2026 US Paycheck Calculator: Take-Home Pay After Tax

 

Free · No signup · Tax year 2026

US paycheck withholding calculator

Work out your estimated take-home pay for 2026, including federal withholding, FICA, state income tax and city or county tax. Everything runs in your browser. There are no web fonts, no analytics and no network requests, so nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.

This is a paycheck withholding estimate based on what you enter, not a tax return calculation and not personalised tax advice. Federal withholding and FICA follow the published 2026 IRS method. California follows the EDD Method B payroll schedule with pay-period tables and supplemental rates. Every other state that taxes wages is an approximation built from return brackets rather than that state's own withholding tables, and each result says so.

Your pay

Annual salary

Hourly rate

Pay frequency Weekly, 52 checks Bi-weekly, 26 checks Semi-monthly, 24 checks Monthly, 12 checks

Bi-weekly is every 14 days. Semi-monthly is twice a month.

Regular hours per check

Overtime hours per check, paid 1.5x

Pay date

Rule set selected by that pay date

The pay date picks the rule set and any rate that changes mid-year, such as the Philadelphia wage tax on 1 July.

Quick presets

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Taxes and location

Federal filing status Single Married filing jointly Head of household Married filing separately

Work state

Leave this on federal only for a federal and FICA estimate. Picking a state refines the result in place and labels how exact that state is.

California married dual-income status: both spouses work

California DE 4 line 1: regular withholding allowances

Each allowance cuts annual withholding by $168.30. For a married employee, the table choice depends on dual-income status and allowances.

DE 4 line 2: additional allowances for estimated deductions

Method B table 2. Each one removes $1,000 a year from wages subject to withholding, and unlike line 1 it does not generate a tax credit.

City or county tax

Locality

Your local rate, percent

Capped at 6%, which sits above every municipal wage tax rate in force in the US.

I work in a different state than I live in

Resident state

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Form W-4

Step 3(a): children under 17, $2,200 each

Step 3(b): other dependents, $500 each

Step 3: other annual credits in dollars

Step 2 box is checked: two jobs, or my spouse also works

Checking Step 2 switches your employer to the higher withholding schedule so two incomes cover the combined tax. Leaving it off with two incomes usually means a bill in April.

Step 4(a): other annual income

Step 4(b): annual deductions above the standard

Step 4(c): extra withholding per check

Wages already paid this year, before this check

Supplemental wages already paid this year

Used for the mandatory 37% federal supplemental withholding above $1 million.

Prior-year Social Security wages

Catch-up 401(k) contributions above the base limit must be Roth if prior-year Social Security wages exceeded $150,000.

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Deductions and extra pay

Traditional 401(k), percent of gross

Pretax medical per check

Bonus on this check

Federal supplemental withholding is 22% up to the first $1 million of annual supplemental wages, then 37% on the excess.

Post-tax deductions per check

401(k) already contributed this year

Age band in 2026 Under 50 50 to 59 60 to 63 64 or older

The 2026 elective deferral limit is $24,500. Catch-up is $8,000 for ages 50 to 59 and 64+, and $11,250 for ages 60 to 63. If prior-year Social Security wages exceeded $150,000, catch-up money must be Roth, so it no longer cuts federal taxable wages.

Estimated take-home

Enter your pay to see an estimate.

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Per-check breakdown

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Where the year goes

A full calendar year at these settings, run check by check, so the Social Security cap releasing mid-year, the 401(k) deferral limit, the Roth catch-up split, the additional Medicare threshold and Philadelphia's 1 July reset all land on the checks where they actually happen.

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Compare two states side by side

Same pay, same filing status, same W-4 as above. Federal withholding and FICA come out identical in both columns, which is the point: only state rules move. Each annual total uses the full year projection, not a lazy per-check multiply.

State A

State B

State A

State B

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Work backwards from the take-home you need

Enter the net amount you want to see hit your account each pay period. Everything else comes from the settings above.

Target net per check

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2026 rate reference for the most searched states

Single-filer figures. California reflects the actual payroll schedule mechanics used here. New York still shows return brackets, which is why it stays tagged approximate.

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