Take-Home Pay Calculator for the 2026 Tax Year
Work out what is left of a wage after federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state tax, for any pay period, with every deduction shown.
Take-home pay
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Gross pay for the year
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Federal income tax
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Social Security
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Medicare
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Additional Medicare tax
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State income tax
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Total tax
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Take-home per month
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Effective tax rate
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The take-home amount is the gross pay less the deductions above, divided by the number of pay periods in the year.
The chart fills in once there is a figure to draw.
One bar for the year, split into the part that reaches the wage and the parts that are taken out of it.
A payroll system uses the withholding elections on the W-4 and the amounts already withheld during the year, so the figure on a real paycheque moves a little from month to month.
How this is calculated
The figures are the 2026 tax year: Rev. Proc. 2025-32 for the federal brackets and the standard deduction, and the Social Security Administration for the payroll tax limits. Nothing on this page is a quote from a payroll provider.
The calculation starts from the gross pay and works backwards through the deductions, in the order a payroll system applies them. The pre-tax deductions come out first, because a contribution to a 401(k) or to a health account is taken out of the wage before it is taxed. What is left is the taxable wage.
The two deductions are not treated the same way. A 401(k) or 403(b) contribution is excluded from income, but it is still wages for Social Security and Medicare, so it lowers the federal tax and leaves the payroll taxes alone. An HSA or FSA contribution taken out of the paycheque is excluded from income and from Social Security wages, so it lowers both.
Federal income tax is calculated on that taxable wage. The standard deduction for the filing status is subtracted, and the result is run through the 2026 bracket table. Each bracket is a fixed amount of tax plus a percentage of the income above the bottom of that bracket, which is how the IRS publishes the table.
The payroll taxes come next. They are worked out on the wage less any HSA or FSA contribution, because a 401(k) contribution stays in the wage for these purposes. Social Security is 6.2% of the wage up to the taxable maximum of $184,500 for 2026. Medicare is 1.45% of the whole wage with no ceiling, and the Additional Medicare Tax is 0.9% of the part above $200,000 for a single filer, or above $250,000 for married filing jointly.
The state income tax is the rate the reader types in, applied to the taxable income. It is an estimate: most states tax in bands, so one number applied to the whole income overstates what most people pay. The final figure is what is left, divided by the number of pay periods in the year.
What this calculator does not do
- It does not model tax credits. The child tax credit, the earned income credit and the education credits change the final figure and are not in the calculation.
- It does not model capital gains, self-employment income, or the treatment of income above the Social Security wage base, where Medicare still applies and Social Security does not.
- It does not model local taxes. City and county income taxes are separate from the state rate.
- The pay period counts are conventional: 12 months, 52 weeks, 260 working days, or 2,080 hours for a 40-hour week over 52 weeks. A reader paid on a different schedule can enter the yearly figure instead.
- The HSA and FSA contribution is treated as a salary reduction taken out of the paycheque, which is what makes it free of Social Security and Medicare. An HSA contribution made straight from a bank account is wages for Social Security, and that case is not in the calculation.
- A 401(k) contribution above the annual limit for 2026 is partly subject to the payroll taxes again, and this calculation charges the payroll taxes on the whole contribution.
- It does not check the annual limits on the contributions. A 401(k) or HSA contribution as large as the whole pay leaves the take-home figure below zero, because the payroll taxes are still charged on it.
Sources
- [1]IRS — Rev. Proc. 2025-32, inflation adjustments for the 2026 tax year
- [2]Social Security Administration — 2026 wage base and cola
- [3]Social Security Administration — Publication 15, Employer Tax Guide
- [4]IRS — Tax Topic 401, Wages and salaries
- [5]Social Security Administration — POMS RS 01402.038, Tax-favored health plans
- [6]IRS — Tax Topic 511, Withholding
Guides that go deeper
Common questions
Why is my take-home pay lower than the gross minus the income tax?
Because the wage is reduced by Social Security and Medicare before the income tax is calculated. Those are payroll taxes on the job itself, separate from the income tax on the paycheque.
Does a 401(k) contribution reduce my Social Security and Medicare?
No. It comes off the wage before the federal income tax is worked out, but it is still wages for the payroll taxes, so Social Security and Medicare are charged on it. An HSA or FSA contribution taken out of the paycheque is different: it comes off the base for those taxes as well. That is why the two are entered separately.
Does this use my actual tax bracket?
It uses the 2026 bracket table and the standard deduction for the filing status, so the figure is close to what a payroll system calculates for a wage earner with no other income. It knows nothing about credits, other deductions or other income.
What is the difference between the effective and the marginal rate?
The marginal rate is the rate the next dollar of taxable income is taxed at, and it is the highest bracket the income reaches. The effective rate is the total tax divided by the whole income, and it is lower, because the higher brackets only apply to the part of the income above them.
Which state rate should I use?
The rate that applies to your own bracket in your state. Most states tax in bands, so the effective rate is lower than the top rate. The one number is exactly right in a flat-rate state and in a state with no income tax.
Why is the Social Security tax capped and the Medicare tax is not?
Social Security has a taxable maximum set every year, $184,500 for 2026, and earnings above it are not taxed for Social Security. Medicare has no ceiling, so it applies to every dollar of the wage.
Can I use this to work out my tax bill?
No. It calculates the tax withheld from a wage. A tax return is a different calculation: it includes other income, deductions, credits and the payments already made, and it is filed once a year rather than every pay period.