Take Home Pay Calculator

From gross pay to take-home pay

Gross pay is what your employer agrees to pay you for the period. Take-home pay, sometimes called net pay, is what reaches your bank account after everything that is taken out of that amount. Between the two sit three groups of deductions. Taxes withheld by law come first: federal income tax, Social Security tax and Medicare tax, plus any state or local income tax. Then come contributions you choose, such as a traditional 401(k), which reduce the pay you receive now in exchange for tax benefits or savings. Last come deductions taken from pay after tax, such as a Roth 401(k) contribution or union dues.

This calculator lays those lines out one by one for a single paycheck, using the 2026 federal withholding method. With an annual salary of $80,000 paid every two weeks, a single filer with no Form W-4 adjustments and a $6,000 traditional 401(k), gross pay for the period is $3,076.92. The 401(k) contribution is $230.77, federal income tax withholding is $286.54, Social Security is $190.77 and Medicare is $44.62, which leaves take-home pay of $2,324.23. Everything is shown so you can see which line is responsible when a paycheck comes in lower or higher than you expected.

The page estimates withholding, which is what your employer takes out of each paycheck. It does not estimate your tax bill for the year. Withholding is a prepayment, and your actual tax is settled when you file a return, so the two numbers can differ. For the annual calculation use the income tax calculator. If you are working backwards from an hourly wage to a salary, start with the hourly to salary calculator.

It helps to know what share of gross pay you keep. In the example, take-home pay of $2,324.23 is 75.5% of gross pay of $3,076.92. The rest is split between the 401(k), which is still your money, and taxes, which are not. That distinction matters when you budget: the 401(k) contribution lowers what you can spend now but builds savings, while the taxes simply leave. Looking at the lines separately, as the ledger does, keeps you from treating the whole gap between gross and net as a cost.

The Form W-4 steps and what each one does

Federal income tax withholding starts from the Form W-4 you give your employer. The calculator supports the form introduced in 2020 and used since, and it follows the IRS method for automated payroll systems in Publication 15-T, Worksheet 1A. The form has five steps, and four of them change the amount withheld.

Step 1 is your filing status. The withholding tables come in three versions: married filing jointly, head of household, and a third for single and married filing separately. Choose the filing status you put on the form, not necessarily the status you will file with. The standard deduction built into the tables is also tied to the status: Worksheet 1A removes $12,900 from annualized wages for married filing jointly and $8,600 for everyone else, then applies the rate table.

Step 2 applies when you hold more than one job or your spouse also works. If you check the box, withholding comes from a separate table with higher withholding, because the standard deduction and the low brackets are effectively shared between two incomes. Checking the box moves the example above from $286.54 to $466.42 of federal tax per paycheck, and take-home pay falls from $2,324.23 to $2,144.35. If you use the estimator or the form's other options instead of the box, the extra amount goes into Step 4(c).

Step 3 is for credits, such as the credit for children or other dependents. The amount you enter is a yearly reduction in withholding, so the calculator subtracts it from the tentative annual withholding before dividing by the number of pay periods. Steps 4(a) and 4(b) adjust wages: 4(a) adds other income you expect that is not subject to withholding, and 4(b) subtracts deductions beyond the standard deduction. Both are yearly amounts. Step 4(c) is an extra amount per paycheck, added after everything else. The calculator never decides whether you qualify for a credit or deduction. It uses the amounts you entered, exactly as an employer's payroll system uses the form. If the credits in Step 3 are large enough to wipe out the tentative withholding, the federal tax floors at zero rather than going negative, and any Step 4(c) amount still applies: with $100,000 of Step 3 credits and $20 of extra withholding, federal tax is $20.00.

There is also an exemption from withholding for people who owe no federal income tax and expect to owe none, shown as a box on the form. The calculator offers it as a toggle. With it on, no federal income tax is withheld, but Social Security and Medicare still are, and combining it with an extra amount in Step 4(c) is not allowed because the two instructions contradict each other.

The table changes one W-4 entry at a time for the same biweekly example, so you can see what each does to federal withholding.

Step 3 lowers withholding by $84.62 per paycheck, which is $2,200 divided by 26. Step 4(a) adds income, so withholding rises by $42.31, and Step 4(b) subtracts deductions, so it falls by $25.38. Step 4(c) adds exactly $25.00, because it is a flat amount per paycheck. Notice that a credit is worth more than a deduction of the same size, since a credit reduces tax directly while a deduction reduces only the income that is taxed.

