Paycheck Calculator

How to use this calculator

1. Choose Salary or Hourly. For hourly pay, enter your rate and usual hours per week (we multiply by 52 weeks).
2. Pick how often you’re paid and your state.
3. Choose the filing status from your Form W-4.
4. Under Pre-tax deductions, enter your traditional 401(k) percentage and any pre-tax health, dental, vision or FSA deductions per paycheck.
5. Under W-4 and withholding, add children and other dependents (W-4 Step 3), tick Step 2 if you have more than one job, and enter any extra withholding.
6. If your city or county has an income tax, enter its rate under Local tax.

The result is your take-home pay for one paycheck, with a breakdown of every deduction and a table of per-paycheck, monthly and yearly totals.

How your take-home pay is calculated

Federal income tax follows the IRS percentage method for automated payroll (Publication 15-T, Worksheet 1A) with a 2020-or-later Form W-4:

1. Multiply taxable pay per period (gross minus 401(k) and pre-tax benefits) by the number of paychecks a year.
2. Subtract $8,600 ($12,900 if married filing jointly). Skip this if the Step 2 box is checked.
3. Look up the result in the 2026 annual table below, then divide by the number of paychecks.
4. Subtract your W-4 Step 3 credits per paycheck ($2,200 per child under 17, $500 per other dependent) and add any extra withholding.

Source: IRS Publication 15-T (2026), standard withholding rate schedules. These tables build in the 2026 standard deduction and brackets.

Social Security is 6.2% of wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500. Medicare is 1.45% of all wages, plus 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax withheld on wages above $200,000. 401(k) contributions don’t reduce either, but pre-tax health benefits do.

State income tax is calculated from each state’s 2026 brackets, standard deduction, exemptions and credits, and spread evenly across your paychecks. Where a state requires employees to pay into a disability, paid-leave or long-term-care program, that’s included too.

Worked example

A single filer in Illinois earning $65,000, paid every two weeks, contributing 5% to a 401(k):

The federal figure comes from ($2,375 × 26) − $8,600 = $53,150, which the single table taxes at $1,240 + 12% × $33,250 = $5,230 a year, or $201.15 a paycheck. Illinois taxes $65,000 − $3,250 (401(k)) − $2,925 (personal exemption) at 4.95%, or $2,911.84 a year. Over the year, take-home is about $48,636, and $3,250 goes into the 401(k). The 401(k) calculator shows what that could grow to.

Take-home pay on $65,000 in every state (2026)

Single filer, paid biweekly, no pre-tax deductions or dependents, no local taxes. “State taxes” includes required employee payroll contributions such as California SDI and Washington’s paid leave and WA Cares premiums.

North Dakota shows $0 because its 0% bracket covers the first $49,575 of taxable income. Federal tax and FICA are the same in every state: $5,620 and $4,972.50 a year at this salary.

State tax changes for 2026

Several states cut taxes for 2026, some retroactively after the year began, which this calculator reflects:

• Retroactive cuts enacted in 2026: Georgia (4.99%, with a larger $15,000 standard deduction), South Carolina (new 1.99% / 5.21% rates and an income-adjusted deduction), Utah (4.45%), West Virginia (about 5% lower in every bracket) and Arkansas (top rate 3.7%). Maine raised its standard deduction to $15,700.
• Scheduled cuts: Indiana (2.95%), Kentucky (3.5%), Mississippi (4%), Montana (5.65% top), Nebraska (4.55% top), North Carolina (3.99%), Ohio (2.75% over $26,050) and Oklahoma (4.5% top).
• New payroll deduction: Minnesota’s paid leave program started employee contributions on January 1, 2026.

Tips to get your withholding right

• Check your W-4 after a life change. Marriage, a new baby or a second job changes how much should be withheld.
• Use Step 2 for two jobs. Without it, each employer withholds as if that job were your only income, which usually means too little tax.
• Raise your 401(k) to save tax now. At a 22% federal bracket plus state tax, each $100 contributed lowers take-home pay by roughly $70 to $75.
• Compare with the income tax calculator. The income tax calculator estimates your full-year tax, so you can see whether withholding is on track for a refund. The salary calculator converts any wage to annual, monthly or hourly figures.

Assumptions & limitations

• Federal withholding follows the 2026 Publication 15-T percentage method exactly, and our tests check it against the official 2026 wage-bracket tables. Your actual 2026 income tax, settled when you file, can differ from what’s withheld.
• Per-paycheck amounts are averages. If you earn more than $184,500, Social Security stops partway through the year, and the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax starts only after $200,000, so later paychecks differ.
• State tax is annual liability spread evenly, not each state’s withholding formula, so paycheck withholding can differ by a few dollars. Married couples are treated as one earner.
• Simplified states. We note these in the results when you pick the state:
  • Alabama, Arizona, Hawaii and Idaho use the figures in the Tax Foundation’s 2026 state tax table (as of February 2026) rather than a later state publication.
  • Arkansas doesn’t model its separate low- and middle-income tax tables, so tax may be overstated under about $92,000.
  • Vermont uses 2025 brackets, deduction and exemption because 2026 indexed amounts weren’t yet published. Utah’s credit phase-out, South Carolina’s dependent exemption and Maine’s dependent credit use 2025 amounts for the same reason.
  • Kentucky’s Family Size Tax Credit, Connecticut’s personal tax credit and Ohio’s exemption credit are modeled, but Ohio’s joint filing credit and West Virginia’s Family Tax Credit aren’t.
• Not included: local income taxes unless you enter a rate (for example Maryland counties, New York City, Ohio and Pennsylvania localities, Indiana counties and Kentucky occupational taxes), state earned-income and child credits that are paid at filing, bonuses, overtime, tips, and Roth or after-tax deductions.

Sources

• IRS Publication 15-T (2026), Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods
• IRS Publication 15 (2026), Employer’s Tax Guide: Social Security and Medicare rates
• IRS: 2026 Form W-4
• IRS: 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026
• Tax Foundation: State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 2026
• State revenue departments’ 2026 withholding guides, estimated-tax instructions and statutes, listed for each state in our tax data (for example California FTB, New York IT-2105-I, Georgia DOR 2026 Employer’s Tax Guide and South Carolina DOR Information Letter 26-20)

This calculator estimates your paycheck for planning and isn’t tax or payroll advice. Your employer’s payroll system and your final tax return determine the actual amounts.

Updated November 2026. Results are estimates for educational purposes and depend on the inputs you provide.