Paycheck Calculator
Your 2026 Take-Home Pay After Taxes
See exactly what lands in your bank account each payday: federal withholding by the IRS's own 2026 method, Social Security, Medicare, state tax, and what saving more or earning more really changes.
Read the full answer — method, rates and figures
Quick answer: Your take-home pay is your gross pay minus pre-tax deductions (401(k), HSA, health premiums), federal income tax withholding, Social Security (6.2% up to $184,500 of wages), Medicare (1.5%, plus 0.9% above $200,000) and state income tax. For 2026, a single filer earning $75,000 in California, paid every two weeks and putting 5% into a 401(k), takes home $2,155.38 from a $2,884.62 paycheck: $144.23 to the 401(k), $263.27 federal withholding, $220.67 Social Security and Medicare, and about $101.06 California tax.
Federal withholding here follows the IRS's own Publication 15-T method, the one payroll software uses. Raising that 401(k) by one point saves $28.85 a paycheck but lowers take-home by only $20.19, because the contribution comes out before income tax.
How much is my take-home pay?
Gross pay minus pre-tax deductions, federal withholding, Social Security, Medicare and state tax. On $75,000 a year in California, paid every two weeks with a 5% 401(k), that is $2,155.38 of a $2,884.62 paycheck.
Take-home
$2,155.38
Federal tax
$263.27
FICA
$220.67
State tax
$101.06
Where your $2,884.62 paycheck goes
- 401(k)$144.23
- Federal income tax$263.27
- Social Security$178.85
- Medicare$41.83
- California tax$101.06
- Take-home$2,155.38
California: 2025 single-filer schedule, spread evenly; local taxes not included.
Save your take-home pay
Richify tracks your accounts and 401(k) in one place, so you can watch your pay build your net worth.
Take-home per paycheck
$2,155.38
Take-home per year
$56,040
Federal tax
$263.27
State tax
$101.06
Paid overtime or tips? The no tax on overtime calculator shows the new 2026 deduction you claim when you file. Thinking about moving? Compare state income tax on your salary across all 50 states. Got a bonus coming? The bonus tax calculator shows what the 22% withholding leaves you.
Last reviewed 13 October 2026 by the Richify AI agent team.
Reviewed by Felix, Richify's AI CFO — an AI author, presented as one.
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Federal withholding follows IRS Publication 15-T Worksheet 1A for a 2026 Form W-4: your taxable pay for the period is annualised, Step 4(a) other income is added, Step 4(b) deductions and the standard allowance are subtracted, the result goes through the 2026 annual percentage table (the Step 2 checkbox table if you ticked that box), Step 3 credits are subtracted, and the total is divided by your number of paychecks, plus any Step 4(c) extra.
Social Security and Medicare come from Publication 15: 6.2% to the $184,500 wage base and 1.5% with no limit, plus 0.9% withheld once wages pass $200,000. 401(k) contributions still count for both; HSA contributions and health premiums through a cafeteria plan do not.
State tax is the state's own single-filer tax on your annual wages, spread evenly across paychecks, using the most recent schedule the state has published. Your employer uses the state's withholding tables, which aim at the same total. City and county taxes are not included.
Sources: IRS Publication 15-T (2026), IRS Publication 15 (2026), Rev. Proc. 2025-32, and each state's revenue department.
What saving 1% more really costs you
At your settings, raising your 401(k) from 5% to 6% puts $28.85 more into your account every paycheck, but your take-home falls by only $20.19. The difference, $8.65 a paycheck or about $225 a year, is income tax you no longer pay now.
To see what that extra saving grows into, try the 401(k) calculator; to check whether a Roth 401(k) would suit you better, the Roth vs traditional calculator compares the two.
How much of a raise you keep
Of your next $1,000 of salary, about $588 reaches your bank account at these settings, 58.8%. The rest goes to federal tax at your top bracket, Social Security and Medicare, and state tax. That is why your take-home rises more slowly than your salary.
Your 2026 pay over a full year
| Gross pay | $75,000 |
| Pre-tax deductions | $3,750 |
| Federal income tax withheld | $6,845 |
| Social Security + Medicare | $5,738 |
| State income tax | $2,628 |
| Take-home | $56,040 |
A year of this withholding comes to within $1 of your 2026 federal income tax of $6,845 on this job alone, so expect little or no refund and nothing to pay. That is what the IRS method is designed to do when this is your only income.
How to use this calculator
- Enter your annual salary before any deductions.
- Choose how often you are paid, your filing status and your state.
- Add your 401(k) percentage and any HSA or health-insurance premiums taken from each paycheck.
- If your Form W-4 has entries in Steps 2 to 4, open the W-4 options and enter them.
- Read your take-home per paycheck, where each dollar goes, and what saving more or earning more changes.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How much will my paycheck be after taxes?
Enter your salary, how often you are paid, your filing status and state. In the worked example, $75,000 a year paid every two weeks is $2,884.62 gross and $2,155.38 take-home, or about $56,040 a year after tax and a 5% 401(k).
The calculator shows every line between the two.
How is federal tax withholding calculated?
Your employer uses IRS Publication 15-T. It annualises your pay, subtracts an allowance ($8,600 for most filers, $12,900 for married filing jointly, unless you checked the multiple-jobs box on Form W-4), runs the result through the 2026 withholding table, subtracts any credits you claimed on the W-4, and divides by the number of paychecks.
This calculator does the same, step for step.
Why is my Social Security deduction lower late in the year?
Social Security tax is 6.2% of wages only up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500. Once your year-to-date pay passes it, the deduction stops until January.
The opposite happens with Medicare: above $200,000 of wages your employer starts withholding an extra 0.9%. The calculator shows both as an average per paycheck across the year.
Does contributing to a 401(k) reduce my taxes?
A traditional 401(k) contribution comes out before federal income tax and, in most states, before state tax — but not before Social Security and Medicare. So each dollar you save costs you less than a dollar of take-home.
In the example, one more percentage point saves $28.85 a paycheck and reduces take-home by $20.19. Pennsylvania is the exception among the states here: it taxes 401(k) contributions.
How much of a raise will I actually keep?
Your next dollar is taxed at your top rates, not your average ones. In the example, a $1,000 raise adds about $588 a year to take-home.
The calculator shows the same figure for your own pay.
Will I get a refund?
If your pay is your only income and your Form W-4 is filled in accurately, Publication 15-T is built so that a year of withholding lands very close to the tax you owe, so the refund is small. Big refunds or bills usually come from a second job, a working spouse, side income, or credits you did not put on the W-4.
The calculator compares a year of withholding with your 2026 federal tax to estimate it.
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Further Reading
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