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Paycheck · take-home pay
Your salary isn't your paycheck. Enter what you earn and we'll subtract federal tax, Social Security and Medicare to show what really lands each payday.
Where each dollar goes
The number on your offer letter is gross pay. What lands in your account is smaller, because federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare come out first. This take-home pay calculator runs your salary through the real federal brackets and FICA rates so you can see what actually hits your bank account each payday — and exactly how the dollars split between you and withholding.
Three federal items stand between gross pay and net pay. Federal income tax is calculated on your taxable income — your wages minus the standard deduction and any pre-tax contributions — using the bracket rates for your filing status. It is the largest and most variable piece.
FICA is the pair of payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. Social Security is withheld at 6.2% of your wages up to an annual wage base; earnings above that cap aren't taxed for Social Security. Medicare is 1.45% of all your wages with no cap, plus an additional 0.9% on wages above a high-earner threshold that depends on your filing status. These percentages are stable year to year; the wage base and the additional-Medicare thresholds are adjusted annually, so this tool uses current figures.
Pre-tax deductions are amounts your employer removes before income tax is figured: traditional 401(k) and 403(b) contributions, HSA and FSA deposits, and most health-insurance premiums. They shrink your taxable income, which lowers the income-tax line. Real paychecks may also carry post-tax items — Roth contributions, wage garnishments, or supplemental insurance — that this estimate doesn't model.
Say you earn $70,000 as a single filer, paid every two weeks (26 checks), with no pre-tax deductions. Subtract the standard deduction and your taxable income lands in the 12% and 22% brackets, for federal income tax of roughly $7,400. Social Security takes 6.2% of wages — about $4,340 — and Medicare takes 1.45%, about $1,015. Add those up and total federal withholding is near $12,750, leaving an annual take-home around $57,250, or roughly $2,200 per paycheck. Now add a $5,000 traditional 401(k) contribution: your take-home drops by only about $3,900, because the contribution wasn't taxed. Your exact numbers will shift with the year's brackets and your inputs, but the shape holds.
This calculator gives an estimate of federal withholding for planning and comparison. It isn't tax or financial advice; for your exact numbers, check your pay stub or a tax professional.
Federal income tax (from the real IRS brackets for your filing status and the standard deduction), plus the two FICA taxes: Social Security at 6.2% up to the annual wage base, and Medicare at 1.45% (with an extra 0.9% on high earners). What’s left is your federal take-home. It’s an estimate of federal withholding only.
This tool covers federal withholding, which is the same everywhere. State income tax varies enormously — from zero in states like Texas and Florida to north of 10% in others — so it isn’t modeled here. If your state has income tax, your actual take-home will be a bit lower than shown.
Money taken from your pay before income tax is calculated: traditional 401(k) and 403(b) contributions, HSA and FSA deposits, and most health-insurance premiums. They lower your taxable income (and your tax), which is why contributing can cost you less in take-home than the full amount.
Treat it as a close estimate. Real paychecks also depend on your W-4 elections, state and local taxes, and any post-tax deductions. Use this to sanity-check an offer, compare pay frequencies, or see the take-home cost of bumping up your 401(k).
FICA is your share of two payroll taxes: Social Security at 6.2% of wages up to the annual wage base, and Medicare at 1.45% of all wages with no cap. Together that’s 7.65% on most of your pay. High earners owe an extra 0.9% Medicare surtax on wages above a threshold that depends on filing status. The 6.2% and 1.45% rates are stable year to year, but the wage base and surtax thresholds are adjusted annually.
Not your annual take-home — only how it’s divided. Weekly, every two weeks, twice a month, and monthly all add up to the same yearly net pay; the frequency just sets how big each individual check is. More frequent paychecks are smaller, and less frequent ones are larger, but the year-end total is identical.
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