Take-Home Pay Calculator
Estimate your net paycheck after pre-tax deductions, an estimated tax rate, and post-tax deductions.
Understanding the Take-Home Pay Calculator
The order deductions actually happen in
Take-home pay is what actually lands in your account once you subtract everything from gross salary. First, pre-tax deductions (like traditional 401(k) contributions or health insurance premiums) come out. Then, the calculator applies tax to what’s left. Finally, post-tax deductions (like Roth contributions) come out of the remainder.
Why this uses one estimated rate, not real tax brackets
This calculator uses a single estimated combined tax rate rather than modeling exact tax brackets, filing status, credits, and location-specific rules. As a result, real payroll withholding is more precise and depends on details this tool doesn’t collect. So, use your last pay stub’s effective tax rate for a more personalized estimate, or a conservative estimate like 20–30% combined federal, state, and payroll tax if you’re planning ahead of a new job.
A planning estimate, not payroll advice
This is a planning estimate, not a substitute for a payroll calculation or tax advice. Your actual withholding depends on your W-4 elections, filing status, deductions, credits, and local tax rules.
See it in practice
Example 1 — Salaried employee with 401(k) and insurance
Example 2 — No pre-tax deductions
Common questions
It keeps the calculator simple and location-independent. For a closer estimate, use your effective tax rate from a recent pay stub (total tax withheld divided by gross pay for that period) rather than a marginal bracket rate.
Common examples include traditional 401(k) or 403(b) contributions, health insurance premiums paid through payroll, and health savings account (HSA) contributions. All of these reduce the income used to calculate your tax.
Roth 401(k) or Roth IRA contributions made through payroll, wage garnishments, and some voluntary benefit premiums typically come out after the calculator applies tax.
It’s a reasonable estimate for planning purposes, but treat it as a starting point. Your actual paycheck depends on exact tax brackets, filing status, local taxes, and benefit elections that this simplified tool doesn’t model.
This varies by income, state, and filing status. However, a combined total of roughly 20-30% between federal, state, and FICA taxes is common for many middle-income earners in states with an income tax.
FICA includes Social Security tax, 6.2% up to an annual wage cap, and Medicare tax, 1.45% with no cap. Together, employers withhold a combined 7.65% from nearly every paycheck regardless of income level.
Gross salary doesn’t reflect federal, state, and payroll tax withholding, or pre-tax deductions like retirement contributions and health insurance premiums. All of these reduce the amount that actually reaches your bank account.
No. Your employer deducts a traditional 401(k) contribution before calculating income tax. So, increasing your contribution by $100 typically reduces your actual take-home pay by less than $100, since part of that amount would have gone to taxes anyway.
As of recent years, states including Texas, Florida, Washington, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska, and Tennessee don’t levy a state income tax. This can meaningfully increase take-home pay compared to identical gross salaries in higher-tax states.
You can update your withholding by submitting a new Form W-4 to your employer, adjusting your filing status, dependents claimed, or additional withholding amount to better match your actual annual tax liability.
Overtime pay falls under the same tax brackets as regular wages. However, it can push a single paycheck’s withholding higher because of how payroll systems annualize that period’s income, even though the tax system doesn’t calculate your overall annual tax liability any differently.
Biweekly pay occurs every two weeks, producing 26 paychecks a year. Semi-monthly pay, on the other hand, occurs twice a month, on fixed dates, producing 24 paychecks a year. Biweekly paychecks are slightly smaller but more frequent.