Federal wages and FICA wages are different bases

A paycheck has more than one wage figure, and the taxes do not all apply to the same one. Federal income tax is figured on federal wages: gross pay minus pre-tax deductions that the tax law excludes, such as traditional 401(k) contributions and qualifying benefits. Social Security and Medicare, together called FICA, are figured on FICA wages, which exclude fewer things. The calculator shows both bases so you can see why two deductions of the same size can have different effects.

401(k) versus FICA-exempt benefits

A traditional 401(k) contribution lowers the wages used for federal income tax, but it does not lower the wages used for Social Security and Medicare. Your employer still withholds FICA on the full amount before the contribution. Certain benefits provided through a cafeteria plan, such as qualifying health insurance premiums paid with pre-tax dollars, are excluded from both federal wages and FICA wages. The difference is visible in the example. With no 401(k), moving $2,600 a year from pay into pre-tax benefits changes federal wages and FICA wages together. Take-home pay with no 401(k) and no benefits is $2,504.23; with $2,600 a year of excluded benefits it is $2,433.88, while FICA of $227.73 per paycheck is lower than the $235.38 without them because the base shrank. A 401(k) of the same size would leave the FICA lines unchanged.

The calculator asks for these separately so each goes to the correct base: the 401(k) box affects federal wages only, and the pre-tax benefits box affects both. Enter benefits only when you know your plan treats them as excluded from FICA, which your pay stub or benefits summary usually shows.

The table summarizes which pay deductions reach which base.

Because the bases differ, the same $100 deduction can change take-home pay by different amounts. A $100 post-tax deduction lowers take-home pay by exactly $100. A $100 traditional 401(k) contribution lowers it by only $78.00 on a $3,076.92 biweekly paycheck, because it also saves $22.00 of federal income tax at the single 22% bracket. It saves no Social Security or Medicare, since those are charged on the full $3,076.92 either way.

Your pay stub usually prints these bases for you. Look for lines labelled federal taxable wages, Social Security wages and Medicare wages, and compare them with the bases the calculator shows. If your stub's Social Security wages equal gross pay while federal taxable wages are lower, your plan is treating your pre-tax deduction as a federal-only reduction, which is exactly what a traditional 401(k) does.

Deductions and how they are applied

Three kinds of deduction can reduce a paycheck, and each reaches take-home pay differently. Pre-tax deductions come off before federal income tax is calculated, so they reduce your withholding as well as your pay. Post-tax deductions come off after tax and do not reduce any tax. Withholding for taxes is the third kind: federal, FICA, state and local.

The calculator checks that the numbers are possible. A 401(k) and excluded benefits larger than gross pay for the period are rejected, and so are totals where the deductions and taxes add up to more than gross pay. In that case it tells you by how much and shows no result or export, instead of reporting a negative paycheck. Nothing is silently clamped to zero.

The amounts follow the entry mode. In salary mode the deduction fields are yearly amounts and the calculator divides them by the number of pay periods. In one-paycheck mode they are per-paycheck amounts. When you switch modes the page converts what you typed and shows a note, so a figure never silently changes meaning. Step 3, 4(a) and 4(b) of the W-4 stay yearly in both modes, and Step 4(c) stays per pay period, exactly as on the form.

Post-tax deductions are simple subtraction. If you contribute to a Roth 401(k), the money goes into the account after tax, so it lowers take-home pay without lowering federal income tax. A traditional contribution of the same size lowers both pay and tax, so take-home pay falls by less than the contribution. That is the main reason a pre-tax contribution costs less out of pocket than it appears.

Many pre-tax benefits are offered through an employer's cafeteria plan, and several have annual limits that the IRS publishes. For 2026 the limit on salary reductions for a health flexible spending arrangement is $3,400, and the monthly limit on qualified transit benefits and on qualified parking benefits is $340 each. Amounts like these are excluded from federal income tax wages and, when they are part of a qualifying plan, generally from Social Security and Medicare wages too, which is what the pre-tax benefits field is for. Enter only what your benefits summary confirms.

Dependent-care accounts and health savings accounts have their own limits and rules that this tool does not check. If you are unsure how an item is treated, put it in the field that matches your pay stub's treatment and compare the calculator's taxes with the stub. If the Social Security line matches, you chose the right base.

Pay frequencies and annualization

Employers pay on a schedule, and the schedule sets how many paychecks make a year. The calculator supports the eight schedules in the IRS tables: daily at 260 pay periods, weekly at 52, every two weeks at 26, twice a month at 24, monthly at 12, quarterly at 4, twice a year at 2 and once a year at 1. The count matters because withholding works by annualizing a single paycheck, applying the annual table and dividing the result back by the number of periods.

