Paycheck Calculator
Work out what actually reaches your bank account each pay period. Enter your gross pay, how often you are paid and your filing status, and the calculator splits each check into federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, state tax and take-home pay.
Estimate only, not tax advice. 2025 federal brackets and the standard deduction for a single filer (IRS Rev. Proc. 2024-40), FICA at 6.2% to $176,100 plus 1.45%, and a flat state rate you entered. No credits, local taxes, wage garnishment or state-specific rules — check IRS Publication 15 or a tax professional for your situation.
Formula and calculation
Worked example
A $100,000 salary, single, paid every two weeks: the $15,000 standard deduction leaves $85,000 taxable, which puts the top slice in the 22% bracket. Federal income tax is $523.62 a paycheck and FICA is $294.23, so the deposit is $3,028.31 per paycheck — $78,736.00 over the year at an effective tax rate of 21.26%.
Why your paycheck and your tax return rarely match
Withholding is a running estimate, not a final bill. Enter a second job, a bonus, a mid-year raise or a spouse's income and each paycheck can be taxed as if that were your whole year. Credits you claim at filing — the earned income tax credit, the child tax credit, education credits — are not applied here, so a refund or a balance due at filing is normal. The annualized method this calculator uses is the same idea as the IRS percentage method in Publication 15-T: estimate the year, divide by the number of pay periods, withhold that much.
What the estimate leaves out
There is no 50-state table behind this page, because state income tax depends on your state's own brackets, exemptions, credits and even your city: nine states have no wage income tax, while California's top rate is above 13%, and places like New York City and Portland add local tax on top. Enter your state's effective rate — total state tax divided by income — not its top marginal rate. Also missing: local taxes, state disability insurance, wage garnishment, union dues, and anything else your employer withholds from the gross figure.
What the results mean
- Take-home per paycheck
- Your take-home pay for one paycheck: gross pay minus the pre-tax deduction, income taxes and FICA. This is the amount that gets deposited.
- Gross per paycheck
- Gross pay for one paycheck, before any deduction or tax is taken out.
- Federal income tax
- Federal income tax per paycheck, estimated by annualizing your pay and running it through the 2025 brackets.
- Social Security and Medicare
- Social Security and Medicare per paycheck: 6.2% of pay up to the $176,100 wage base, 1.45% Medicare on everything, and an extra 0.9% above the additional Medicare threshold.
- State income tax
- State income tax per paycheck at the flat rate you entered. The calculator does not guess your state's brackets or credits.
- Pre-tax deductions
- The pre-tax amount withheld from each paycheck for 401(k) and similar plans.
- Total tax for the year
- Every income and payroll tax you pay across the year: federal, Social Security and Medicare, and state combined.
- Gross pay for the year
- Your total pay for the year before anything is withheld.
- Take-home for the year
- What you keep over the year after the pre-tax deduction and all taxes — the annual version of take-home pay.
- Effective tax rate
- Total tax as a share of gross pay. It is the average rate you actually pay, so it is always lower than your marginal rate.
- Marginal tax rate
- The federal bracket your last dollar of taxable pay lands in — the rate that applies to your next dollar of earnings. It reads 0% when taxable pay is zero.
Frequently asked questions
Can I rely on this paycheck estimate?
Treat it as an estimate, not tax advice. It uses the 2025 federal brackets and FICA rates and the flat state rate you type in, so it gets the size of a normal paycheck about right — but credits, other income, local taxes and your employer's own withholding tables can each move the real number. For anything that matters, check IRS Publication 15 or ask a tax professional.
Why is my real paycheck smaller than this?
The usual reasons are deductions this page does not model: health and dental premiums, life insurance, union dues, commuter benefits, wage garnishment, state disability insurance, and city or county income tax. If your employer withholds for a second job or a bonus at a flat rate, that shows up too. Compare the gross figure on your pay stub with the gross here first — most surprises come from deductions rather than tax.
Does a 401(k) contribution lower my taxes?
Yes for income tax, no for Social Security and Medicare. A traditional 401(k) contribution comes out before federal (and usually state) income tax, so a 5% contribution on $100,000 cuts taxable pay by $5,000. But FICA is charged on the full gross, so your Social Security and Medicare withholding does not shrink. Roth contributions work the other way: taxed now, not later.
How do I estimate my state income tax rate?
Divide the state income tax you owed last year by your gross income — that effective rate is what belongs in the box, not your state's top bracket. Rates range from 0% in Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming, through flat-rate states in the 3–5% range, up to 13%-plus at the top of California. Your state's tax agency publishes the official brackets.
Why is my marginal rate higher than my effective rate?
Because the United States taxes income in layers, not all at one rate. The first dollars of taxable pay are taxed at 10%, the next slice at 12%, and so on, so your effective rate is the blended average across every layer while your marginal rate is only the layer your last dollar sits in. A single filer on $100,000 ends up in the 22% bracket but pays about 21% of gross pay in total tax, and a good deal less than that in federal income tax alone.