200,000 single or $250,000 joint.
Because Social Security stops. At $250,000 single the extra Medicare adds $450, but the $65,500 above the wage base pays no Social Security at all, so the two effects partly cancel.
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Leave the state field at zero for those.
It is a flat rate on the federal taxable income, so it will be low for a state with no standard deduction of its own. Pennsylvania at 3.07% comes out $494.27 light on these settings for that reason alone.
No. It applies one rate to the whole base. For a state with a progressive schedule, enter something close to the effective state rate rather than the top marginal one.
Not modelled. Where a city or school district levies its own wage tax, add it to the state percentage as a rough approximation.
IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, which sets the inflation-adjusted figures for tax year 2026. They are listed under the calculator so you can check them.
$16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly and $24,150 head of household. Pick the filing status above and the right one is applied.
Substantially at this salary. The same $85,000 with the same 6% deferral nets $64,649.50 filing single, $67,061.50 as head of household and $68,169.50 filing jointly, because the wider bands and the larger deduction move more income into the 12% band.
No, only how it arrives. The same $64,649.50 is $2,486.52 across 26 fortnightly cheques or $2,693.73 across 24 twice-monthly ones.
No. The child tax credit, education credits and the earned income credit all reduce tax owed and none of them appear here, so a household entitled to them will keep more than this page shows.
This page always applies the standard deduction. Itemising only helps when deductible amounts exceed it, so if yours do, the federal figure here is high.
Withholding, not tax. Supplemental payments are commonly withheld at a flat rate above most people’s effective rate, and the difference is reconciled when the return is filed.