Home › Finance Calculators › Take Home Salary Calculator
Take Home Salary Calculator
Use this free take home salary calculator to see how much of your salary actually reaches your bank account. Enter your gross salary, your filing status, and how often you are paid, and it works out your federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and an editable state tax rate — then shows your take-home pay per paycheck, per month, and per year.
Default 5% as a planning estimate (Nov 2026). State rates vary — set it to your state's rate, or 0% if your state has no income tax.
Where your salary goes
Blue: what you keep. Light blue: each tax taken out of your gross pay.
How it works
Your salary is not your pay. Between your gross salary and your bank account sit several taxes, and each one is worked out differently. Federal income tax depends on your filing status and your standard deduction. Social Security and Medicare — together called FICA — are flat percentages of your wages, with a cap on the Social Security part. State tax depends on where you live. This calculator works out each piece separately, adds them up, and subtracts the total from your gross salary to give your take-home pay.
Gross salary is your annual pay before anything is taken out. Filing status sets your standard deduction and your tax brackets: for 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $16,100 for married filing separately, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household. Your taxable income is your gross salary minus that deduction, and it is taxed in slices — the 2026 single brackets are 10% up to $12,400, 12% up to $50,400, 22% up to $105,700, 24% up to $201,775, 32% up to $256,225, 35% up to $640,600, and 37% above that; married filing jointly brackets are 10% up to $24,800, 12% up to $100,800, 22% up to $211,400, 24% up to $403,550, 32% up to $512,450, 35% up to $768,700, and 37% above that. Only the income inside each slice is taxed at that slice's rate, so your effective rate is always lower than your top bracket.
FICA is simpler than federal income tax. Social Security takes 6.2% of your wages, but only up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500 — wages above that are not charged Social Security tax. Medicare takes 1.45% of all your wages, with no cap, plus an extra 0.9% on wages over $200,000. Your employer pays matching amounts on top of your pay, but those do not come out of your paycheck. State tax is the wild card: the rate field starts at 5% as an editable planning default from November 2026, because rates vary so widely — several states charge no income tax at all, while others charge over 10%. Set it to your state's rate, or to 0% if your state has none. The calculator does not include 401(k) contributions, health insurance premiums, or other voluntary deductions, which is the most common reason a real paycheck differs from this estimate.
Worked example
Suppose you are a single filer earning a $60,000 gross salary, paid biweekly, in a state taxed at the default 5%. Here is how your take-home pay works out, step by step.
Step 1: Federal income tax. Subtract the 2026 single standard deduction: $60,000 − $16,100 = $43,900 of taxable income. The first $12,400 is taxed at 10% ($1,240) and the remaining $31,500 at 12% ($3,780), so federal tax is $5,020.00.
Step 2: Social Security. 6.2% of $60,000 = $3,720.00. The wage is below the $184,500 wage base, so the full salary is taxed.
Step 3: Medicare. 1.45% of $60,000 = $870.00, and there is no additional Medicare tax because the salary is under $200,000.
Step 4: State tax. 5% of $60,000 = $3,000.00.
Step 5: Add the taxes. $5,020 + $3,720 + $870 + $3,000 = $12,610.00, so annual take-home pay is $60,000 − $12,610 = $47,390.00. That is $3,949.17 a month, and $1,822.69 per biweekly paycheck ($47,390 ÷ 26).
Enter the same numbers — $60,000 salary, single, biweekly, 5% state tax — and the calculator shows exactly the same result: $1,822.69 per paycheck, $3,949.17 per month, and $47,390.00 per year in take-home pay.
FAQ
What is the difference between gross pay and take-home pay?
Gross pay is your salary before anything is taken out. Take-home pay is what lands in your bank account after federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes, state tax, and any other deductions such as retirement contributions or health insurance premiums are withheld.
What is FICA tax?
FICA is the payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare. Employees pay 6.2% of wages for Social Security up to the annual wage base, and 1.45% of all wages for Medicare, plus an extra 0.9% Medicare tax on wages over $200,000. Your employer pays the same amounts on top of your pay.
Why is my take-home pay different from this estimate?
The most common reasons are deductions this calculator does not include, such as 401(k) contributions, health insurance premiums, and flexible spending accounts, plus your W-4 settings and state and local taxes. Those can move your real paycheck by hundreds of dollars, so treat this as a starting point and compare it with your first pay stub.
How is federal income tax worked out on my salary?
Your standard deduction is subtracted from your gross salary to get taxable income, and that income is taxed in slices called brackets. For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household. Only the income inside each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate.
Does this calculator include state income tax?
It includes an editable state tax rate, which starts at 5% as a planning default. State rates vary widely — some states charge no income tax at all and others charge over 10% — so change the rate to match your state for a more accurate result.