Every two weeks and twice a month are easy to confuse. Biweekly pay comes every other week and totals 26 paychecks, while twice a month is two fixed dates and totals 24. The same $80,000 salary gives gross pay of $3,076.92 per biweekly paycheck and $3,333.33 per semimonthly paycheck, with federal withholding of $286.54 and $310.42. Over a year the totals are close because there are more, smaller paychecks in the 26-period case. Monthly pay of $6,666.67 gives take-home pay of $5,035.83 and weekly pay of $1,538.46 gives $1,162.12.

Why current-check annualization is not a forecast

The method annualizes the paycheck in front of it. Multiply a biweekly paycheck by 26 and you get the wages the table is applied to, whether or not you will really earn that over a year. The 26 or 24 is an assumption of the method, not a prediction of your pay calendar. In some years a biweekly schedule produces 27 paydays, and bonuses, raises and unpaid weeks change the real total. The calculator does not try to model those. It also does not multiply the result by the number of periods to show a yearly figure when year-to-date amounts are involved, because a paycheck that crosses the Social Security cap would give a misleading annual total. Use the income tax calculator for the annual view.

Frequency changes the size of each paycheck, not the year. A weekly paycheck for the same salary is $1,538.46 gross with $143.27 of federal tax and $1,162.12 of take-home pay, while a monthly paycheck is $6,666.67 gross. If a new job pays on a different schedule, compare annual totals rather than single checks.

Year-to-date wages, the Social Security cap and Additional Medicare

Two taxes depend on how much you have earned so far this year. Social Security tax is 6.2% on wages up to the annual wage base, which is $184,500 for 2026 according to IRS Topic 751. Once your year-to-date Social Security wages reach it, no more Social Security tax is withheld for the rest of the year, which is why some high earners see a pay increase late in the year. Medicare tax is 1.45% on all wages with no cap.

The year-to-date fields tell the calculator where you stand before this paycheck. With $184,000 of year-to-date Social Security wages and a $1,000 paycheck, only the first $500 is under the cap, so Social Security is $31.00 instead of $62.00, and the wage base left drops to zero. Early in the year leave both fields at zero.

The 200K employer threshold

Additional Medicare Tax is 0.9% on wages above $200,000. Employers must start withholding it in the pay period in which your wages from them pass $200,000 for the year, regardless of your filing status. That is a payroll rule, and it can differ from what you eventually owe, because the tax return uses thresholds that depend on filing status. The calculator follows the payroll rule: with $199,500 of year-to-date Medicare wages and a $1,000 paycheck, only the $500 above the threshold is charged, an additional $4.50.

A higher salary shows both thresholds in action. At $250,000 a year paid every two weeks, FICA wages are $9,615.38 per paycheck, so the Social Security wage base of $184,500 is reached during paycheck number 20. After that, Social Security tax stops and take-home pay rises, since the maximum Social Security tax for the year is $11,439. Additional Medicare tax begins in paycheck number 21, when year-to-date Medicare wages pass $200,000.

These are illustrations of the arithmetic. Your real year-to-date wages depend on bonuses, raises and when you started the job, so enter the year-to-date figures from your latest pay stub and let the calculator work out the paycheck in front of you. If you changed employers during the year, wages from your earlier employer are not on your current stub, and each employer withholds on its own wages. The tax return reconciles the total later.

If you are not sure of your year-to-date wages, the latest pay stub normally shows them for each tax, and your W-2 confirms them after the year ends. Entering zero when your real year-to-date figure is high overstates the Social Security tax on the paycheck, so the field matters mainly for higher earners late in the year.

A worked example

The table compares the same $80,000 salary, paid every two weeks with a $6,000 traditional 401(k), under four W-4 setups. All figures are per paycheck and come from the calculator.

The steps for the first row show how the tax is built. Gross pay of $3,076.92 less the $230.77 contribution leaves federal wages of $2,846.15 per paycheck. Multiplied by 26, that is $74,000. Removing the standard offset of $8,600 leaves an adjusted annual wage amount of $65,400. The 2026 table gives annual withholding of $7,450.00, and dividing by 26 gives $286.54 per paycheck. Social Security and Medicare are applied to the full $3,076.92.

The next table changes only the 401(k) contribution and keeps everything else in the example the same. Take-home pay falls by less than the contribution, because the contribution also reduces federal income tax.

Moving from no contribution to $6,000 a year lowers take-home pay by $180.00 per paycheck, although the contribution itself is $230.77. The difference of $50.77 is the federal tax saved. Social Security and Medicare are the same in every row because the 401(k) does not reduce FICA wages.

