Take Home Pay Calculator

The 2026 standard deduction and progressive federal brackets estimate annual income-tax liability. Employee FICA uses 6.2% Social Security up to $184,500, 1.45% Medicare, and Additional Medicare above the selected filing-status threshold. Your state rate is a flat approximation applied to gross wages.

A single employee with $70,000 wages, no benefits or credits and a 5% state-rate assumption has $6,570 federal income tax, $5,355 FICA and $3,500 modeled state tax: $54,575 per year or $4,547.92 per month.

The result is an annual liability estimate, not a W-4 payroll-withholding calculation. Actual withholding may differ even when your final tax bill is close to this estimate.

Tax credits, itemized or extra age-related deductions, local tax, benefits, retirement contributions and new special deductions are excluded. State tax is not computed from actual state brackets. This is for employees, not self-employed contractors.

Enter annual gross salary, select one of the available filing statuses and enter an assumed flat state-tax percentage. The calculator uses its 2026 federal schedule and employee FICA assumptions to estimate annual tax, then subtracts those amounts from gross income. It is not a payroll withholding simulator. A real payslip may reflect tax forms, benefit deductions, pay-period methods and adjustments that are not represented by the three fields on this page.

Use the full annual wage amount you intend to model, not one month's pay or the amount already deposited after deductions. The available statuses are single, married filing jointly and head of household. Select a status that actually fits the scenario; choosing another simply to obtain a larger net figure does not establish eligibility. The model applies its standard-deduction assumptions but does not collect all the information needed to prepare a tax return.

The entered state rate is applied to the entire gross salary. At a $60,000 salary and an assumed 3% rate, that part of the calculation is $1,800. Changing only the assumed rate to 4% makes it $2,400, reducing modeled annual net income by $600. This comparison isolates the chosen percentage; it does not describe the actual tax law of a particular state or include a local income tax.

A state's published top bracket is not necessarily an effective rate on all earnings. Deductions, brackets and credits may make a real calculation different from this flat-rate shortcut. Entering zero means the model deducts no state tax; it is not a determination that you owe none. If you need a location-specific estimate, use the relevant state rules separately and label any rate you enter here as an assumption rather than a verified tax result.

Federal income tax and employee FICA are different deductions in this model. The federal calculation uses progressive brackets on taxable income after its standard deduction; it does not apply the highest reached bracket to the whole salary. FICA includes employee Social Security and Medicare calculations with the coded thresholds and assumptions. These figures do not include an employer's contributions and should not be interpreted as a complete statement of every tax associated with employment.

The monthly net figure is annual estimated net divided by 12. It is an average, not a prediction of each paycheck or each calendar month's deposits. Someone paid every two weeks commonly has 26 pay periods, while twice-monthly pay has 24; dividing an annual estimate by those counts answers different budgeting questions. The form does not ask for a pay schedule. Keep the annual basis visible when using its monthly display to review recurring expenses.

Retirement contributions, health insurance, flexible spending arrangements, tax credits and other household income can change the comparison. This simplified form does not model all those items, itemized deductions or a complete joint return. It also does not calculate self-employment tax. A wage employee's estimate should not be reused as a freelancer's after-tax profit estimate merely because both people expect the same annual income. The underlying tax and expense questions are different.

Check the tax year before using the result and compare it with payroll records or an appropriate official tax tool for your purpose. Withholding can differ from eventual tax liability, so a discrepancy with a payslip does not itself prove an error. Do not treat the displayed net as a refund forecast or a filing recommendation. Save the salary, status, assumed state rate and year with the output so the scope of the estimate remains clear when circumstances change.