Paycheck Calculator

Estimate your take-home pay after federal tax, state tax, FICA, 401(k), and health insurance deductions.

This calculator estimates per-paycheck take-home pay by working through the deductions that come out of a real paycheck in order: 401(k) Contribution reduces taxable income before federal and state tax are calculated (a genuine pre-tax deduction, the way most employer 401(k) plans work), while Health Insurance is subtracted directly from gross pay without reducing taxable income, modeling a straightforward post-tax premium rather than a pre-tax cafeteria-plan deduction. Federal income tax is computed on that taxable income minus the 2026 standard deduction ($16,100 single / $32,200 married filing jointly) run through real 2026 IRS tax brackets -- the same deduction real W-4 withholding tables build in, so leaving it out would overstate federal tax substantially. The 401(k) Contribution percentage is also capped at the 2026 statutory elective-deferral limit of $24,500, since no real plan allows deferring more than that regardless of the percentage entered. FICA combines the 6.2% Social Security tax, which stops accruing once wages for the year cross the statutory 2026 cap of $184,500, with the 1.45% Medicare tax plus an additional 0.9% Medicare surtax on income above the $200,000 employer-withholding threshold (your actual liability threshold is $250,000 if married filing jointly, $125,000 if married filing separately -- this calculator uses the withholding threshold since it models per-paycheck withholding, not year-end liability). Pay Frequency changes how the same annual salary is sliced into paychecks -- weekly pay means smaller, more frequent checks; monthly pay means fewer, larger ones -- but the annual totals underneath stay the same regardless of which frequency you pick. State Tax Rate is a single flat percentage you enter yourself, since real state income tax systems vary too widely (flat-rate, progressive-bracket, or no income tax at all) for one formula to model accurately; entering your actual state's effective rate gives the closest estimate.