The formula
How it works
Turn your gross salary into the amount that actually lands in your bank account. Enter your salary, pay frequency and deductions, and the calculator estimates federal tax, FICA and state tax to find your take-home pay per paycheck.
FAQ
What is FICA?
FICA is the payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare. Social Security takes 6.2% of wages up to an annual cap, and Medicare takes 1.45% of all wages. Together they are 7.65% of most paychecks, deducted before you ever see the money, on top of income tax.
Why do pre-tax deductions increase take-home value?
Money you put into a traditional 401(k) or similar plan is subtracted before income tax is calculated, so it lowers your taxable income and your tax bill. You still lose it from the paycheck, but a larger share of your total pay is working for you rather than going to tax.
What is the standard deduction?
It is a fixed amount the IRS lets you subtract from your income before federal tax brackets apply, so only income above it is taxed. This calculator uses the current standard deduction for single or married filers rather than itemized deductions.
Does all my income get taxed at the same rate?
No — federal tax uses marginal brackets, so only the slice of income within each bracket is taxed at that bracket’s rate. Your effective tax rate, the tax divided by total income, is therefore always lower than your top marginal rate.
Why does Social Security stop being deducted at high incomes?
Social Security tax only applies up to an annual wage base cap, so earnings above that threshold are not subject to the 6.2% tax. Medicare, by contrast, applies to all wages with no cap.
Does pay frequency change how much tax I owe for the year?
No — your annual tax bill is the same whether you are paid weekly, biweekly, semimonthly or monthly. Pay frequency only changes how that same yearly total is divided into individual paychecks.
What is the difference between biweekly and semimonthly pay?
Biweekly pay happens every two weeks, giving 26 paychecks a year and occasionally two in the same month, while semimonthly pay happens twice a month on fixed dates, giving exactly 24 paychecks a year. Because the total is split into a different number of checks, each paycheck amount differs even though the annual take-home is the same.
About the take-home-paycheck calculator
This calculator estimates your net pay — the amount left after taxes and deductions — from your gross salary. It accounts for the big three deductions from a US paycheck: federal income tax, FICA payroll tax for Social Security and Medicare, and state income tax, along with any pre-tax retirement contributions. The result is the pay you actually receive, shown per paycheck and per year.
How to use it
Enter your annual salary, how often you are paid, your filing status, the percentage you contribute to a pre-tax plan like a 401(k), and your state tax rate. The calculator shows your take-home pay each paycheck and the yearly totals for each deduction. For example, a $75,000 single salary with a 5% 401(k) and 4% state tax nets noticeably less than the headline figure once all the deductions come out.
The formula
Net pay is . Federal tax uses the bracket schedule on income after the standard deduction and pre-tax contributions. FICA is 6.2% Social Security up to the wage base plus 1.45% Medicare. State tax here is a flat rate you enter. Dividing the annual net by the number of pay periods gives the per-paycheck amount.
Where it is used
Employees use it to see what a job offer or raise really means in their bank account, and to budget around their actual pay rather than the gross figure. It helps weigh the trade-off of contributing more to a retirement plan, and to sanity-check that payroll withholding looks right. Because the gap between gross and net surprises many people, it is a reality check worth running.