A married couple with two similar jobs shows why Step 2 exists. If each spouse chooses married filing jointly with no other W-4 entries, each employer withholds as if that job were the only income and applies the full standard deduction offset, so together they can withhold too little. Checking the Step 2 box on both forms, or using the IRS estimator, raises withholding. The calculator shows the effect for one job: compare $286.54 with $466.42 per paycheck in the first table on this page.

A second example uses the higher salary from the previous section. A $250,000 salary paid every two weeks with the same $6,000 401(k) gives gross pay of $9,615.38 per paycheck, federal withholding of $1,899.38, Social Security of $596.15, Medicare of $139.42 and take-home pay of $6,749.65. In a paycheck after the Social Security wage base has been reached, the Social Security line is $0.00 and take-home pay is $7,345.81, which is $596.15 more for the same gross pay. The paycheck did not grow because anyone gave a raise. One tax simply stopped.

Both examples are single filers with no W-4 adjustments, so a married filer, a head of household or someone with Step 3 credits will see lower withholding than the first example. Enter your own W-4 entries in the calculator to see your own figures.

State and local withholding, and what is left out

State and local income taxes are not calculated, because they vary by place and change often. Enter the per-paycheck amounts from a pay stub in the state and local fields, and the calculator subtracts them. With $120 of state and $10 of local withholding, the example's take-home pay drops from $2,324.23 to $2,194.23.

The page also leaves out several situations: bonuses and other supplemental wages, which can be withheld by a flat-rate method, more than one job reconciled across employers, Forms W-4 from before 2020, self-employed income, pension withholding, special eligibility rules for deductions and credits, and 2027, for which the IRS has not published the payroll tables the tool needs. Treat the result as an estimate. Your employer's payroll system, which may round or apply other rules, is the authority for your actual pay.

State and local payroll items vary more than people expect. Several states have no wage income tax, while others and some cities charge a flat or graduated rate. Some states also take payroll deductions for programs such as disability insurance or paid family leave, which are separate from income tax. Because the calculator cannot know which apply to you, the state and local fields accept any amounts from your pay stub. Enter the sum of everything withheld for those jurisdictions and treat the labels as a convenience.

Remember also that the IRS tables assume a regular wage payment. If you receive a bonus, commission or other supplemental wages, your employer may use a flat percentage method for that payment, so your paycheck that day can look very different from this estimate.

Using the result

Compare the take-home figure with your pay stub. If they differ, look at the lines: a different frequency, a Step 2 box, a deduction the stub shows that you did not enter or state tax usually explains the gap. Then use the budget calculator to plan around your actual take-home pay, and the overtime pay calculator to see gross pay with overtime hours before taxes. The IRS publishes Publication 15-T with the withholding tables and its Tax Withholding Estimator. The IRS explains the Social Security wage base and the Medicare rates in Topic 751 and the Additional Medicare Tax in Topic 560.

Keep the stub beside the estimate for a pay period or two. If the tax lines differ, the most common causes are a different W-4 status, a Step 2 box or Step 4(c) amount you forgot, an additional deduction taken before tax, or state and local amounts not entered. When something does not match, change one input at a time and watch which line moves. Then update your Form W-4 with your employer if the withholding is not where you want it.

Take home pay calculator questions

Why is a biweekly paycheck different from a semimonthly one?

Biweekly pay means 26 paychecks a year and semimonthly means 24, so each biweekly paycheck is a smaller share of the year. The withholding method annualizes each paycheck, so the tax per paycheck differs while the yearly totals stay close.

When does Social Security tax stop?

It stops after your year-to-date Social Security wages reach the annual wage base, which is $184,500 for 2026. Enter your year-to-date wages and the calculator reduces the tax on the paycheck where you cross the cap.

Does my 401(k) contribution reduce Social Security and Medicare tax?

No. A traditional 401(k) contribution lowers federal income tax wages but not FICA wages. Some benefits taken through a cafeteria plan are excluded from both, which is why the calculator has a separate field for them.

Does this show my tax refund?

No. It estimates what is withheld from one paycheck. Your refund or balance due depends on your whole-year income, deductions, credits and the total withheld, which the annual income tax calculator and your tax return deal with.

Can it handle bonuses?

No. Bonuses and other supplemental wages can be withheld by different methods, so they are outside this estimate. Enter regular wages only.

Is 2027 supported?

Not yet. The page covers 2026 only, and it will add 2027 only when the IRS has published the payroll withholding tables that year requires and they have been checked.