Take-Home-Paycheck Calculator
Your salary is not your paycheck. This calculator annualizes your pay, runs it through the 2026 federal brackets, Social Security and Medicare, state and city tax, and your own pretax deductions — then shows the final paycheck for your pay frequency, plus the exact numbers to drop into Steps 3 and 4 of Form W-4. Intended for U.S. residents.
Interest, dividends, retirement income, etc.
401(k), health insurance, HSA, etc. — taken out by your employer.
Traditional IRA, student loan interest, etc.
Mortgage interest, charitable donations, state/local/property taxes, etc. The standard deduction is used instead whenever it is larger.
State and city tax are estimated at your flat rate on gross pay, the way most paycheck estimators model them. This is an estimate of withholding, not a tax return — see the Income Tax Calculator for the full-year settlement.
Gross pay is a promise; net pay is the fact
Salaries are quoted before tax because gross pay is the one number that is the same on every offer letter — but nobody spends gross pay. What reaches your bank account is what is left after four layers of withholding, and this calculator peels them in the order a payroll system does. Federal income tax comes first and is usually the largest: your employer annualizes this check, subtracts your pretax deductions and the standard deduction (or the deductions you claim on Form W-4), applies the 2026 brackets, credits your dependents, and withholds one period's share. FICA is next and far simpler: 6.2% for Social Security on wages up to $184,500 in 2026, and 1.45% for Medicare on all wages, plus 0.9% on wages above $200,000 ($250,000 joint). State and city taxes follow, where they exist. Finally, your pretax deductions — 401(k), health premiums, HSA — leave the check too; they feel like a tax but they are your own money, redirected.
How the estimate is built
The engine annualizes everything, because withholding is an annual calculation sliced by pay frequency. Taxable wages are your salary minus pretax deductions, minus the larger of the standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 joint, $24,150 head of household for 2026) or your itemized total, minus any deductions-not-withheld, the new below-the-line deductions (tips up to $25,000, overtime up to $12,500/$25,000 joint, car-loan interest up to $10,000, charitable cash gifts up to $1,000/$2,000 for non-itemizers, and $6,000 per spouse aged 65+ for joint filers — each phasing out at higher incomes), and minus payroll taxes. The 2026 rate schedule is applied to the result, dependent credits are subtracted ($2,200 per child under 17, $500 per other dependent, reduced $50 per $1,000 of income over $200,000/$400,000 joint), other non-job income is taxed at your marginal rate, and — if there are other jobs in the household — the IRS W-4 multiple-jobs worksheet amount is added, using the official 2026 tables for your filing status. Divide by the number of pay periods and you have the check.
Bi-weekly is not semi-monthly
The most expensive misunderstanding in personal budgeting. Bi-weekly pay runs on the calendar of weeks: 26 checks a year, two of them "extra" third checks in a month — money that should be earmarked, not spent twice. Semi-monthly pay runs on the calendar of months: 24 checks, each about 8.3% larger than the bi-weekly check on the same salary. Daily pay in this calculator assumes 260 working days a year; weekly, 52; monthly, 12; quarterly, 4. None of it changes the annual tax by a cent — pay periods only slice the same pie differently.
Second jobs, spouses, and the W-4 fix
Every employer withholds as if its paycheck were your only income — standard deduction, low brackets and all. Two jobs (yours, or yours and your spouse's) therefore always under-withhold, and the April surprise is the difference stacked at your real marginal rate. The W-4's answer is the multiple-jobs worksheet in Step 2, whose amount lands in Step 4(c) of the highest-paying job. This calculator runs that worksheet for you from the official tables and folds it into the paycheck. If you would rather your employer not know about the other income, the results also show the quarterly amount to send the IRS yourself on Form 1040-ES. Self-employed? There is no withholding at all: the calculator switches FICA to the full self-employment rates (12.4% + 2.9%) and drops the W-4 helper, because your "withholding" is the quarterly estimated payment itself.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my take-home so much less than my salary?
Federal withholding, FICA (7.65% for most employees), state/city tax and your own pretax deductions stack up fast — an $80,000 bi-weekly salary grossing $3,076.92 typically nets roughly $2,300–$2,400 per check.
Bi-weekly vs. semi-monthly?
26 checks vs. 24, on the same annual pay. Two months a year hold a third bi-weekly check; semi-monthly checks are each ~8% larger instead.
How does this fill in my W-4?
Dependents become Step 3; other income Step 4(a); deductions beyond the standard amount Step 4(b); and the multiple-jobs amount Step 4(c) — all shown in the results panel, per pay period where the form wants it.
Why is the second job taxed so much?
It isn't, separately — it is taxed stacked on top of the first job at your marginal rate, because the first job already consumed the standard deduction and the low brackets. Step 4(c) exists to collect that difference gradually instead of in April.